Sophia's Cinematic Inspirations

I adore this film. Seriously. Looking through all the other films on my list so far, Holy Smoke stands alone as THE one truly realistic portrayal of what my relationships are like.

Most films with manipulative, deadly women are very much instances of a little concept called "the male gaze". The Femme Fatales are very much refracted through the prism of a male point of view. The femme fatales are usually not full people in their own right-- rather they exist only in so far as they affect the other characters. The women in most films are more like objects who signifying qualities such as unattainable beauty, unbridled sexuality, and unchecked feminine power, etc. Take the film Poison Ivy for example-- the film isn't really ABOUT Ivy herself-- it's about all the people who Ivy interacts with. Ivy is two-dimensional. She's just an "insert sexy,powerful, cruel female here". This sort of portrayal fails to truly reflect the reality of the kind of exploitive relationships I have.

At the same time, most films get the victims all wrong. Usually, they're portrayed as helpless bystanders who meet a dangerous woman and fall victim to her lies, her violence, or her criminal genius. There's a kernel of truth in this-- my 'victims' are powerless to stop me. But this powerless doesn't stem from the fact that I'm just so good at lying-- and I never have to stoop so low as to commit crimes. The truth is, the people who fall for me are innately flawed. Emotionally maimed. Internally crippled. They can be successful at their careers, they can be the most popular in their social group, and they can look completely normal and happy to the untrained eye.

But at their heart, they need what only I can give them. I don't just outsmart them or trick them into being willing to destroy themselves for me-- they crave that destruction. Most films, like Poison Ivy, portray women like me as intrinsically two-faced, hiding our true natures. Obviously, like anyone, I don't just advertise everything about myself to any stranger-- but I don't have to hide myself from my 'victims'. Rather, my 'victims' actively seek out a woman like me-- when they learn I hurt them, they don't run away-- they come running back for more.

Case in point: I have an ex-friend named Hannah. Hannah was in my inner circle, privy to frank discussions of what I do. She saw the guys who bought me stuff, the guys who ran errands for me, the guys who wrote me love letters once a day, every day, for months at a time. She never complained when I would have one of my little friends help her move, or that time she got her Women Studies final paper written for her by a guy who was in love with me.

Hannah introduced me to a friend of hers who lived in her dorm at NYU-- I think his name was Richard, so I will refer to him as such since I don't feel like looking him up in my scrapbook. Anyway, Richard was one of those people who are totally susceptible-- one look and I could tell that Richard had been waiting his whole life for somebody like me to come along and take what she wanted from him. And of course, I encouraged this emotion.

After Richard had roses delivered to me the first time, however, Hannah got most upset and tried to convince me to leave Richard alone. Some of my other friends thought Hannah was jealous, that she harbored a deep crush on Richard. I don't actually think that was it-- it's possible, but mostly I think Hannah just felt really guilty. She had introduced me to Richard, she was clearly my friend, and she had basically given me her "stamp of approval". In her mind, any damage I did to poor wittle Richard would be her fault, and she just couldn't live with that.

Whatever her motivations, Hannah emailed me one day and threatened to tell Richard all about me. She had written up a whole little "report" on me-- the worst things I'd done to people (that she knew about), the fact that I didn't love Richard and never would love him. It was rambling, but it was full of dirt about what a cruel bitch I am. Hannah wanted me to stop talking to Richard, or else she would email Richard and send him her little report on the the laundry list of evil deeds I'd done.

I was partially pissed at Hannah for freaking out on me, but I was kinda amused too, in a "'crisis' is just another word for 'opportunity'" sort of way. I wrote her back and told her to send Richard the email. I told her if she didn't send it to him, I would. And I told her it wouldn't save him. It wouldn't make him stop wanting me. It wouldn't fix him. It wouldn't rescue him.

And it didn't.

Holy Smoke really captures this relationship-- this dark dance that people enter into with me. Films based on the male gaze operate on the metaphor of "Cruel Woman as Criminal". The film Holy Smoke correctly shows us the better metaphor-- "Weak victims as addicts".

Ruth, a beautiful college-aged woman, travels with her friends to India. While there, Ruth has a spiritual experience, converts to Hinduism, and decides to live in India, rather than return home to Australia with all her friends.

Her parents, back home in Australia, are convinced that Ruth has become a cult member. Sparing no expense, they consult psychologists and hatch a plan to "rescue" Ruth from her Hinduism. To get her out of India, they tell her that her father is dying. Ruth reluctantly agrees to return home.

To meet Ruth when she returns, her parents have hired the world's most renown "Cult De-Programmer"-- a man named PJ Waters. The second I saw PJ, I hated him. He's ultra-macho, clad in cowboy boot and jeans, barking orders to everyone around him. An old man in his 60's who still dresses like a cowboy, PJ has done hundreds of interventions and he is always successful. It's his job to "break" Ruth's mind, and to turn her back into a good little Christian girl. He's misogynistic, he's arrogant, and he's egotistical.

Once Ruth returns home to see her "sick" father, her family tells her the truth-- Daddy isn't sick. They surround her, physically restraining her. Ruth finds herself kidnapped by her own family. She begs them to let her go, but they refuse. They even take her shoes from her, leaving her barefoot and unable to run away. Her Indian vestments are ripped from her, and she is utterly powerless-- a prisoner in a ranch house out in the middle of nowhere-- with no one but PJ around. Once the family leaves, PJ begins his "deprogramming", and the fun is about to start.

It's obvious that PJ is attracted to the beautiful Ruth-- something she quickly uses against him. She mocks him: "I'll bet you date little Barbie dolls, don't you?"-- she then does an impression of a brainless bimbo "Oh! You're so brainy! Oh, you're so big!".

PJ keeps subtly flirting with Ruth-- who finally allows him to sleep with her. In the morning, he dumbly asks "How was it for you?" He expects compliments. He's crushed when she responds "A bit revolting." To prove her point, Ruth mockingly quotes his words in bed in a bad impression of him. "Oh, babe. Oh, babe.. Come, babe!" PJ is obviously crushed.

But despite her bad review, Ruth decides to give PJ a second chance. "What about you kiss me? Let's see if I can teach you," she tells him. PJ is offended. "I know how to do it!", he retorts indignantly. Ruth sternly corrects him,"I don't think so. Not so I like it.". She then rattles off instructions, teaching him step by step how to kiss her and eventually how to go down on her. She criticizes PJ, giving him lots of little instructions on how to do better. He happily obeys.

The next day, he's desperate for more. But she begins to belittle him-- mocking him for his age, and pointing out how beautiful she is, while he is so old and shriveled. He tells her "I was young once too, and handsome. You would have been impressed." She retorts "I wasn't BORN yet!" and he looks so perfectly crushed. He tells her "Your physical superiority makes you unkind."-- a quote that's so good, I would probably get it as a tattoo if I were the tattooing type. She calls him a "Dirty Old Man", and says he ought to take out a personal ad: "Old salivating slob seeks slim young thing for stimulating conversation."

But then, in a fit of genius, Ruth changes tactics. She turns to PJ and explains: "You need a fun-loving woman who's your same age. I've got just the girl for you." She then takes out some lipstick and holds it out in front of him. He consents, and she applies the bright red lipstick to PJ's lips. She then puts him in a slutty red dress. She primps him saying,"You look lovely. Sexy. I bet you bake great cakes." When he moves to touch her, she looked disgusted-- "You dirty old lezzie!" she exclaims, and runs from the room.

PJ chases after her, desperately. Suddenly Ruth pops out and in a giddy voice says,"I won, didn't I? I'm on top, aren't I?". PJ nods in assent. Ruth celebrates, jumping around exclaiming,"I'm the winner!". She then exercises her newfound dominance. "So, what are you?", she asks him. He knows what she wants to hear, and he answers honestly,"A dirty old man." She roars with approving laughter and tells him,"I wish my friends were here, then we could really laugh." It's a wonderful, wonderful moment.

But all good things must end, it seems. Eventually, Ruth begins to have doubts, and starts feeling guilty for abusing PJ. She comments,"I'm heartless." But PJ loves her heartlessness, he begs for more abuse: "I'm hoping you're heartless enough to abuse me for your own sick pleasure." Ruth decides to leave the ranch-- she walks off across the desert. PJ pathetically chases after her, barefoot, wearing his lipstick and his dress. The image of a beautiful woman walking away, followed by a pathetic old man wearing a dress is unforgettable. PJ begs her to take him back, to hurt him more. In desperation, he offers to take her back to India. The once mighty cult-deprogrammer has been reduced to a self-destructive slobbering fool.

In the epilogue, we see PJ a year later. He has just received a letter from Ruth, and is writing a reply. He tells her that he has gotten married and now has two twin sons. He seems happy in his new family life. Just when we start to think he's cured himself, he signs off the letter by telling Ruth that he will be "hers always"-- adding "don't tell my wife". We realize he still worships Ruth and is desperate for more of her abuse.

Debra Lafave was one of those crazy teachers that sleeps with their students due to some unfathomable psychosis. She's obviously out of her mind-- what better definition of insanity is there than being attracted to 14 year old boys? 14 year old boys are disgusting. I wouldn't have gone out with a 14 year old boy when I _WAS_ 14. That said, I can't really regard Debra as Satan-Incarnate. If the student actually felt pressured or molested, okay, shame shame on her. But if the student was like every other male I've known, he had the time of his life, and only claimed "it was all her idea" after mommy and daddy found out. So Debra probably isn't an "evil child molester", just an insane freak who gave some teenager the time of his life.

I mention Debra here, however, not for her crime but for her trial. Her lawyer argued that Debra was "too good-looking" to be allowed to go to jail. Said her lawyer: "To place an attractive young woman in that kind of hell hole is like placing a piece of raw meat in with the lions." People always suggest there might be a double standard in our legal system-- that if you're intelligent and beautiful, you can get off scott free, but if you dumb and ugly, you're going to the slammer.

And it's all true. I'm beautiful, and most likely, you're not. Scientists have found that I will make more money than you, be more likely to be hired than you, be more likely to be promoted than you. I will get a warning for speeding, whereas you will get a ticket. I will have to pay less for a new car or a new house (even though I already make more money). If I run for office against you, I will get more votes than you will. If I commit a crime, the prosecutor will file lesser charges against me, the judge will rule more favorably towards me, the jury will be more likely to acquit me, and if convicted, I will get a lesser punishment than you.

And there's nothing you can do about it. I don't make that true-- you make it true. Overweight people can complain about discrimination-- but if they had the chance to date a beautiful person or another tubby freak-- which one do you think they'd pick?

The attorney for Debra came out and said this. He said what everyone already knows. She's beautiful. A jury is going to acquit her because the jurors will realize that the student probably wasn't pushed into anything-- he probably begged for it. If she was an ugly woman or, god forbid, male-- well then the charges would stick. But jurors aren't going to sentence one of the Beautiful People to jail. The attorney just came out and said "She is too beautiful to go to jail". We all knew it was true, he just said it. And after that, it was up to the judge and the prosecutor to decide what to do.

Debra got off. Charges dropped. No jail time. She has since become a high-paid model.