In Which I’d Like to Do Things for Which I Have No Stomach
Okay, so my undergrad thesis was on this terrible 1987 movie called The Believers, and how the film both reflected and created images about Cuban immigrants, Santeria, and the various ritual/satanic abuse nonsense that was going on at the time.
That is the single most concise manner in which I’ve ever described my thesis. You’re welcome.
Anyhoo, I’m becoming increasingly obsessed with a new genre of films called ‘torture porn’ - basically, Saw, Hostel and the like. Here’s a perfect description from an LA Times’ review of Hostel II:
…the plot finds three nubile coeds trapped in an Eastern European sadism club where fiends on vacation pay to slowly carve up strangers.
They’re part of a specifically post-9/11 genre, and seem to have a lot to tell us about fear of the unknown, the the emasculation created by such fear, and its relations to femininity. These films (as well as things like Law and Order: SVU - my least favorite television program this side of According to Jim) differ from slasher films of the 1980s, though they are in some ways closely related. I could write all sorts of a thesis on this.
But I can’t watch them.
I’m the girl who made jw sleep in my bed with me after The Ring. Andrew and I had to walk out of Severance at the Chicago International Film Festival (a selection I’m sure I’d be hearing about for years if only he could remember going). I even pretended I wanted to read my book at Danielle’s second-grade birthday sleepover where we watched A Nightmare on Elm Street. (In my defense, it was a highly inappropriate choice for seven-year-olds.)
fourfour is my inspiration for this post, though I ultimately disagree with many of his points. Here’s the quote from Hostel and Hostel II’s director that set me off:
I had been looking for stuff you could do to girls that would be awful but not so horrifying that you felt like you couldn’t watch it or you felt like you had been kicked in the stomach.
I’ve highlighted the operative word there. Granted, the two originators of the genre (Saw and Hostel) were both male-based. Ultimately, however, I think you could argue that all of the films are about emasculation and its regeneration through violence (with a healthy dose of xenophobia thrown in through Hostel, Severance, and Turistas).
But who really knows? I can’t bring myself to even watch these films without a guardian. I need Brandon Simmons, who successfully shepherded me through Silence of the Lambs without my ever seeing anything ugly/rotten/overly-scary.
Roth says that his films are political commentary. On a Fox talk show he created a stir by blaming President Bush for the recent torture horror. He called it all art responding to a world of ugly violence and a country disdainful of other cultures.
I don’t buy it. If Roth is honest and his films are commentary, he’s still not addressing the increasing sexualization of violence we’ve been seeing in many films and, disturbingly, many more television shows. I may have to suck it up and watch these films. Who wants to take care of me before/during/after?
A Queasy-Does-It Guy [LA Times/calendarlive.com] via fourfour
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June 19th, 2007 at 8:11 am
I would be happy to once again provide post-scary movie company and share my bed with you if we were in the same country. I would not however, be willing to watch any of these movies with you, even if we were in the same country. Scary movies scare me so much that i just won;t see them, not even with someone telling me when to cover my eyes. I prefer to feel safe alone in my house (or hostel) and not worry about deranged lunatics coming after me. Do boys, I mean men, ever feel like they are being stalked or watched after a horror movie or is that just a female thing (since we are most often the victims)?
June 20th, 2007 at 12:50 am
I could certainly help you through Law and Order SVU because I maintain that it is not nearly as problematic a program as you think. As for the films you mention–no way lady. Those were never meant to be viewed by sensitive progressive folks who like women (as something other than guinea pigs for my desire to combine the release of an orgasm with my preoccupation with razor blades and my fetish for sincere pleas for help). Sex is never fun when your partner is willing or can pick you out of a lineup.
Thanks for returning to blogging–I was getting bored.
June 23rd, 2007 at 6:42 am
I’ll watch the crap movies with you. Those slasher porn movies generally bore me because the things I see in my job are much more horrific. I feel out of touch with mainstream society since I have avoid 98% of them. SVU however gets me as irrate as watching Sean Hannity. Perverts should be watching that stuff on the internet, not a weekly television drama. Not to mention the forensic inaccuracies rank up there with CSI. Barf.
June 23rd, 2007 at 10:17 am
Yay! Gate reads my blog. Man, I love comments that aren’t spam for porn.
Um, I dunno Jeremy. I think there’s a broad segment of the population to which these movies appeal. Besides Andrew and me, everyone at Severance thought it was HILARIOUS. And I ran into some people I went to HS with, who are, on the whole, pretty bright and liberal.
Alright, if I make this my thesis topic, Gate’s my hero. Btw, you know this means you have to watch them all first so you can tell me where the scary bits are, right? K, thanks.
June 23rd, 2007 at 12:15 pm
mostly i was being facetious. i am sure your friends don’t hate women.
June 23rd, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Most of my friends obviously hate women.
June 29th, 2007 at 12:53 am
I don’t get the feeling of being stalked after watching. Just the feeling of oncoming vomit while watching.
I remember Severence!
July 2nd, 2007 at 10:19 am
So all a girl has to do is take you to a traumatic movie to get you to remember her? Awesome!