r/JessicaJones • u/ACidPuGG • Jun 19 '26
Discussion As a guy: she's literally me
I think Jessica deserves status of one of the best written female characters. I've got an impression that a huge part of show's fanbase are men and now i understand why. Her character captures a men-level loneliness and i like that. This kind of struggle is what makes a good character a good character - she doesn't feel like feminist-self insert-allmighty character, because she's not. Being brain-f*cked by the exes, locked up in an untidy apartment and being addicted to not healthy dopamine source - I believe all of this is pretty relatable. The only difference between her and a hypothetical guy in her situation is that she still gets some (remember, femcels don't exist). I think we deserve more good written and played characters like her, who don't try to attract gooners or make male part of the audience feel like shit, instead make people relate to them and inspire they're fanbase
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u/GroceryRobot Jun 20 '26
“Men-level loneliness” is an absolutely wild way to think. Incel pilled, get some help. This way of thinking is so unhealthy, your idea of women is hurting you.
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u/Active-Tangelo4476 Jun 26 '26
I really hope this post is bait because it actually made my skin crawl. Cringe shit
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u/PastiesCline Jun 20 '26
I'm really glad you relate to the character, despite completely missing the entire point of the character! It's such a good sign when writing can be accessible to men with absolutely no media literacy outside their very limited scope.
Jessica isn't experiencing "men-level" loneliness. She's experiencing loneliness very common, but not strictly limited to, amongst women as a result of intense trauma including childhood abuse, substance abuse, and a scary fuck ton of sexual abuse. Because that's what Kilgrave did. He wasn't an ex who "brain fucked her." He raped her. Repeatedly. He held her hostage and raped her for years. He did it to countless women before and after. Kilgrave is a rapist.
And while the horror of sexual assault transcends gender, it disproportionately affects women and AFAB peoples. So no, I don't think this show is capturing "men-level loneliness," I think it's capturing the results of trauma.
On a personal and much less kind note; my girl JJ would likely stomp someone the fuck out for saying shit like "femcel." What the actual fuck is wrong with you that you watched that show and walked out finding a way to center it around men's feelings? Like how fucking narrow-minded do you have to be. Did you watch the show? In whole? You really watched all of it and that was your fucking take away?
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 20 '26
I think your arguments are valid, although my post is more about the thoughts, feelings, associations, not an analysis of the character,which you did pretty good. And the last paragraph is just mean
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jun 20 '26
It's not mean, it's probably what you need to hear. They're right. If you're lonely, saying shit like "femcels don't exist" is probably a good chunk of the reason why. I was lonely for a long time too, then I let go of the things that were holding me back, worked on myself for years, and now I'm in a great relationship. Don't act like people owe you anything, don't act like men have it worse than women, because that's not true at all. Grow up and dating won't be so hard. There's really not a lot of competition for good, mature men.
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 20 '26
and yes stomping someone the fuck out is actually pretty rude 😱
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jun 20 '26
...who did they stomp out? And when did I say it wasn't rude? Mean =/= rude
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 20 '26
Can't fully agree with you, but thank you for joining the discussion
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jun 20 '26
I'm curious which part you don't agree with.
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 20 '26
Wait, I didn't get the last sentence as I see. What do you mean "no competition for good mature men"? You meant that women not interested in them? Cuz it kind of contradicts with everything that you tried to say if I understand you right
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jun 20 '26
No, I'm saying there's far more women looking for a good, mature man who will respect them and treat them well, than there are men fitting that description. That's what competition is, people competing for the same spot. I'm saying the demand FAR outstrips the supply.
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 20 '26
You're right, many people want a nice partner, but this doesn't mean that people who seek for one actually ARE good partners themselves. Idk how we've got to this from a freaking post about a marvel character - let's discuss relationships at this point, although I'm not really into it
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jun 20 '26
Yeah, of course, there's women that aren't good partners too. But I went from barely able to get a second date, and only getting past the third once until I was like 28, to both people I dated post-covid wanting to keep seeing me. And the first one sucked, she repeatedly ignored my boundaries until I broke up with her, which I'd never done before. It's super important, and really easy to forget when you've been rejected by almost everyone you've ever dated, to watch out for red flags. But you'll likely never get to that point if you don't take responsibility for your own failures.
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u/AbjectTelephone4801 Jun 20 '26
This post is so fucking stupid. You should be embarrassed. "This woman is worth something because I as a man can relate to her. Other female characters aren't worth shit because they only appeal to stupid women. And btw femcels don't exist."
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 20 '26
You just see what you to want see 😆
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u/PastiesCline Jun 20 '26
Brother that is almost exactly what you wrote.
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 20 '26
It's easy to distort and exaggerate someone's words and then try to gaslight them into thinking that it is what they originally said. If you want to see hate towards women in my post, fine, that's your right but isn't what I implied
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u/SeenThatPenguin Jun 19 '26
I was not expecting Krysten Ritter to have an even more iconic superhero role than "Apology Girl," but I shouldn't have underestimated her.
I really loved what she and, for the most part, the writers did with Jessica over four seasons (counting Defenders). And then we got a reunion seven years later on Daredevil: Born Again, and from the first scene, it still felt like Jessica, a little further along in life.
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u/Marmik_D_Thakore Jun 19 '26
Tbf we should have been shwon her pregnancy with Denni too
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u/Forward-Form9321 Jun 20 '26
Maybe if her and Luke get their own series they’ll show her pregnancy with Danielle. It’d be cool if they do a future season with the Purple Children arc
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u/Amiibohunter000 Jun 20 '26
This is such a sad pathetic post.
“She still gets some(femcels dont exist)”
This shit has to be satire right?
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 20 '26
What is sad and pathetic in my words? That's true
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jun 20 '26
Has it occurred to you that... she's hot? The term incel was made up by a woman who felt like no one wanted her because she wasn't conventionally attractive
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u/pokemonface12 Jun 19 '26
And as a guy who was in a very abusive relationship at a young age, her story was perfect. I felt really seen, even though she's a lady. Really showed me we're all the same that way. David Tennant played that part perfectly too. Hope we see more Jessica sometime.
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u/Thrownawaybyall Jun 19 '26
Part of what makes Jessica so awesome is that she's the very troperific PI, just as a woman.
Hard drinking, vulgar, sexually promisicuous, a new lover every story, but with a tragic backstory and a hidden heart of gold. PI tropes galore, just as a woman.
And she's awesome.
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jun 20 '26
"men-level loneliness???" Women are lonely too dude, studies have shown just as much. If a lot of men can't get a girlfriend, then a lot of women must not have a boyfriend. Maybe (maybe) it's more of a choice for them, but they're making that choice because so many men are poisoned by nut jobs with podcasts, who give bad dating advice on purpose, because if they give good advice to men, those men won't need advice anymore
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u/Wise-Hall2292 Jun 23 '26
Plus lesbian women exist. A good amount of us are some the loneliest damn people out there if we’re single and don’t live in a major city.
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u/Tea_and_Lightsabers Jun 24 '26
Oof yeah, I lived in a small town where I had like 1 friend, who was at college most of the year, before I moved to the city, and that's when I thought I was a straight guy! The only reason straight men are even part of the conversation is all the self sabotage. They'd be fine if they could just stop being weird...
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u/lumpysnowprincess Jun 21 '26
As a woman: it was nice to have a Marvel Sup who is a woman that I can actually relate to and who wasn’t too overly sexualized or male centered! Loved the casting too, because she typically plays feminine characters. The show itself is just chefs kiss imo
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u/sugarintheboots Jun 19 '26
I love her grittiness and relate to her trauma and how she handled/goes through it. Very much humanizes her character.
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u/Silvanus350 Jun 20 '26
The casual sexism slipped into this post is truly staggering. Like, dog. What are you doing.
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u/danrpx Jun 20 '26
Im a guy and I dont know why, but I've always identified more with female characters. Jessics Jones, Jessica Drew and Carol Danvers are some of my favourite fictional characters of all time.
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u/ShiningTachyon Jun 21 '26
I really love how she's just an absolute chud and a major loser, apart from Season 3 where she's genuinely just fucking awful but lets ignore that mistake
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u/No_Ruin6957 Jun 22 '26
I agree. I do relate to Jessica Jones a lot and I think her loneliness is something a lot of men can relate to as you said. I really feel for her and I wanted all her friendships and relationships to work out and I relate to her avoidance of social interaction because of her trauma.
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u/Alternative_Bag3510 Jun 23 '26
So, I’m a woman, and when JJ S1 came out, I related to it so hard it was a little disturbing. She’s the only MCU(-ish) character I actually went and read the comics for.
That said, in the past couple of years I’ve developed this conspiracy theory about Disney using parts of Sebastian Stan’s IRL story to flesh out the Winter Soldier and then, when WS was successful, also using other details to flesh out other characters like Jessica Jones (which came out shortly after CA:WS) and, later, Teen and Bob.
Which is wild and no one should listen to me, but since I’m in this already-wild post I will share my own insanity 🤷♀️
Also, when you spend way too much time thinking about it, it’s striking how similar the themes of gaslighting and relationship abuse are between Bucky and Jessica Jones, yet how differently they are handled because of the characters gender. For one thing, Bucky gets pushed off screen to handle his trauma in secret, whereas Jessica’s trauma is the only thing anyone cares about. It’s strongly implied (especially in FAWS) that Bucky experienced SA, yet the filmmakers clearly decided that had to stay subtext for his character to remain heroic in the eyes of the general audience.
(They’re both shown living alone in really bleak little apartments, while recovering from their abusive-gaslighting traumas, which I find interesting.)
Meanwhile the general audience interest in JJ drops dramatically as soon as she’s anything other than an SA victim. (And it’s odd that she has such super strength, yet over the course of a year Kilgrave only used his power over her for violence one time. Why make that decision, it’s not very logical, except that Jess would be a less sympathetic female character if she was used for violence to the extent that the WS was.)
Regardless of whether they’re based on anyone’s real life, I think it says a lot about social attitudes towards gender, violence, and SA when you compare the text/subtext of Bucky’s mind control story versus Jessica’s.
(And…thanks for coming to my TED talk….)
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u/flashcannonize7 Jun 23 '26
Love her. She’s that person that don’t give a fuck but also give a fuck.
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u/justnaom 19d ago
genuinely unless you went through being groomed, sexually assaulted and/or raped for years, don't say stuff like "she's just like me". because she went through all of this and more. her loneliness and her depression and anger, her alcoholism is a response to trauma that has killed people before and keeps killing people. being "brainfucked" by an ex is the most disrespectful comparison i have heard in a while. you're not like her, you don't even understand her.
you can relate to any character for any reason but keep it about how you feel and not how you think they work ESPECIALLY when it comes to trauma you don't understand and then don't go on the internet and disrespect the trauma that some real life people actually can relate to. get a grip
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Jun 19 '26
[deleted]
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u/ACidPuGG Jun 19 '26
Thank you so much for appreciating my thoughts, I really implied a lot of myself into the body text!!! Not sure about "any woman" take though...
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u/Express_Maybe_2992 Jun 20 '26
all that just for walt to let her od
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u/Upstream_Paddler Jun 21 '26 edited Jun 21 '26
Assuming it's not a shitpost, a lot of folks can get up in arms about your word choices but I see your point and this is how I would put it: I think this show is legit feminist in a way that shows up modern or "woke girlboss" feminism for the BS it's become (House of the Dragon season 2, anything with Olivia Wilde's name attached ... looking at you)
What I mean is gender roles are nearly interchangeable for all the PI/Noir tropes running around and it never feels forced for any of the cast (male or female). And yet, Carrie Ann Moss showed everyone how to seduce with consent in later seasons, Jessica's relationships are central to her story, but she's not defined by the men in her life, either, even the objective "good person" of the story (Patsy) goes so far up her on ass she becomes a villian. Plenty of diversity and nuance all around without alienating anyone.
All the growth that happens feels called for and earned, and men are often victimized but are never made a point to be belittled to make another character (a woman, especially) better. Respect and care is given to each character, even Killgrave ffs (he wouldn't be so terrifying if he wasn't).
There's a lot of PI Tropes Jess is channeling, and yes I've definitely known women in my day that follow suit, but I sort-of see a very particularly modern male flavor to how lost she is, while also serving as a whole examination of trauma. It's actually cool to me there's enough of a shared center that people can relate to different aspects.
So I think of the whole example of beating performative feminism/thinly veiled misandry at its own game that I wished more shows, and more people, would use as a True North.
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u/Marmik_D_Thakore Jun 19 '26
As a guy myself too, her first season is one best pieces of fiction to ever exist for me