MovieChat Forums > Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill! (1965) Discussion > The view that it 'empowers women'

The view that it 'empowers women'

posted 12 years ago by AndreiPavlov
6 replies | jump to latest

Unfortunately, not quite. Only in the beginning we see a good rumble and a notorious kill by Varla. And then it goes downhill. Don't forget that one of the characters is a weeping young girl, who is running about like a chicken and is absolutely vulnerable. While the powerful bad girls die one by one. In the end there is only this very shuddering whimpering chick left, who gets under the wing of the macho.

It all does not look like "empowering women", does it? Hoped, the bad ladies would survive and kick everybody's ass... But it did not happen. A usual happy end, though it started with a great kick (to be more exact, with a great back-breaking). Meh!

Regards

'Nu chto gliadite? Ne poluchali davno?'

[–] VicBooth 12 years ago

I think empowerment stems from the use of a woman as a physically dominant villain, and the women not ascribing to classic gender and sexual roles.
The weepy girl finds her metal and saves the man in the end too, which wasn't too cliche.

It was the 60's after all, so give it a break. At least it passes the Bechdel test.

[–] DivingIntheBlue 12 years ago

^ This. Faster Pussycat was one of the first films to show women being physically dominating and unapologetic. They weren't interested in love or getting some guy either which again wasn't something that was a dominant theme in films at the time.

[–] bottledviolencee 10 years ago

^ Yep, this again.

Let's also not forget how much of a bad ass Tura Satana is naturally. I think she is an icon of female empowerment all in herself.

"Honey, we don't like anything soft. Everything we do is hard."

[–] ElectricWarlock 12 years ago

I partially agree with you. I didn't like when Varla died in the ending either. I loved Varla and was upset to see her get killed. She was just so interesting and entertaining and Tura Satana was wonderful at portraying her. This may sound evil, but I actually found Linda quite annoying and was hoping Varla would give her a beating but that didn't happen.

I've been waiting for you, Ben.

[–] tob_error412 11 years ago

I sorta agree with you, but I have to say that I really don't care for this overemphasis on gender in analyzing film.

It's a question that pops up too often: is a film 'empowering' or not? I tend to believe that most directors aren't out to make a statement on gender roles.

Especially not Russ Meyer who just created fun, violent, cartoonsy flicks. But 'bad' characters never survive in his films: promiscuous or dominant women, wifebeaters, impotent men.. they all perish. Only morally sensible individuals survive, but this is often portrayed in an ironic light. Meyer doesn't seem to take this sense of morality very serious, which I find very amusing about his work.

[–] porfle 10 years ago

It's weird to me that Varla is so admired as a symbol of "female empowerment" when she's really just a sadistic, cold-blooded murderer who terrorizes both men and women for her own cruel kicks. A fun character to be sure, but this reminded me of a monster movie with Varla as the monster. I was glad to see her character die. In fact, she didn't die bad enough to suit me.