'The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo' offers more crumbs to the queer community

My book group recently relented to the hype and read Stieg Larsson's enormously successful thriller, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," which features a troubled but gifted queer woman as its title character. As a result, Lisbeth Salander, a computer hacker with a photographic memory and her own code of justice, is being celebrated in some circles (AfterEllen) as a queer heroine and decried in others as just another example of misogyny (Guardian.)

While I confess to being sucked into the book, and while I concede that Salander is, indeed, refreshing in that her very presence does represent queers who are so often absent in the mainstream, I do have a few serious concerns:

(SPOILER ALERT)

1. Salander is brutally and sexually tortured in a scene that goes on far too long and in far more detail than necessary. (And I would further argue that in fact the torture was in no way needed to advance the plot.) In the words of one of the women in my group: "It makes you wonder who's getting off on this."

2. Salander's bisexuality is so minor in the book that one of the women in my group missed it. Salander spends a lot more time in bed with the male protagonist, whose character is so self-indulgently and obviously a fantasy of the male sexual conquerer that I am embarrassed for the deceased Larsson. (Apparently the second book in the trilogy offers Salander in a more developed lesbian relationship.)

3. Salander is a deviant who is victimized, lives on the fringe, and is unwelcome and disinterested in civic and social institutions. This is a very unfortunate throwback to 1950s-era representations of tragic and dysfunctional gay and lesbian life.


Okay, onward. The film version in theaters now is a Swedish-made movie starring Noomi Rapace (above) as Lisbeth Salander. I'm hearing that this film is excellent, and, on first glance, I'm at least pleased that they did not "straighten up" Salander. Rapace looks to me like an authentic queer woman. Cheers for that.

In the meantime, the American film version will be directed by David Fincher, whose work includes Se7en, Fight Club, and Panic Room. His style is too violent for my taste, but he is a master of edgy mood. And he's not afraid to let lesbians and tomboys be themselves on screen, as was evident with Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart in Panic Room, in which, some have said, Stewart played "Jodie Foster's son." By the way, Fincher also seems to like working with repeat actors (e.g. Brad Pitt.) Might he also like to work again with tomboy Stewart, who is reportedly interested in the Salander role? (And so is gamine cutie Carey Mulligan.) Or might he like working again with Jodie Foster? If she weren't a complete failure at creating sexual chemistry with her male counterparts (e.g. Sommersby, Contact, Anna and the King, etc., etc.), she would make a fabulous Erika Berger. Therefore, she gets my vote for playing Harriet Vanger...

Clearly, Jodie adores Kristen

Knowing full well that I write too much about certain topics, I just need to call your attention to this remarkable video in which we see Jodie gazing adoringly, for longer than what might be considered socially customary, at her young doppelganger.

UPDATE: Okay, I just discovered the video has been removed from YouTube for copyright reasons. For those of you poor souls who missed it (which means you really need to peek at the Sapphist Gazetteer more frequently...), I will use my extensive journalistic training to describe it to you: Jodie Foster and Kristen Stewart are standing close together surrounded by people at what appears to be a red carpet event. Jodie is formally attired and looks otherworldly perfect (Caprica Six-ish) in a tiny, shiny cocktail dress. Kristen looks like a pretty but awkward teenager in jeans who'd rather not be at the soirée. Kristen is talking to Jodie and brushing her hair out of her face like a teenage girl, and Jodie is gazing at Kristen with intense attention as if she's the most fascinating creature Jodie has ever encountered.

The Kristen Stewart/Jodie Foster Parallel

When first we saw young Kristen Stewart rolling around tomboy-style on her scooter in the opening scenes of Panic Room, we could see she was destined to grow up to be much like her co-star Jodie Foster. According to a recent profile of Stewart in The New York Times, she and Foster still exchange Christmas cards and advice. Foster's tip to Stewart for navigating her burst into adult stardom is to protect her privacy. This is sage advice in a Hollywood landscape strewn with the wreckage of overly exposed young entertainers. But is it also particularly important advice to a young actor whose private life—like Foster's—is not what Hollywood wants in its bright new star?
Shhhh. Don't ask, don't tell.