On "Teeth": An Anti-Feminist Tirade

[nacreousflaneur]

This past weekend, goodbyebartleby, my old nemesis--the Myrna Minkoff to my Ignatius J. Reilly--persuaded me to watch "Teeth", a film about a girl who... well, about a girl who possesses a...well, let's just call it an "unusual biological adaptation".

Comments

[goodbyebartleby]

D'you know what else is a good movie? Gremlins 2. It's on HBO at the moment and cracking me up hardcore :D

[nacreousflaneur]

Oh, man, don't even get me started on the sociopolitical ramifications of that one. ;P

[lapiskelinia]

What sociopolitical ramifications?

[seraphbriar]

Much of my problem with the most militant parts of feminism is this very reduction of "all men are pigs." They're not. Just as all women aren't barefoot baby-making machines. People - especially people who have been hurt or are insecure about themselves - are prone to these sorts of polarizing reductions of their "enemy" into something dehuman and unsympathetic. It happens in wars too, with far worse consequence.

The vagina dentata concept (I'm suddenly reminded of a scene from near the end of Snowcrash...) isn't one that really grabs me with its potential, and maybe I'm just not thinking broadly enough. It's all well and good to be able to level the playing field a bit, but to strike back so brutally is rather offensive...

[nacreousflaneur]

Sweeping generalizations tend to be fallacious, as a rule. Unfortunately, stereotypes exist because there are examples of the type. There are lecherous sleazebags out there (see Joe Francis, founder of the Girls Gone Wild empire, for a perfect case in point). The important thing to remember is that not all men are like him, just as all feminists are not buzz-cut, flannel-wearing, man-hating lesbians. =)

[jdevil_76]

Sounds like...satire.

[lapiskelinia]

I'm watching it for fun and amusement.

So far, I notice that our heroine is depicted as a naive joke. Which in a way, she certainly is.

...She's also very bug-eyed.

More notices as events warrant!

[lapiskelinia]

Remy, feel free to delete these comments if they're not appropriate. I'm just sitting back and enjoying myself.

Dawn's trapped in her life. Her best friend's shirt is really cool (I think) when you first see it. Otherwise, those are necklaces, and that's less entertaining.

The boyfriend's got history... ooooooo.

I nearly laughed my head off at the look on her face when she discovered the vagina dentata myth.

[nacreousflaneur]

No worries! I always enjoy your unique perspectives on things...

[lapiskelinia]

Heh... Unique perspective. That kinda worries me. I have some serious questions about my perspective.

[_boneflower_]

Well, I'm honestly struggling to find a good/clear way to respond to this.

I fail to see how this is an anti-feminist tirade, honestly. It seems like an insightful critique of a lame movie. Perhaps it is an anti-militant-feminism tirade, but please remember that many, many of us feminists are not man-haters and in fact like men and want them to be treated less stupidly by society. I am very against the notion of hating an entire gender (in this case, men). It would be sort of hypocritical, in my opinion... The idea that it is somehow fair to turn violence against men as revenge for male violence against women is fucked up. Violence against anyone diminishes us all, and it isn't made better by equal amounts of violence in the opposite direction. Just my two cents, lest you think everyone who is a feminist or a survivor would somehow take joy in seeing a guy lose his junk. That's just as twisted, to me, as taking joy in watching mutants rape a young woman. Both are pretty equally aesthetically offensive to me.

[nacreousflaneur]

No, you hit the nail on the head. I called it an "anti-feminist tirade" just because I wanted to provoke some responses *sneaky*