You know, there’s a reason why the original, untranslated title of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is The Men Who Hate Women. And Lisbeth Salander, the dragon-tattooed woman — not girl; she’s a goddammned adult, for Christ’s sake — herself has good reason to understand intimately men who hate women. And her attire — the spiky hair, the piercings, the dark eye makeup, everything she wears — is designed to say Stay the fuck away. Salander is not a woman who is courting the male gaze. She is attempting to deflect it. She is like a porcupine warning all off.
The Swedish poster for Man som hatar kvinnor (The men who hate women) gets it right:
Salander is daring the viewer, with her gaze, to just fucking try something. Also: She’s fully clothed.
And now take a look at the poster for the Hollywood version, coming this Christmas (via CinemaBlend.com):
What. The. Fuck. Rooney Mara’s Salander is practically fucking naked. Her gaze is a submissive come-on, not a challenging keep-away. Daniel Craig’s arm is around her in a way that cannot even be said to be condescending and protective: it looks like she is his captive. And why the hell is he fully dressed? There’s more no reason for her to be naked than him… yet she is presented as a sexual object — which is entirely contrary to the spirit and the theme of the character and the story — while he is not. It would make just as much sense for him to be naked on the poster as it does for her to be.
I’ll tell you fucking what: This looks like an illustration of men who hate women… even though the character Craig plays, Mikael Blomkvist, is supposed to be one of the good guys.
Is David Fincher’s movie going to miss the point, too?
