Since the commencement of a web site about Taarna in 2002, I have been fortunate to receive several e-mails from women (and men) who indicated that they were positively influenced by the Taarna figure, and felt that her character was praiseworthy. Several messages have also been posted by people who either named their daughter after Taarna, or by women who were named Taarna by their parents, an additional indicator that the sequence had a positive impact on some people. As one father stated, "I hope one day [my] daughter . . . will see the tale of her namesake, and will grow to be good and strong just as the original Taarna was."
In my opinion, the reaction of those who have seen this movie is more a reflection of the views they held about women before watching the show than of any innate quality of the movie itself. That having been said, anyone who has read about the production of this film knows that Ivan Reitman and those who worked on the 'Taarna' sequence made a deliberate decision to give her a voluptuous figure in a revealing, leather outfit. While this was certainly consistent with the tone and content of the Heavy Metal magazine, it reveals that the producers were not above an appeal to our baser instincts in order that the movie might do well in the box office.
We can, of course, choose to govern our emotional response as we see fit. I, for one, prefer to see the beauty in Taarna--including, not denying, a powerful, feminine sexuality--rather than succumb to a merely lascivious attitude in which women are veiwed chiefly as objects of sexual gratification. The women who have commented favorably about the character in response to my site have, I believe, adopted a similar attitude.
reply
share
Miss_October
17 years ago
In my experience, most women who regurgitate neofeminist dogma about films "demeaning women", etc, are either pure parrots who are too dim to understand what they are repeating, or else women who are in denial about their own sexuality (chiefly the latter). I know that when I was a stripper, the loudest voices of criticism came from the buttoned-up type who is afraid to display her feminine charms, or else those who lack those charms altogether.
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
reply
share
kristy007l
17 years ago
Those 'button up types' you're referring to..would those happen to be women who keep their clothes ON rather than whoring themselves for money?
reply
share
Miss_October
17 years ago
By "buttoned-up types" I mean the sort of woman who keeps her clothes buttoned up so high, one might believe that she thinks the male gaze will burn her delicate skin.
But as for "whoring themselves for money," unless you're independently wealthy or sponge off your parents, YOU whore yourself for money as well, as does everyone. You perform a service that you would not do unless you were being paid for it, and you make money to do the things you would rather be doing. As a stripper my job was easy, my hours were flexible, I had a great deal of personal freedom, my employer didn't have access to all sorts of personal information about me, I often had fun and I cleared over $1500 per week in the late 90s. Can you say the same about your job?
Of course, if you are one of those women who think it's a crime or sin to entertain men while making lots of money, all I can say is that I feel sorry for you. I hope you grow to accept your own femininity someday, at least to the extent that you stop judging your sisters by your own prudish notions.
Woman is the Earth and Man is the Sky.
reply
share