On Anger: A Philosophical Exploration of Women’s Anger and its Functions

Rape-revenge stories are prone to trigger anger, and this chapter explores this emotion and its potential function for the female spectator. The chapter forges connections between cognitive film theory and feminism through exploration of the philosophical study of women’s anger. Anger is seen as an important emotion in feminist and anti-racist activism: it is a refusal to accept injustices. The curtailing of women’s anger is tied to a tendency to socialise girls into a feeling of vulnerability, fear and helplessness, and anger is not easily accessible to women. Women’s anger is hard to handle, an outlaw emotion. In a world that is systematically unjust and oppressive, anger may be needed. In philosophy anger is controversial. Anger can be seen as a drive to maintain one’s self, and as an emotion with important functions, among them to communicate that one has been wronged. This chapter defends this as the value of anger, and argues that sadness and forgiveness cannot fulfil the same functions. This argument is explored in a discussion of anger and forgiveness in Twilight Portrait and Women Talking.