Sophia's Cinematic Inspirations

I was excited when NetFlix recommended this film. The synopsis claims that it's about three boarding-school girls who, angered by the males around them, decide to start sexually humiliating men at gunpoint. I thought it sounded like a great film, right?

But alas, I found the girls completely annoying and generally pathetic. They are desperate to be with any guy they can. They sob at rejection, they turn against each other more than they turn against men. They're not powerful, they're just sad. So however laudable the goal of raping and humiliating men is, I can't truly list it as an inspirational film if the people are weak and annoying. At the same time, having watched a movie about raping men at gunpoint, I hardly feel right not giving the film a mention.

So I thought I'd write up a little thing about the only person I identified with in the film: the minor character of a morbid hippie little sister played by the wonderful Thora Birch. She's other-worldy-- floating about the melodrama that the three main characters undergo. Intelligent, witty, and mysterious, Thora Birch's character plays with guns and drives sports cars without a license. She's clearly wise beyond her years and the rules that bind others simply do not seem to apply to her. She doesn't feel victimized, so she doesn't get in on the humiliation action-- but if anyone in the film inspires me, it's her.

I too often feel other-worldly, as if I'm not quite the same species as the losers who surround me. I hear women sob and sob about how broken their hearts are and I'm repulsed that they shed tears over guys who clearly aren't worth even thinking about. I see them get frustrated and angry because they can't control the men in their lives-- even though no one is easier to control than men.

The subject of the film vaguely involves women tying up a man and raping him-- but it's so poorly done that it's hardly worth watching. The man shows little sense of true humiliation, and the girls are so stressed out that they seem to take no joy in the process. I do have a lot of interesting thoughts on the whole subject of raping a man-- but I don't think I'm going to waste them on this movie.

I think this is a really fun film. Now granted, it's a 1920s German silent film, so you have to like art films and silent films to be able to enjoy it. But since I adore them, I love Pandora's Box, and I was amazed at this early example of the "Emotionally destructive temptress" archetype.

Lulu is an actress. Everyone who sees her falls in love with her. Everyone. As one review says: "Lulu's raw sexuality and uninhibited nature bring about the downfall of almost everyone she meets." She meets a newspaper publisher, and he becomes so obsessed with her that he is driven to the brink of insanity, and she is forced to kill him. She's found guilty of murder, but a group of people who are all in love with her stage an escape and rescue her. Among the people who are completely obsessed with her are an old man who knows he has no chance with her but still worships hers, a young man who is the SON of the man she murdered, and a countess who is driven to lesbianism by the mere sight of Lulu.

It's a silent film, so you have to do a lot of "reading between the lines". Lulu isn't quite as mean as I am, and she sometimes seems more like a passive instance of female perfection, rather than an active seducer. People just seem to fall in love with Lulu and she's almost clueless as to why, whereas I consciously MAKE people want me. But it's a fun movie all the same, and from 1920s Germany!

It's rare to find a movie that can actually turn me on-- much less to find one that truly makes me laugh out loud at the same time. The Last Seduction is one such movie. It has funny parts, hilarious parts, erotic parts, and a stunning finale. I highly recommend it, and I left the ending out of my description, so as not to spoil it for anyone.

The first scene shows a woman barking orders to her sales staff,"Come on, you Eunuchs!" She threatens them that if they don't do well enough, she'll force them to work Sundays too.

We learn that she has married a doctor, then forced him to sell $700,000 worth of illegal prescription medication to drug dealers-- $700,000 which she promptly steals from him, dumping him and fleeing the state in the process. Of course, she knows that this means a loan shark is going to break her husband's thumb--- but she doesn't care.

In another scene, Bridget is at a bar and a man comes up and hits on her. He whispers to her "I'm hung like a horse", so she orders him to sit down. And then, without asking, she unzips his pants, and inspects the merchandise with her hand. Impressed, she begins sleeping with him.

Soon the guy begins to fall in love with her, and asks her what he means to her. She laughs in his face and tells him,"You're my designated fuck". The boy is taken aback, clearly shocked and hurt. He pathetically asks,"But what if I want to be more than your designated fuck?" She wryly tells him: "Then I'll designate someone else."

There's far more hilarious scenes here than could ever be listed. In the middle of sex, he says,"I'm just trying to decide whether you're a total bitch or not". She laughs maniacally as she proudly exclaims,"Oh, I am a total FUCKING bitch". She slaps her boytoy around in public just to humiliate him.

I sometimes enjoy demonstrating my powers on innocent bystanders to inspire awe and fear in the people close to me. Bridget is no different. For fun, she proves to a her "designated fuck" just how much power she can have. She decides she wants to manipulate someone into committing murder. She does a credit search to find men who have credit cards taken out for women who aren't their wives-- deducing that such financial activity invariably indicates infidelity. She then calls up one of the wives. Through simple manipulation, within five minutes, the wife is trying to hire someone to murder her husband. Bridget laughs, nonchalantly, as if she does this sort of thing all the time, while her boytoy looks on in terror and awe. And then... she makes him do the same thing, with the promise that if he succeeds, he can come back to her place that night.

There are so many hilarious and exciting parts to this film, and I won't list them all. SEE THIS FILM! It doesn't get any better than this.

I love Metropolis-- it's such a visually beautiful film. The sets, design, and the fashion are brilliant: the whole film is a visual masterpiece.

Furthermore, Metropolis features a character I adore, known as "False Maria". The story is thus: A mad scientist named Rotwang creates a robot to be the perfect woman-- seductive, brilliant, powerful, and cruel. He gives her the form of a specific woman, then unleashes her on the city. Rotwang intends for her to be a tool to incite the workers to riot-- which she does. What he doesn't expect, is that False Maria's insatiable appetite for controlling men won't be satisfied merely by controlling workers. She goes to the upper classes's nightclubs, where she performs erotic dances which bewitch the men of the ruling elite. Soon, throngs of wealthy, respectable men throw away their dignity and rush towards her, their hands outstretched, as they worship her as a Goddess-- in a visual allusion to that other archetype of female power, The Whore of Babylon.

All good things must end, and of course, the film can't reach a conclusion until False Maria is destroyed and society is set right again. But it's fun while it lasts, and it illustrates the latent fear all men have of powerful women. False Maria is "Frankenstein" turned on its head-- Frankenstein is an artificial man created by science, whose dangerous nature comes from his brute strength and raw stupidity. False Maria is an artificial woman, infinitely more deadly, because she embodies the female power to enchant, seduce, and destroy men's minds. Long after little boys have learned not to be afraid of Frankenstein and The Wolfman, big boys still have nightmares about the woman who isn't afraid to use her innate power for her own selfish pleasure.

"Salome" by VK Academy

If you have any doubt that some archetypes have been with us forever, look no further than Salome-- a first century Femme Fatale. Were it not for the nearly two thousand years separating Salome and Cruel Intentions, one might easily conclude that they had been penned by the very same author. Salome is a great character-- I keep hoping they'll make a modern film adaptation. There are some excellent Salome films from decades past, but obviously, they don't even scratch the surface of what could be done with the story now.

Salome is the beautiful stepdaughter of King Herod, the first century ruler of Galilee. Brilliant and powerful, Salome is secure in the knowledge that she is universally desired-- that she can kiss the lips of absolutely any man she chooses. Until she meets John the Baptist-- a religious fanatic who fascinates her. One of the many men who worship her commits suicide because he cannot fascinate Salome as much as John the Baptist can-- and when he's dead, Salome doesn't even notice his absence.

Unfortunately for John the Baptist, his celibate fanaticism is such that he refuses to kiss Salome-- instead he spurns her as a "Daughter of Babylon, a child of Sodom". She is enraged and declares ominously,"I _will_ kiss thy lips, John".

King Herod, Salome's own stepfather, is also obsessed with her. At an important banquet, surrounded by all the most affluent people in the kingdom, Herod begs Salome to dance for him. In the presence of all his guests, he takes a solemn vow that if Salome agrees to dance for him, he will give her whatever gift she wants. She can name any gift, and he will deliver it to her.

Salome agrees, and she performs the seductive "Dance of the Seven Veils". Herod, overwhelmed by her beauty, begs to make good on his promise, and asks what gift Salome wants. Salome instructs him to bring her the head of John the Baptist on a silver platter. Herod, of course, has no choice but to obey. John the Baptist is beheaded, and his severed head is deliver to Salome. Pleased with herself, Salome proceeds to kiss John's lips, just as she swore she would.