The Queen's Gambit - When the Genius is Female

chess is not all there is it's what i know we're all familiar with the loner genius trope but it's remarkably difficult to think of popular examples who aren't men so the queen's gambit stands out for applying the characteristics of this traditionally male archetype to a female protagonist chess prodigy beth harmon i would say that it's much easier to play chess without the burden of an adam's apple at the same time this portrayal of a female loner genius is largely an escapist fantasy we already have so much more than they do and something that none of them have talent beth doesn't encounter any sexist obstacles that her genius can't easily overpower she effortlessly beats far more experienced players without any formal training while styled like a glamorous fashion icon and as the internet was quick to notice even when she's at her lowest she looks like this [Music] in loner genius narratives these brilliant individuals actually tend to be defined most by the reactions of the characters that surround them once they demonstrate their exceptional abilities normal people defer to their authority friends or sidekicks provide extensive emotional support to our protagonist while receiving nothing in return except proximity to awe-inspiring genius because i'd do anything to have what you got so would any of these guys these dynamics might feel believable and familiar when applied to sherlock holmes or dr house but does this look like the way men usually react to a woman outsmarting them for you beth harmon i resign the old fashioned way can we really buy that the most prominent members of a male-dominated industry during the 1960s would come together to selflessly support the woman who publicly bested them and even cast a number of them aside as [Applause] lovers ultimately by transplanting traits of a historically male archetype onto a woman the queen's gambit reveals the limitations of the loner genius trope not by subverting them but by playing into them here's our take on the queen's gambit and what happens when the loner genius trope takes on a female form beth harmon displays almost all the characteristics of the classic loner genius trope she has an outsized and raw talent she's obsessive anti-social and unstable and she has a dark side you always drink this much sometimes i drink more but another nearly universal trait of the loner genius is that he's almost always male because the loner genius myth is so entrenched in our minds as part of a white male american identity simply applying these characteristics to a female character feels inherently empowering even radical you know what they called him the pride and the sorrow of chess and then he retired at 22. and you think that's gonna be me i think that is you to look at just how perfectly beth fits the trope let's compare her to a male example who epitomizes the loner genius sherlock holmes as portrayed on the show sherlock hello is what i have alone protects me like sherlock beth has a natural talent so powerful that it feels almost supernatural as a young child who's only recently learned the game from a janitor she beats the entire 12-person chess team at a local high school all at the same time what surprised me was how bad they played like the sherlock series the queen's gambit uses other worldly fantastical imagery to depict the inner workings of its genius's mind as if she lives in a different reality than the normal people around her what is it like in your funny little brains it must be so boring and our role as viewers isn't really to participate in or understand the genius but to enjoy its results i've noticed the moves they applaud the loudest are the ones you make rather quickly counting those high schoolers we see her crush 17 opponents before she loses once also like the detective beth is obsessive about her quest her genius is all-consuming i'm not obsessed with it the way one has to be to win it all the way you are turning their heads all over the leg from where it gets a little bit too friendly and nowhere above the knees suggesting it's a small dog probably a terry in fact it is a west side ontario called whiskey and she has anti-social tendencies i'm fine being alone i don't have friends she communicates in a blunt unfiltered manner unconcerned with sparing anyone's feelings i know what it feels like to lose yeah i bet you do she could be trying to test yes thank you for your input and she doesn't fit in with her peers as a young girl she prefers running through chess combinations or drinking alone to going to parties or talking about boys is there anyone you've met that you'd like to trade rooks with or whatever i mean i trade brooks all the time but it's happening like many loner genius protagonists beth has a dark side you've got so much anger in you in this case grave mental health struggles she binges on alcohol and pills and is haunted by a foundational trauma her mother's suicide by intentionally driving the two of them into oncoming traffic and finally the loner genius usually has to pay a hefty personal price to achieve the greatness they seek two sides of the same coin you've got your gift and you've got what it costs this element of the trope is even packaged into the show's title the actual chess opening called the queen's gambit represents beth as a character those things are called openings is that one of them yes the queen's gambit not only does this move center around the single decidedly female piece on the board but it also requires giving up a pawn while this metaphor is more subtle in the show the original book makes it clear that this tactic mirrors sacrifices beth makes in her personal life in order to devote herself to chess and become the best in the world in part genius protagonists are just another form of superhero but there's a deeper more personal reason why we're so fascinated by them their distinct way of understanding the world often puts them at odds with the normal characters around them casting them as outsiders what if all your disagreements and moments of social disconnection could be explained by the fact that people just don't understand your innate genius if the loner genius myth is universally relatable then why is beth one of shockingly few female protagonists to fulfill this archetype it'll be checked once the pawn moves in the night trades you're too sharp for me the best explanation for this is that the concept of a lone autonomous white male figure rebelling against the constraints of society has long represented the dominant american cultural identity and political ideology from the 1920s through the mid-20th century westerns followed self-reliant white men tasked with imposing justice over an unruly society 70s classics like one flew over the cuckoo's nest portray lone white men rebelling against institutional structures and taking matters into their own hands but i tried didn't i goddamn it at least i did that while from the 80s on indiana jones used gut instinct to outwit villains from eastern cultures prepare to meet khalid in hell these narratives have almost always involved a white man with if not genius at least some raw natural ability and strong gut instincts asserting his place above otherized groups including women a handful of acclaimed films throughout the years have explored both actual and fictional brilliant females especially in the arts a woman's whole life in a single day just one day and in that day her whole life and contemporary narratives like shirley and carrie pilby have started to unpack the complex not always glamorous reality of female genius shirley has these bouts and just can't can't keep up with the household shopping still these portrayals remain rare in the mainstream so while watching the queen's gambit women can experience a level of identification with the loner genius protagonist that they were previously excluded from and through narratives like this audiences of any gender can reframe their understanding of who should be trusted to make decisions and hold power [Music] the queen's gambit also questions and nuances some of the mythology around the loner genius archetype you really helped me i guess you've helped me too like many a loner genius beth is intensely self-reliant growing up as an orphan she essentially parents herself and teaches herself to be a master of chess you don't ever study i analyze games what actually happened not what could have happened and i play it by ear but her self-reliance doesn't always function in her favor she often pushes people away who try to support her and her desire to achieve success in complete isolation is portrayed as a weakness while she's driven to demolish other players and leave them behind she learns more from collaborating with them it's a good sequence it's malachine i'm saying i got it from a book i know what you're saying after each loss she rebounds with the help of a friend who's not as good at chess as she is but can still offer her insight practice or simply company beth's weakness also represents a broader american one a belief in individualism at the expense of collaboration as americans we work alone because we're all such individualists and you know why they're the best players in the world it's because they played together as a team they help each other out and in the show's finale beth finally beats the world champion after accepting help from her past opponents as they huddle by the phone and help her strategize if he goes for the night hidden with the king rook pawn so this undercuts the most fundamental tenet of the loner genius myth that he must be a loner at all second the series debunks the notion that mental health disorders must go hand in hand with genius it's a common theme for lone genius characters to lose their sanity as part of their dedication to a craft art form or quest well creativity and psychosis often go hand in hand or for that matter genius and madness you think i'm crazy yet ultimately the show rejects this hypothesis instead the show details the ways in which beth's toxic behaviors are learned as a child she's taught to deal with her ptsd by taking tranquilizers in order to sleep i like the way it feels i bet you do you just be careful you don't get too used to that feeling after she observes her adoptive mother drinking to deal with pain she eventually follows suit and the suspicion and venom she brings to many of her relationships can be traced back to her birth mother who warned beth not to trust anyone before abandoning beth herself strongest person is the person who wasn't scared to be alone it's other people he got worried about so it's made clear that beth's self-destructive habits aren't caused by her genius rather her genius is a refuge from chaos and disorder it's an entire world of just 64 squares i feel safe in it i can control it i can dominate it the one thing that saves her from her will to destroy herself i have to go if i don't there's nothing for me to do i'll just drink likewise the show dismisses a complimentary misconception about the loner genius that their gifts in some way come from dysfunction beth in fact believes this herself the pills the booze i need my mind cloudy to win i can't visualize the games without them but while she attempts to use pills and alcohol to silence her mind the truest sense of stillness and peace she achieves is in the calm concentration required during a game of chess you think that's what brought you here i think that's what i'm used to yeah but you've been doing fine without all that watching quick cuts through moves or seeing potential moves flicker in beth's pupils we experience her tunnel vision in the game similar imagery can be found in the epigraph of the novel the series is based on the yates poem the long-legged fly which reads like a long-legged fly upon the stream her mind moves upon silence like an insect walking along the water's surface beth is capable of miracles as a chess master not when she makes bold dramatic reckless moves but when each precise complex move feels tranquil quiet and perfectly balanced in order to reach this instinctive yet serene mental state beth must spend copious amounts of time hard at work studying and training i'll be back in the morning with more books in this way the show pokes holes in a fourth loner genius myth that the genius pre-exists perfectly and doesn't need to be developed or improved but while beth has immense natural skill you're what they call an intuitive player are you not yes i have been called that before she can't become the best in her field without the less sexy reality that thousands of hours of practice make perfect and she really excels when she condescends to learn the workmen like chess of her opponent borgov we're playing serious chess workmen like chess the kind of chess that is played by the best players in the world the soviets so counter to the misconceptions that genius must be a raw isolated superpower and curse beth lives up to her genius through collaboration hard work and managing her addiction [Music] at the same time if beth harmon is meant to feel like a real person the show falls short at achieving this goal instead the character embodies a fantasy of female genius one that's based on a male template in an attractive female form the possibilities are endless and one of those possibilities is staring at you the biggest problem with the character is not how she acts but how the world around her responds to her behavior you really are something as we've seen much of how we understand the loner genius character has to do with how people treat them the way that others universally accept their genius as legitimate and friends and sidekicks or love interests provide them with emotional and social labor while asking for nothing in return except the honor of helping said genius when this pattern is applied to beth the result is absurd you are a marvel my dear i may have just played the best chess player of my life during episode after episode the men that beth has outwitted rejected romantically or pushed away as friends return to spend hours days and weeks helping her while apparently wanting nothing from her i know you're better than me but if you're going to play the soviets you need help this all culminates in the final episode when these men band together to help her dominate and take glory 7 a.m here but we've been working on it for three hours oui hi beth hi harry the season even ends with a horde of anonymous russian men gathering around beth admiring her talent so it's clear that beth's character in a show created by a man based on a novel by a man was written without much consideration for the realistic responses women are met with when men are threatened by their skills or strength the show gives some airtime to surface level sexism that beth quickly brushes off why do they put the girls together they're not supposed to but if you win they move you up and it even pokes fun at the men's desire to mansplain to a woman who's decisively beaten them men are going to come along and want to teach you things but we don't actually see beth held back in any significant way by her gender in the real world meanwhile almost all grand masters are male there has never been a female world champion and the proportion of highly ranked female chess players is very low i knew you were going places and that meant something to me you know that it was possible for us women are pushed out of chess by systemic social factors that we don't see beth harmon struggle with women who do excel in the chess world like in other competitive male-dominated industries are often met with suspicion and anger when anna rudolph earned her international master status she was accused by several players of cheating using her lip balm as some kind of communication device far from reflecting this reality the queen's gamut largely portrays men as we wish they acted it's true that characters in tv and film often model the traits we aspire to have so in this way it's productive to put emotionally supportive open-minded men on screen doing so subverts mainstream narratives of machismo and how real men should act boy i'd love to curl up on a couch under a weighted blanket watch you've got mail and devour a box of snookers but the totally unrealistic way that her society collectively responds to beth harmon's genius by 1960s or by modern standards is damaging because it suggests that all you have to do to overcome sexism is be good enough at what you do it's your game take it in a room of one's own virginia woolf argues a woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction and since women historically haven't had that they haven't been able to produce the body of great writing that men through the centuries have likewise in chess and other largely male fields women don't really need a beth harmon to inspire them so much as they need rooms of their own this show about a female genius who's so smart and so confident that none of chess's systemic inequalities are daunting to her in the slightest misses the chance to examine the actual experiences of women with intelligence or skill who have been stymied by powerful men or by a structure that excludes them you've been the best at what you do for so long you don't even know what it's like for the rest of us the second way that beth harmon is drawn as a male fantasy of female genius is the narrow standard of beauty that beth has held to throughout the show you could never be a model you are pretty enough but you are much too smart no matter what other characteristics they have female characters in tv and film almost always adhere to a single requirement they must be conventionally gorgeous you are very beautiful i don't see myself that way then you are blind some male genius characters might be attractive but they're exempt from having to appear physically flawless their quirks and physical imperfections read as expressions of their uniqueness their disheveled presentation is a signal of their focus on more important matters but even when beth goes on a drug-fueled bender her hair is perfectly styled her legs are shaved and she wears perfectly fitted sexy clothes this is how she looks when suffering from a crippling hangover throughout the seven hours we spend on this character study of addiction and trauma we never see her diverge from an aesthetic that is appealing to the male gaze what happened that gawky kid who kicked my ass five years ago apparently she grew up if beth feels more like a sleek symbol on a pedestal than a real human woman this mirrors the queen on a chessboard who seems to have the most agency and strength on the board but is still ultimately just there to serve the king while the show falls short in this respect it does inspire us to wonder what an idea of female genius might look like if not shaped by a male template what would it mean to create protagonists who have nearly supernatural versions of stereotypically female powers like bringing the best out in other people i am so proud of you now stand next to the screen and think about all the strong female role models in your life or multitasking with sublime organizational skills cruise itineraries hot off a laminator who's ready for some non-stop totally scheduled fun yes beth ultimately achieves success through finally accepting the value of typically feminine strengths like collective collaboration and unglamorous detail-oriented work what are you doing replaying my earlier games what on earth for looking for weaknesses in my play but like male geniuses throughout film history she never even takes on the vulnerability of asking for help instead her friends knock on her front door and drive her across the country begging her permission to help her when she makes the breakthrough of actually listening to her many admirers this only happens after they wake up early to study her game in the newspaper somehow find her long distance hotel number and call her at the perfect time she doesn't even pick up the phone i'll put her on hello and in the end when borgov doesn't play according to plan it's still beth's magical instinct that carries the day in a classic superhero genius moment gender equality can't just take the form of women gaining respect by acting like men it's also about understanding the value of stereotypically female gifts encouraging people of all genders to adopt these qualities i brought you a little something oh yeah cookies or as you all call them here biscuits right and lifting up and trusting in female genius in the real world when we see it the one thing we know about elizabeth harmon is that she loves to win if you're new here be sure to subscribe and click the bell to get notified about all our new videos [Music] you

Channel: The Take

Views: 335,759

Keywords: the queen's gambit, sherlock, benedict cumberbatch, good will hunting, matt damon, ben affleck, robin williams, female genius, hidden figures, taraji p henson, molly's game, jessica chastain, parks and recreation, leslie knope, brooklyn nine-nine, amy santiago, anya taylor-joy, beth harmon, dr. house, hugh laurie, pi, a beautiful mind, loner genius, amy poehler, booksmart, emma watson, ted lasso, jason sudeikis, harry potter, the queen's gambit ending, hermione

Id: lYTCpSLac5o

Length: 23min 17sec (1397 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 05 2021