TEETH?

From Guest Blogger, Rebecca Dolhinow, State Delegate from Pacific Shore OC Now ~

At a point in time when women’s bodies are the focus of so much attention do we really need a film that demonizes them even more? This is the question I asked myself after watching the trailer for the new film Teeth, directed by Mitchell Lichtenstein, artist Roy Lichtenstein’s son. It wasn’t until I had done a bit more research into the film that I came to realize the film itself appears to be a bit more complex than the trailer implies. The film revolves around the vagina of a young and sexually inexperienced woman, Dawn, who is the leader of her high school’s sexual abstinence movement. It is not until her previously abstinent boyfriend can no longer remain so that she realizes, as she is being raped, her anatomy is different (he too catches on pretty quick). Lichtenstein learned of vagina dentata, in a college class with controversial feminist social critic Camille Paglia.

This is where the film could become empowering to women or become yet another way to demonize the female body – in this case, make it truly monstrous. It appears the film complicates matters enough to make the viewer think twice about how this variation of the female anatomy could affect a woman’s life. Yet shock value seems to be the main ingredient in this recipe and we can only hope for a splash of understanding on the side.

Comments

[tiggrrl]

Here's a humorous take on "vagina dentata" from the (sadly now defunct) Queen of Wands web comic:
http://www.queenofwands.net/d/20040121.html

[kbosch]

what?! i was so confused by this that i had to do a google search on vagina dentata. i have to say i'm still confused and wonder how anyone could possibly make a movie out of this.