By Ingrid Tourniquet
"Carrot-Bird," the 1994 film by cult-heroes Jay Turner and Tony Paglia is funny. I want to make it clear from the get-go that there's no denying its humor. On the surface, this film is a fun romp, perhaps about dorm life. With most films nowadays, the surface value of the story is usually all one gets. And though there's plenty under the surface of "Carrot-Bird," most people don't delve too deep with this film. After careful analysis, it is clear that this film is little less than a manifesto of how the patriarchy in our society molds men into their understanding of women. And, though humorous on the surface, I have found a sad, more meaningful tale that lies on the inside.
One may say, "Now Sylvia, wait a second. There are no women in this film. They don't even mention women." And that's where I'll say "You're wrong, bucco." It was the comment about Big Bird that got me thinking. When one thinks of Big Bird, one thinks of a large yellow, perhaps sexless bird. But think about that specific bird. It tends to the needs of children, it is extremely emotional, and it has a decidedly female voice. Inside that 8' bird costume is none other than Carroll Spinney, a woman. And there is an obvious parallel between Big Bird and the Carrot-Bird/tree in this film. My inclination is this: the Carrot-Bird/Tree represents the female in our society.
Thus, the film is one huge metaphor for the male misunderstandings of the female in our society, and reasons for the treatment of women that stem from these misunderstandings. When Jay and Tony arrive at the tree, neither has any idea what this huge, beautiful object is that stands before them. They have never been taught about what a woman is from a woman's perspective, having only the ideas of the patriarchy imbedded in them. In an attempt to understand this creature, they use their senses, particularly on smell, to decipher what it is. Of course, since the male nervous system expects a woman to smell pink and rosy like a midmorning bubblebath, our heroes don't understand when the smell they discover is earthly and non-artificial. They decide the creature is a bird, which, interestingly enough, is a slang term that British men have for women.
They approach it in fear, this wild, earthly female who is unrestrained by man's expectations. Jay and Tony are obviously intimidated by this powerful creature. In turn, they try to woo it by "calling" to it in the ways in which they have been taught by society. But the woman does not supplicate herself to this show of masculinity, responding differently than the beaten-down-by-the-patriarchy females of our heroes' past experiences and expectations. The boys' disgusting expectations of the female in the tree before them climax at the moment when Tony discovers the beer bottles that are scattered around the tree. In our society, we often find it indecent to think that women consume alcohol, whereas for men it is an acceptable part of life. Thus, Tony's immediate and erroneous thought that the tree is male only furthers his position in the film as a man who has a culturally-influenced belief system of what men and women should be.
The female, who is thus far unresponsive and misunderstood to the males advances, is suddenly viewed angrily by Tony, who seems to represent the closed-mindedness of the male. Jay, who represents an open-minded, comfortable with his "female-side" type of man, is at the point of accepting and praising the female for what it is rather than what it "should" be when he is brought back into the patriarchical realm by Tony, who suggests kicking the tree because it is not responding. These several moments in the film capture, in a nutshell, the plight of the so-called "male feminist" in today's world. There are many men who call themselves "feminists," but it becomes a blow to a man's ego when other men ridicule a "feminist sympathizer," denouncing his masculinity which is his badge. Thus, a man who may feel that women should be equal in our society, is apt to laugh when his drinking buddies make a sexist joke, not wanting to take a stand in front of "the guys." Jay Turner's performance in this particular moment of the film is that of genius, as in his moral decision making, he succumbs to the patriarchy's attitudes, as most do.
The "kicking" is rape: not merely in a sexual context, but in a social, emotional, and intellectual context. By overpowering that which the man does not understand, his ruling position allows him to project his own feelings upon it, making those opinions and feelings more important than the truth. The woman fights back, but in the end they kill it. This story is almost a fable of from whence society came. The physically larger and stronger of the species destroys the life-force inherent in the weaker, replacing it with his own. The death of the tree represents the death of woman. Woman is dead in our society today. In woman's place is the physical shell of the female, scarred beyond recognition on the inside. Jay, the "male feminist," mourns not only the death of the female, but also his own folly in destroying that which he could have made union with. Chances are, Jay and Tony may find meaningful relationships with females as their lives go on, but only Jay realizes that the female he unites with someday will not be "pure," not in the virginal sense, but rather in the sense that she will be tainted by the brutality of man in the human experience, and that he will never know an equal partnership.
The rest of the film doesn't really matter, because the tree is dead, and they're just singing songs and talking about pretzel-shaped infants. But up to that point, I find that Paglia and Turner have creatively and eloquently given the explained the history of male and female gender roles. The old saying is, "Those who are unwilling to study history are doomed to repeat it." This film should be a textbook in every classroom, and sadly it is not. Because America has refused to properly analyze Carrot-Bird, valuing its humor and entertainment on the surface, no one is truly thinking or learning anything. "Carrot-Bird" is a dark feminist fable in for even darker patriarchical era. Let's make sure our children look at who we are and why we've what we've done before they become adults and begin the violent cycle anew.
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