Vagina dentata
Teeth, which premiered at Sundance this year, is a film about a teenage girl who is "the local chastity group's most active participant"... and then discovers she's living the vagina dentata myth.
A stranger to her own body, innocent Dawn discovers she has a toothed vagina when she becomes the object of violence.
A friend who went to Sundance said this was the film everyone was talking about. Says director Michael Lichtenstein,
I've known about the vagina dentata myth for a long time. Though there are many versions of the myth, the story is nearly always the same: the hero must conquer the woman/creature with the teeth. I thought it would be fun and informative to turn the myth around so that it is the toothed woman who is the heroine. And the story grew out of that "what if..." premise.
I wonder if this is also what inspired the "Rapex" condom? One reviewer wrote,
If you get over the rather distasteful subject matter and focus on what's beneath the surface, you'll find a flick that's got a whole lot to say about young women and their fear of burgeoning sexuality, society's general distaste (and, let's face it, fear) of the female sex organ, and the ways in which men do a serious disservice to womankind by treating their "naughty bits" as if they're something to be ashamed of.
I can't wait to see it. My only problem is that the movie poster seems a little too fluffy-teen-comedy for the real subject matter.
0 TrackBacks
Listed below are links to blogs that reference this entry: Vagina dentata.
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://www.feministing.com/cgi-bin/movabletype/mt-tb.fcgi/4680
Weekly Feministing Newsletter
Feministing RSS Feed
I actually love the movie poster, but I agree that it looks like a teen comedy. 'Course, so were Saved and Mean Girls, and I think both of them probably had a positive effect on the culture...
Cheers,
TH
It'll be interesting to see how the director flips it. I'd read about the film on Defamer and it does look interesting, hopefully it'll get picked up for distribution.
The vagina dentata myth in and of itself is interesting with the fear of female sexuality and genitalia. I guess if it's not one thing it's another.
Queen of Wands is a great webcomic where I first heard about vagina dentata.
http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040121.html
I hope this puts a smile on your face :)
The poster looks like a teen comedy but the stills on the website don't. I'm not sure whether that means that the movie will reach audiences it otherwise wouldn't, or if it means that it'll flop because it's being marketed to the wrong audience. Hard to tell. I'd be interested in seeing it, though.
For those who have seen the film- I was wondering if the young woman had a sense of empowerment once she knew she possessed this vagina dentata, or if she was remorseful that her sex life would be impaired by it because it would not be conqured by the aforementioned "hero". Basically, is this film centered on young womans fear of sexuality, mens fear of the female sex organ, or a sense of personal power to the owner of this vagina dentata?
Though this film might wind up in the cult cinema bin, one must also admit that it's a wild theme for a nationally distributed motion picture release.
There is a free screening of 'TEETH' - January 16th in NYC ..
You Can RSVP Here: http://www.campuscircle.com/screening/TeethNY/
Can't wait to see this.
Can't wait to see this.
I actually just saw this film last evening. To answer your question, the movie focuses on all three things you mentioned, in various degrees.
The women in question does overcome her fear, even to the point of not seeing her 'teeth' as something aweful, and the movie does take some time to highlight men's fear of female sexuality. I think what surprised me the most about this film was the reaction of the male members of the audience. There was a great deal of laughter. I mean the move did have a somewhat over the top way of presenting the subject matter. To the point that it came across as a 'After School Special Of The Dammned". Make no mistake, this is a horror film, and is very graphic and even gory at points. But it's also, surprisingly, played as a comedy!