Top of The Lake: Aggressive Feminist Agenda?

It was far too unsubtle for my liking. But overall I didn't think the show worked well at all, it's not so much that it could have been done better. It just felt pointless altogether. They have their message about rape culture and its presented with the most boring storyline imaginable.
Twin Peaks and Fire Walk with me has the same message but its told far better than this.

Only thing I liked about it was some of the cinematography, but it didn't do anything out of the ordinary with its picaresque setting.

I don't think it was anymore feminist than Silence of the Lambs or Girl with a Dragon Tattoo. The series was written from a female point of view, tackling an issue that many feminists have taken on because it often just gets brushed under the carpet. I didn't see any anti-men agenda. In fact there were a few really good men characterized in the series.

I think just watch it for yourself and make your own opinion. Don't be afraid to watch something because it's feminist. Jane Campion is a feminist and so you can guarantee she will produce something from the female perspective/gaze.

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i'd say you should watch it yourself and decide, an Aggressive Feminist Agenda isn't actually a bad thing.

I guess? If you're an anti-feminist then you believe that all men are "instinctively" rapists and that rape should be tolerated. If you're a feminist, then you believe that only a small minority of men are rapists and rape shouldn't be tolerated.

Top of the Lake portrays some men as rapists, some men as heroes, and some men as bystanders. I guess anti-feminists would take issue with the fact that it portrays some men as fighting against rapists.

Watch it for yourself to determine what you think. Campion and her ex-boyfriend screenwriter wrote this. I'm always amused by the fact that anti-female films or films that use women as merely eye candy filmed by men for men are never so heavily critiqued as films by women are. If a film by a man shows male characters as unsavory, no one says a word; a woman does it and suddenly she's an anti-male, feminist bitch. Yes there are bad men in this film. That's what the film is about. Bad men who have taken over a town. This happens all the time in westerns, yet no one says a word about it. Yes there are some good men in it although some people will claim otherwise.

I notice some of the people who commented in this thread aren't men so I'm not sure what sort of opinions from men you hoped to get...particularly from Erikwhatsherface who clearly hates Campion.



RIP Philip Seymour Hoffman 1967-2014... a tremendously great and talented actor.

Is there an aggressive feminist agenda?
Absolutely.

Did it impact my enjoyment of the show?
Yes, I was intrigued through the first 3 episodes but ultimately stopped watching; it's like watching an interesting, colorful mystery woven between a random documentary about a pitiful cult of victimized and bitter women who live on a farm that acts as rehab for men.

The men are all portrayed as the same flat caricature; purposefully and obviously flawed. Some declare this as a noble cause or balancing the scale; but it plays out as unnatural, vengeful and most importantly, not rewarding to view.

I believe that, if you want to think of this show as carrying some feminist/or misogynist message, you will find something to support your idea.
Bit of a shame, that some focus solely on the gender debate- as if it was something that determined the whole thing- rather than considering all the things, that made this series as brilliant as it was.


Actually, I feel as though the show has been very well balanced, regarding male/female agendas/issues.
After all, all the people on the show are troubled, messed up in some way. They struggle, all in their own way, no matter what gender or age.

(The whole paradise thing was a bit off, I agree, but it gave the series that notch of awkwardness, that was just right for the story and setting. -Almost a bit sarcastic, in my eyes; bit out of the place, as if to reiterate that feeling of being lost in that beautiful wilderness/that stifling little town.)