Friday 1 February 2008

Response to Shriver's analysis of 70's Horror

Following my blog about the SS Experiment Concentration Camp film I read an article in The Guardian by Lionel Shriver, who watched and attempted to analyse several so called 'video nasties' made 20 years ago.

Although I can see that Shriver is trying to make the point that such films as 'I spit on your grave' and 'Last house on the left' graphically and violently are nothing in comparison to real life footage of war shown on the evening news - I disagreed with her conclusion that: "let me tell you: these films are crap."



Shriver does not look at the films in terms of the cultural context in which they were made and dismisses them as unimportant in film history.

In fact, as I have said before, these films do - albeit perhaps unconciously - reveal society's and men's fears of the 2nd wave feminist movement (as well as highlighting fears of other cultural changes and political issues of the time such as the Vietnam war). These are well known arguments in film theory and valid ones, I think.

For example, the female charcater in 'I spit on your grave', having been gang raped, chooses to fight back (as they would have you believe a 'monstrous' feminist would) and get her bloody revenge. However, the woman is represented not as a victim but becomes monstrous in her revenge, cutting off one of the rapists penis' in the bath after luring him there with promise of sex.

This shows mens unconcious fear of women and feminists at the time, trying to make feminists into some kind of crazy, dangerous man-hating women solely to illegitimise the aims of feminism.

Shriver, meanwhile dismisses this film as a 'sad excuse for cinema', it may well be tasteless and anti feminist - but irrelevant it is not.

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