Feminist Analysis

For discussion of Tomas Alfredson's Film Låt den rätte komma in
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crazychristina
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by crazychristina » Thu Feb 10, 2011 8:37 pm

I'm not sure that feminism is about girls being able to be as violent as boys are. I think it's more about typical female strategies for dealing with life's problems - negotiation, mediation, consensus - being as effective as typical male strategies - violence. Hence women are as powerful as men, not the same as men. Not much evidence of a female perspective in this story. I think Harbour is a more feminist novel.

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gkmoberg1
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by gkmoberg1 » Thu Feb 10, 2011 11:09 pm

gattoparde59 wrote:My take on this is a little different than what has been said so far, although Ash is on the right track.

Both Oskar and Eli are abandoned children. In lieu of the parents who have shown themselves to be childish and self-absorbed Oskar and Eli are forming their own surrogate family, they are being the parents to each other. Oskar, rightly or wrongly, I have cast in the role of the "mother," and I think Eli's attraction to Oskar is that he actually reminds Eli of his own mother. Eli, rightly or wrongly, I have cast in the role of the father. Eli, Lina's portrayal excepted, was conceived as a masculine character, conforming to masculine stereotypes. ...
What an interesting new take! Thanks gattoparde59. I'll chew on this a while.

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N.R. Gasan
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by N.R. Gasan » Fri Feb 11, 2011 1:28 am

Dragonclaws wrote:As I have now fallen in love with the LTROI film, it makes sense to do a feminist analysis of it.
And a first-rate analysis it is. Thanks, Dragon. ^5

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Aurora
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by Aurora » Fri Feb 11, 2011 8:20 am

Hi Dragonclaws, I'll admit to not having much sympathies to the more extreme feminist views out there, but I do agree that they (feminists) do provide an often refreshing view on society which is at odds to the prevailing view provided by most mainstream media.

Having said that I'm a fan of both Buffy and Twilight (perhaps the only one here) and I'm interested in your writings on these shows, so could you put up a link to your blog and/or vlog please :)
Team Eli

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Dragonclaws
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by Dragonclaws » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:13 pm

So, Virginia, despite being fairly prominent, doesn't really do very much. Eli bites her and doesn't finish the job, so she becomes a vampire. She suffers a bit as a vampire, shows us that sunlight burns, gets attacked by cats, and gets strapped to a hospital bed. Lacke tries to comfort her, but she sinks into depression and commits suicide by sunlight. Her death is used as a catalyst for Lacke to start seriously hunting down Eli, and she is only used to add to his character. This fits in with the 'women in refrigerators' plot device.
crazychristina wrote:I'm not sure that feminism is about girls being able to be as violent as boys are. I think it's more about typical female strategies for dealing with life's problems - negotiation, mediation, consensus - being as effective as typical male strategies - violence. Hence women are as powerful as men, not the same as men.
That's true in general, but this film is specifically about violence and analysis can function within that context. Femininity is seen as a weakness and it's degrading to be seen as feminine, which is a problem seen with Oskar reacting negatively to Eli's offer to help with the bullies. Otherwise, the movie is pretty good with not gendering violence. Eli is very violent, Oskar wants to be violent and later rejects violence, and there's no tying of masculinity to either's ability to commit violence. Given how often movies do gender such things, it is notable that LTROI avoids the issue pretty well.
Aurora wrote:Hi Dragonclaws, I'll admit to not having much sympathies to the more extreme feminist views out there, but I do agree that they (feminists) do provide an often refreshing view on society which is at odds to the prevailing view provided by most mainstream media.

Having said that I'm a fan of both Buffy and Twilight (perhaps the only one here) and I'm interested in your writings on these shows, so could you put up a link to your blog and/or vlog please :)
Hi. I don't consider myself an extreme feminist. Though the man-hating type does exist, they're really just a vocal minority that gets more media coverage because the media likes controversy.

The blog is here (Buffy category, Twilight category), and the vlog is here.
"The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems." --River, Firefly

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bore
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by bore » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:35 pm

Dragonclaws wrote:Oskar wants to be violent and later rejects violence, and there's no tying of masculinity to either's ability to commit violence. Given how often movies do gender such things, it is notable that LTROI avoids the issue pretty well.
It is probably not intentional but that wording implies that LtROI would actively try to avoid the issue. From what I can tell from the movie it was not really given much thought during filming.
"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by Dragonclaws » Fri Feb 11, 2011 7:40 pm

I don't mean intentionally, just that it does. I mean, they probably wanted a focus on the human aspect with violence as a thematic element and comparing characters and such, but gender elements are in there and they can be analyzed.
"The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems." --River, Firefly

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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by lombano » Sat Feb 12, 2011 7:56 am

Dragonclaws wrote:So, Virginia, despite being fairly prominent, doesn't really do very much. Eli bites her and doesn't finish the job, so she becomes a vampire. She suffers a bit as a vampire, shows us that sunlight burns, gets attacked by cats, and gets strapped to a hospital bed. Lacke tries to comfort her, but she sinks into depression and commits suicide by sunlight. Her death is used as a catalyst for Lacke to start seriously hunting down Eli, and she is only used to add to his character. This fits in with the 'women in refrigerators' plot device.
I disagree - there's a crucial role Virginia plays: we learn through her that LTROI vampires are essentially the same person as before, just trapped in a vampire's body - that is, they're not Dracula-style vampires.
Bli mig lite.

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Dragonclaws
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by Dragonclaws » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:28 am

It's true that the storyline sheds some light on the vampire mythos used. It's a pretty good narrative that can show the limits of the vampire depiction without an explicit reciting of "sunlight burns, they need an invite, it's the same person just with an infection, etc." as is often seen in vampire shows. So, yes, it adds something to the narrative; however, the Virginia character herself isn't very developed. It could be said that she makes a responsible choice in committing suicide before giving in to bloodlust, but her exact motivations are not clear. She doesn't do very much as a character even if the character does move the plot along.
"The human body can be drained of blood in 8.6 seconds given adequate vacuuming systems." --River, Firefly

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crazychristina
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Re: Feminist Analysis

Post by crazychristina » Sun Feb 13, 2011 1:36 am

I've just been pondering problem solving strategies, and the influence a little known work called How to Solve It by G Polya has had on my professional life. One piece of advice he offers is that if a problem is too complex to solve, solve a simpler one first. So, to put this in context, is LTROI a chick flick?

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