Fincher’s ‘Dragon Tattoo’
Men Who Hate Women. That’s what Stieg Larsson called his book, which then became The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. To know this story is to know Larsson. If you forget about him, the key to this story is lost. The story is about men who hate women and the women who fight back. Larsson was a bit of a hero in this and other battles he personally fought throughout his very short life. He was against the extreme right in Sweden, against racism and misogyny. After witnessing the rape of the a 15 year old girl named Lisbeth, he never forgave himself for failing to help her. This, it’s been said, was what motivated him to write his books. A Swedish film did a great job of turning his book into a movie that was sold in countries all over the world. So why remake it at all?
Because a story about a female avenging those men who hate women is more relevant now that it ever has been. In fact, it’s downright revolutionary. The only kind of women we see are those who are unrealistic comic book heroes, or those who are trussed up as ultimate fantasy fodder for gamers. It’s getting worse, not better.
So, you could do as many a critic will no doubt suggest, not remake the movie. Let it just sit out there in Sweden as ‘their story.’ Or, a popular American director like David Fincher can make Dragon Tattoo redux – he can take this well known story, render it with an obsessive’s eye, redefine its archetypical characters and most importantly, give a much wider audience the chance to experience the film’s gravitational center: Lisbeth Salander.