30 Days of Carol: Day 13 – Looks Directed at the Men of Carol, Ranked By Contempt

Heather Hogan hit the nail on the head so hard when said that the reason Carol was rejected by some critics wasn’t because of homophobia, but because of misandry, that a table broke beneath her. Carol exists in a world wherein men are burdens, annoying, and avoided, and because men like to imagine themselves as the default in any scenario, they lose their goddamn minds when their worthlessness is brought to their attention. This movie did that for two beautiful hours straight, which explains some people’s reaction toward the film, but also means we got some amazing moments of women looking at men like they wished they were dead.

Usually it can be a little bit of chore going through scenes for screenshots, but I was having the time of my life with this one. Click, click y’all. Let’s bathe in them together, quantifiably.

17. This “Okay, close the door please,” look is cushioned with the kind of smile that you give to a distant relative who’s just said something really weird and you’re trying to figure out how to leave the room.

16. Therese looking into the room where Richard is sleeping like she’s at a restaurant and another party who put their name down after her just gotten called.

15. I’d come up with a comparison but this is straight up like a man shouting your name from across the room in the middle of someone telling you they love you for the first time.

14. Very cool, Harge’s dad.

13. This man is delivering Therese a letter and she says nothing while looking at him like this. Bless her.

12. Carol’s smiling but it’s the smile you give when you’re bargaining with a god you don’t believe in for either a fire alarm or a temporary blackout or both.

11. Post kiss attempt reaction looking like when you’re trying to stop someone across the room who doesn’t know they’re not supposed to say anything with your eyes.

10. Lose my number.

9. If Therese, who is elbowing Richard in the chest to keep him from touching her, were turned around, her eyes still wouldn’t be fully visible as they have rolled under the projector.

8. This looks like Carol is mentally trying to lift Harge by the throat.

7. Richard: I love you. Therese:

6. I’m sorry who are you again.

5. The visual equivalent of pulling a long hair out of the food that is currently in your mouth.

4. Take cover, boys!

3. This is the “GOD, MOM” of glances, and Richard hasn’t even said “YOU MADE ME BUY BOAT TICKETS” yet.

2. Lmao.

1. Okay, this is Carol actually wishing death upon a man. Hard to argue with the facts.

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Erin

Los Angeles based writer. Let's keep it clean out there!

Erin has written 208 articles for us.

51 Comments

      • when our moods sync, by the light of the full moon, the decline and fall of the male empire shall begin

        if only they had learned from Rome…

  5. I appreciate your therapeutic approach to exposing the mother/whore dichotomy imposed by the patriarchy, allowing us to process, and then indulging our need to acknowledge and vent our anger and disdain.

    I can’t wait to see where you’re taking us next, Erin. Also, are we still in the regression stage, and will you end up leading us in exercises as to how to fully integrate an actualized Carol within us??

    • I mean I do trust you Erin that this is a carefully researched 30 step therapeutic program for all of us. Right?

        • No joke, I had a dream last night that Erin announced she was leaving Autostraddle and wasn’t even going to finish the 30 Days of Carol. PLEASE DONT LEAVE US ERIN.

        • Oh good. I found out you were an expert on Mommi issues when googling how to store tabbouleh for a lesbian I met once, and now I’m entrusting my entire psyche to you.

          Also, now I know what to eat with toast whilst watching Carol and examining those Mommi issues so really, thank you AS.

  8. So I didn’t get to have a gay adolescence but if I had, these are the pictures I would have put up after angrily ripping all the straight dude posters off my wall.

  10. ? These looks take me back. Remember living against your own grain and then deciding not to?

    “misandry”

    • Bummer, my photo didn’t work, but you get the point with that little ‘alt’ tag I threw in. ?

  12. Said Heather Hogan to the straight man,
    Do you see what I see,
    Way up in the sky, straight man,
    Do you see what I see,
    “Carol”, “Carol”,
    Playing on my laptop,
    With Carol kissing Therese,
    With Carol kissing Therese

  14. Number 12 is me when my straight male coworker decides he can’t do his part of a job for some reason, and wants to know if I can handle it for him.

    Number 2 is me when a student, after turning in about 15% percent of their assignments, asks me on the last week of school whether they can do any extra credit to bring their grade up to an A.

  16. So…we’re shutting the interwebs down once the 30 days are through, right? Because these posts are everything now.

  18. In a related note if you are in the L.A. area The Planet, I mean Cuties Coffee, is having a screening of Carol coming up. Why not watch it in a room full of LGBTQ people.

  19. This is so so satisfying and I’m thoroughly enjoying all this because you’ve posted stuff I didn’t think anyone else had noticed. Thank goodness for queer circles

  22. “Carol exists in a world wherein men are burdens, annoying, and avoided, and because men like to imagine themselves as the default in any scenario, [they dismiss Carol]” Snaps to Heather for that poignant thesis. So true.

  26. Someone please explain why this was the cover photo for Carol the other day? I gave it look #1. Man, AS got me to join A+ and imgur in a day. *shakes fists at the sky*

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