Men Who Hate Women

heleninthealps · 2020-12-07T17:24:32+00:00

This is an interesting question I've looked into previously (I'm from Sweden but don't live there any longer since...well you guessed it - a lot of men there hate women.)

There's one small article about that this was actually ONLY changed because of the U.S market: https://svenska.yle.fi/a/7-667768

as well as a more inept article about the tile change and how the original title of the book upset the anti-feminist people of Sweden: https://feministisktperspektiv.se/2011/12/23/flickan-och-draken/

From the article (used google translate):
Only the title of Stieg Larsson's first book Men Who Hate Women attracted attention when it came out. Not least from anti-feminists came the usual outbursts. They thought it was wrong to fictionalize in a detective story that "men hate women". They had obviously not read the book. Namely, Stieg Larsson succeeded relatively well in capturing the widespread hatred of people that in a patriarchy results in disgusting gross violence against women.

There is no new theme in the crime fiction genre, which wades in that kind of violence, but here was in Lisbeth Salander a character who could balance the shit and bring some clarity. Admittedly, Stieg Larsson never really explains in his first book why Gottfried Vanger needs to murder women on the assembly line. They all have Jewish names, is it misogyny disguised as anti-Semitism, or vice versa? Unclear.

The daughter Harriet is also raped. Here, too, something unclear why. But she puts her foot down, strikes back, murders her genomosympathetically drawn father, and escapes the field, rescued by another woman. Her brother, traumatized by his father, takes over the murder of the woman. For the sake of pleasure, I think we should understand.

While Stieg Larsson portrays men as pigs, he does not betray his gender domicile. It is the men's perspective that is the starting point. In David Fincher's American film version of the book, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, the old "good" Vanger gets a more important role than in the Swedish. Here he is more clearly a patriarch, the force that rolls the whole story. And Blomqvist himself is of course at the center of the story.

Strangely enough, Lisbeth Salander remains a supporting role even in Fincher's version. Despite an amazing actor like Rooney Mara. Is it a minus? Yes… but you may not be able to get everything. A benevolent interpretation is instead that Stieg Larsson felt his limitations. He was fascinated by and well acquainted with the total fucking of women oppression, and let Lisbeth explore the possibilities of revenge and self-restoration.

But as one could, he could not live into her character no matter how much he wanted, but instead let a reflection of himself, in Mikael Blomqvist, become her companion during parts of the story. In Fincher's film, Lisbeth Salander is clearly the one who defines their relationship, she remains powerful almost all the way forward… However, I will not ruin the film by revealing what is shit in the film's gender perspective.

On the other hand, I am impressed with how Fincher, without getting his feet wet, passes one of the biggest Bermuda triangles in film history: Salander's bisexuality. Here it could have ended just as badly. Instead, in Craig / Blomqvist's eyes, Maras Lisbeth is allowed to stand with integrity left, wearing a "FUCK YOU, YOU FUCKING FUCK" t-shirt. All the PK cops in the salon drew a deep and surprised sigh of relief.

In the Swedish film adaptation, Mikael Blomqvist in Mikael Nykvist's version became a self-pitying wet-eyed giant puppy (by the way, the only thing Nykvist can play). David Craig manages to make a more unified Blomqvist, which gives Rooney Maras Lisbeth more leeway. Lisbeth Salander is a fantastic character, an unsuspecting compressed jerky record punk, a bomb waiting to go off.

Stieg Larsson - and Noomi Rapace in their interpretation of Salander in the Swedish film adaptation - impressively portray the childishly selfish fuck you attitude that punk's revolt against all order entails. Mara's version is more controlled and well dressed. She is also more complete and adult as a character, which makes her less radical than Rapace's version, but more in tune with the film as a whole.

It is a good and worthwhile film, similar to its model but overall several notches better in acting and production. It has also cost SEK 700 million to do so. But unfortunately, a film does not only consist of the magic that arises when a good story is interpreted by a smart director with lots of money.

There are a lot of people around too who should think well. Those who will market the film, for example. Anyone who hatched the idea that Blomqvist would have Salander naked with a strange stranglehold on the movie poster probably thought that the audience got what they wanted.

Well, there it went very wrong. Like when H&M launches a Salander collection just in time for the film's cinema premiere. Someone became greedy, thinking of the profit above all. But such details play a role in the whole.

Salander's character is an autonomous feminist, on his way through the shit towards self-restoration. She wants revenge and she does not back down for anyone. Such a woman would never set foot on H&M, the most sacred of equality and gender restrictions.

shutup201 · 2020-12-07T17:47:33+00:00

The truth hurts so men like to side step it. Plus, the original title is more feminist men would definitely avoid it.

Pasdepromesses · 2020-12-07T19:43:45+00:00

It’s called ‘Mannen die vrouwen haten’ (Men who hate women) in Dutch.

I loved it when I was a teenager. I read them again a couple of weeks ago and only then I recognised that the author clearly has some LVM traits despite his good intentions.

Doesn’t deter me from liking the books overall though.

Poorfck · 2020-12-07T20:03:54+00:00

It’s called Men who hate women (les hommes qui n’aimaient pas les femmes) in French too. I wonder why they didn’t keep the original title in English.

liondale · 2020-12-07T20:05:08+00:00

Actually the Polish book translation still has the original book title i.e. the men who hate women. Interesting

Queen-of-My-Realm · 2020-12-08T04:34:30+00:00

Apparently Lisbeth HAS to get fake tits in the later books because “she doesn’t feel like a real woman without them”. I skipped that series, but the movies were cute.

Title	Men Who Hate Women
Author	originalaftermath
Upvotes	90
Comments	19
Date	December 7, 2020 11:08 AM UTC (5 years ago)
Subreddit	Posted in /r/FemaleDatingStrategy
Original Link	https://old.reddit.com/r/FemaleDatingStrategy/comments/k8ep87/men_who_hate_women/
Archive Link	https://theredarchive.com/r/FemaleDatingStrategy/men-who-hate-women.328351 https://theredarchive.com/post/328351

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