Hear/Say

I find it very strange that “Men Who Hate Women” is re-titled to “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”.

In context of the story, there are so many arguments to be made against this. 1. Why girl? Why fetishize the antiheroine when the original title of the story strives to save women from that role? 2. Also, the fact that Lisbeth the lesbian sleeps with the reporter and hints at “loving” him while she becomes a strange drag-queen of sorts with that silver heel, blonde money momma get up is also fishy; 3. it refocuses the entirety of the plot on Lisbeth, while what should be focused on is the often abusive, violent relationship between men and women in all parts of society– not just the impoverished or the weak. While I myself was cheering as she stuck the evil probation officer with the dildo, taking revenge through violence is not so impressive– exposing his monstrosity to the world is. Esp. as he committed such an atrocious rape, this crime is turned back unto him 100 fold.

The dragon tattoo might be impressive– it may be symbolic of the emotional infrastructure of the movie, what with protective scales and ferocity within Lisbeth herself, it’s a symbol that’s too literal– her glittery eyes, the match she flicks onto the man, while she watches the villains burn. We get it. I suppose she is to be their savior, the one that avenges their deaths and pain– but with Mikhail as the gentle mentor, and Lisbeth as the “crazed female lesbian” archetype.

The original title, along with Lisbeth’s gradually unfolding story, also implies that her sexual orientation is merely circumstantial: her discomfort with men derives from childhood trauma of her father beating her mother, her lack of full independence due to control by the state, the man, the probation officers and their dirty genitals, the casual violence of men all around her in society (in the subway)– while Plague, the hacker she does semi-befriend, is a sexless hacker in the body of a flabby, impotent potato-chip-eating man. Why does she sleep with Mikhail? There is no logical reason.

Granted, as a book adaptation, the movie probably had to make concessions as it was already quite the lengthy ordeal. There was clearly more story to Lisbeth than the flashes of her past we were allowed to glimpse, more complications for each behavior. I just wish the focus of the plot and the theme of the story weren’t so blatantly butchered to sex it up.