descending: postfeminism again
Music: Peter Murphy: Love Hysteria (1995)
On Friday "b" and I went to see the current horror movie sensation, The Descent, a predictable yarn about a gang of women (the den mother, the medical expert, the hot one, the scared blonde, the tough-as-nails dyke . . . and Judas-ette) getting lost and then stalked as food by ravenous (white) phallus monsters that purr and screech like felines. It was about women. You know, the entrance to the cave was a big ol' hole in the ground. They repelled into the hole. Bats flew out of the hole. Oh Pandora! Where did the hope go? (to a hot British Blond that survives in the end). It was boring once they got lost, except for the sudden "shock" things that happened and the uber-gross injuries endured by the po(w/d)er-puff spelunkers. The film also advanced a tired, postfeminist argument about women left to themselves: they go crazy. Women cannot be trusted without a man around to mete reason; when men are excluded, then they become deformed rapists. It's your choice ladies: either let men take care of you or we'll fuck you (up).
More seriously, though, this Bring It On-ification of the can-do, independent woman in Hollywood film does start to get old. The film was obviously promoted as a gyno-centric remake of The Cave, and I recall at least in some of the advertisements there was a hint of a promise of a pro-feminist smell . . . well, sorry to dash anyone's hopes: this is a misogynistic film that punishes women for being "like men," only the way in which the inversion is done is increasingly subtle in film these days (a good pedagogy of strong-to-insane womanhood is Lynch's Mulholland Drive). Now, I'm aware of the arguments of Steiger and others that the "slasher" film can be read oppositionally as a pro-woman genre (a single woman triumphs over patriarchy in the end). But The Descent is not that; it is clear about mid-way through the film that the real monster is not the creatures that inhabit the cave, but rather, the monster inside. The surviving character that one is led to believe remains "pure" until the end because, of course, she experienced motherhood even succumbs to the "monster within" at the end of the film (I won't spoil it for everyone, but, suffice it to say she gets her sum reveeenge).
That said, I enjoyed the film and my company who didn't tease me mercilessly as I covered my eyes in some of the nastier parts. Even so, the best horror film I've seen in years is still Close Your Eyes, and it's not really scary--a little hokey mabye--but does have long, dreadful, creepy moments and the ending is real neat. Oh please oh please lets have some well-written horror movies that are not about sadism. I'm sorry people, torture is not "horror." These Saw movies are really . . . just torture movies. That's not scary, it's just mean! Bring back the aliens! I really enjoyed Slither too (also funny, not scary, but . . . ). More zombies! Monsters! Oh, and a ghost story or demonic possession movie would be good too.
Now, to cook some yummy gumbo in my relentless effort to prove that I remain the Mighty Chef of Juicedom!