Gen Z is unapologetic and has salvaged many things women have previously been shamed for, especially angst. This generation has taken female anger and frustration under its wing and wears these emotions with pride, using female rage edits on platforms like tiktok and instagram as a form of expression.
Creators and consumers of these edits are proudly reclaiming insanity, obsession and being unhinged.
Women snap, and they get it.
It is evident that madness and hiding your raw emotions are outdated concepts. With many seeking solace in these unhinged and frustrated women, the next step is to let this seep into society. Allowing women to express their true feelings, maybe not to the extent that are depicted in cinema, is on the checklist for Gen Z’s crusade.
A wider acceptance and acknowledgement of women’s mental health and ill thoughts can only surely have a positive impact. Cinema has depicted women in this light for decades, but now, instead of it being suppressive, it is empowering. Many can relate and feel consoled.
Female Rage in Mythology: Medusa
Medusa’s myth serves as a striking analogy for the suppression and weaponization of female rage. Blamed for her beauty and punished for her assault, Medusa’s story encapsulates a culture that demonizes women’s anger, independence, and sexuality. Her transformation into a monster symbolizes society’s attempt to silence and control powerful women by framing their strength as a threat.
This narrative resonates deeply with modern experiences, where women’s rage is often dismissed or vilified. Medusa’s punishment reflects the double bind women face today: expressing anger risks being labeled as dangerous or hysterical, while suppressing it reinforces societal expectations of passivity. In either case, female rage is deemed unacceptable, a challenge to the patriarchal order that must be subdued.
A feminist reinterpretation reclaims Medusa’s power, suggesting Athena’s actions were not a punishment but a gift. Stripped of the beauty that made her vulnerable, Medusa’s rage was externalized into a force of protection, turning her anger into a weapon against male entitlement. Her gaze became a metaphorical stand against those who sought to harm or control her.
Medusa’s story also highlights the endurance of the “angry woman” stereotype, often used to discredit female leaders. Figures like Hillary Clinton, Angela Merkel, and Theresa May have been compared to Medusa, their authority reduced to monstrous imagery that reinforces patriarchal fears of women’s power. This demonization of female rage underscores the enduring discomfort with women who challenge societal norms.
Ultimately, Medusa embodies both the struggle and the potential of female rage. Her story speaks to the transformative power of anger when channeled into resistance and resilience. From a monster to a symbol of protection, Medusa’s legacy reminds us of the strength found in confronting and reclaiming what society seeks to suppress.
As I was looking for inspiration one day I came across this video. These types of videos are not a new way of editing or portraying female rage/ female experiences. These „Fan edits“ are video clips that are edited together in a video with an underlying message. In this case: the portrayal of what it means to a woman. These Fan often consist of recognisable dialogues from movies, as well as music that deals with the topic in its lyrics. If you scroll through tiktok and searhc female rage, you will stumble upon many videos that consist of these features. Dialogues from „Barbie“, „Black swan“, „Hidden Figures“ are often used to portray these feelings. There even is a whole genre that fits into these categories. Songs like „Labour“ by Paris Paloma or „Abbey“ by Mitski are often used for these edits.
Scolling through the comments under this video showed once more that this is not a individual phenomenon. Girls are raised in the patriarchy to become a woman. The idea of a woman in the patriarchy is an idea that no one can live up to. Therefore women often do not feel good enough.
Anya Taylor Joy is one of the many actors who spoke up about female age on set and film. She recons a scene in „The menu“ where she slaps her partner. This was not in the script – The script said that she sits silently while a tear is running down her face, even though her partner betrayed her and that would mean that she dies. More actors open up about their real feelings on set and let that also fit into their character on screen. Expressing emotions how they would feel is a way to change these norms and the scene.
THE CRAZY BITCH
One of the many trends on Tiktok as I said alfready id the rise of female rage. One of the starting points for this trend was a scene in the movie “Pearl” where the character played by Mia Goth gets rejected at an audition. Instead of claiming the rejection and leaving the stage she screams “Please! I’m a star!!!!!”. The edits of women in film in distress are flooding social media, espacially tiktok. They’re a series of clips compiled into a video where female characters are screaming venom through their tears. As the name suggests, they’re full of rage.
Often these emotional outbursts are a response to male characters or injustice.
These edits are followed by music like Lana Del Rey’s Pretty When I Cry, Mitski’s Liquid Smooth, Tchaikovsky’s Swan Lake. Music is one of the key element in these edits that enhances the extreme emotions and blood-curdling screams. The most common films that appear in these edits are Pearl, X, Gone Girl, Jennifer’s Body, Don’t Worry Darling, and Thirteen – just to name a handful.
The edits feature lines from these films that evoke strong emotions, such as: “It’s my life, you don’t get to take that from me,” “I work like a dog, day and night,” “Why are you leaving me if I didn’t do anything wrong? I don’t understand, I thought you liked me,” “What is wrong with me? What the fuck is going wrong inside my head,” “Where do you think I learned all this shit from?”
Extreme phrases like this would have once been shameful to relate to, yet now the comment sections are full of phrases like: “female rage is so powerful,” “she’s so me,” “I love women,” and “real.”
