John Waters once said that there are no bad films because if you are watching something you don't like, you can always just amuse yourself by studying the various light fixtures on the set. Well, gender provides me with all the light fixtures I need to get through just about anything. Laura Mars is a photographer plagued by visions of violent murder. All of a sudden, something will come over her and she won't be looking through her own eyes, but through the eyes of the killer. The killer is slowly but steadily picking off the people who are close to Laura and her work. As we watch, we see Laura tangled in a web of men, each pulling on her with his sticky silk threads from a different direction. At first we are led down the classic homophobic/transphobic horror route, but as it turns out the film veers completely from that path and instead asks us to fear something really terrifying: the overprotective macho with "mother" issues! In the end, Laura is able to save herself because she honors her illogical, hysterical, instinctive visions. I spent a lot of this movie wondering why such a strong, talented artist would let herself be pushed around by so many manipulative men, but when it comes right down to it (kind of like in real life) the Feminine so clearly mops up the court with the oppressor that their manipulations just seem childish in comparison with her wisdom.
4 comments:
all blog posts should start with "john waters once said..."
let's up the JW presence on our blogs.
it is also laura mars' ability to literally see from a different perspective/subject position that saves her life and this ability is the basis for the misogynist stereotype of women as indecisive and empathic to the point of weakness.
maybe this was actually a feminist movie...
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