Feminazi propaganda (6 hours of wasted lifetime)

Much of the acting is rubbish, but it could hardly be otherwise when the writing is that bad! I agree with your other points. Top of the Lake is very poor and a lot of people should be ashamed of their involvement.

Its a sad fact that any female artist that creates a piece of art that explores gender roles in society and dears to suggest that some men's desire for power can have a damaging effect on those with less power than them are automatically labeled as femanazis. Its a ridiculous term thrown around by the right in a desperate attempt to dismiss feminist issues without actually dealing with the issues at hand. Whether its Margret Atwood in a Handmades tale or something like this, if an artist criticism on sexism is anything less threatening to insecure right wing viewers than "these people long long ago sure where sexist" than they are automatically dismissed as angry extremist

Spoilers ahead, just in case

Yes, Top of the lake deals with some heavy feminist issues, Yes, this includes the damage caused by both Matts and Als lust for power and hyper aggressive ways they enforce that power. Yes, one of the core themes of TotL is toxic masculinity.

But Campion doesn't end by "saying men are evil, women are great." Just like Al and Matt are criticized for being hyper aggressive, the women in TotL are routinely criticized for being overly self absorbed, to the point that they neglect those who rely on them the most. Robins mother is too wrapped up in her guilt that she fails to tell her that she might be entering into an incestual relationship. Jamie has to kill himself before his mother wakes up to her part in Matts rule over the town. One of the woman in Paradise is called out by her ex partner for abandoning her kid. Heck, the main character, Robin, completely neglects her dying mother by projecting her own insecurities on Tui

Thia is even before we get to the three most virtuous characters in the series. Johnno, who does all he can to protect Robin even after she accuses him of conspiring with her rapist, Jamie, who kills himself to save Tui, and Turangi, who does all he can do to ease the pain of a dying woman. Even if Johnno and Turangi have had violent past, they are example of male character who are able to break through the violent culture the film is set in and channel their masculinity into positive forces that benefit those around them. They are the exact opposite hyper aggressiveness of Matt and Al.

Heck, the series's main concern isn't the treatment of women by men, its the treatment of children by both men and women, and the systems that allows the on going cycle of abuse and neglect to continue. Matt himself is as much as a victim of these systems and cycles as he is an enforcer. The series makes it obvious that he in only enacting the same idea of masculinity and authority that was enforced on him by his own abusive mother, and in his latter days begins to break down when he finally sees what damage he has inflicted on Tui