'Scream Queens' Chanels Won't Tolerate Misogyny

There are many ways to describe Chanel Oberlin and her minions — and just like the sorority sisters, most of them aren't especially kind. But for a minute, I'm going to focus on their positive qualities, because I actually found myself cheering when the Chanels addressed misogyny on Scream Queens and expressed the frustration many women feel when men treat us like objects. It's especially interesting to bring up this topic on a horror-themed show, because misogyny has frequently been discussed as an ongoing problem in the horror genre — namely because there seems to be a pleasure derived in watching females be attacked, chased, and killed. Any woman starring in a horror film better have lungs of steel because they seem to spend as much time screaming as they do reciting actual dialogue. (And I'll go ahead and state the obvious that the same doesn't apply for men in horror movies.)

For someone who doesn't seem especially academically inclined or interested in feminism, Chanel actually picked up a lot from the Women's Studies class that she took solely because it was a requirement. So when some guys on campus attempted to objectify her and the other Chanels, she made the pretty insightful point that girls as young as 10 years old can develop eating disorders because society places so much focus on the female appearance. Then she threw in this zinger: "There's a killer on campus — and when you treat us like meat, you're no better than him."

I think Chanel's words in this scene shed some light on her as a character. They initially sound pretty hypocritical coming from one of the most purposely shallow, image-obsessed characters on the series. After all, less than an hour before this showdown, she had been bragging via YouTube about the fact that she has basically no body fat. But, perhaps Chanel has way more awareness than we've given her credit for — and she may even resent the pressure she's under to look and dress a certain way in order to maintain her status. I think that out of all the characters on Scream Queens, Chanel is the one most likely to surprise us with the fact that there's way more depth to her than meets the eye.

Plus, what female hasn't had a guy on the street (or wherever else we find ourselves) give us that infuriating line to "just smile!"? So I couldn't help but cheer when Hester, in her frenzied rage, shouted "You want to see me smile? Well now I'm smiling!" as she and the other Chanels kicked some serious butt.

After the Kappa sisters were the clear victors in their altercation, Chanel #3 pointed out that the cotton balls they'd eaten for lunch just do not provide that much energy. So hopefully on a future episode of Scream Queens, we'll see the Chanels eat a real (i.e., food-based) meal. Just imagine what'll happen to the next guy who tells one of them to smile when they have energy to spare.

Image: Hilary Gayle/FOX