Do tell.

"The sex scenes between Blomkvist and Salander seem thrown in to give us one more chance to see Mara (who is in her twenties but has the body of a high-school sophomore) naked, not because Fincher makes us see any connection (emotional or physical) between the characters." —"John Boot," "Pulp Fascism: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," PJ Lifestyle, Dec. 21, 2011

Comments

[Tony Dayoub]

Just tried to read the column (never mind the comments thread) you linked to. Ugh! Do you practice self-flagellation, too?

[JREinATL]

Hmmm... He seems pretty certain about what a high school sophomore 's naked body would look like.

[Sal C]

Those sex scenes are also there in the 2009 Swedish film and I would presume the source novel. Suggesting that Fincher threw them in is fairly dopey.
I have such mixed feelings. Typically I would run out and see any new Fincher film in it's first week, but I so hated the original movie that I can't quite fathom how he could have overcome such terrible source material.

[Oliver_C]

On the year's shortest day, the year's shittiest link (and I say that as someone who's no fan of the books).

[JREinATL]

The scenes are in the book as well. Also, the whole point of the Salander character is that she is unable to connect to anyone; that "Fincher [hasn't made] us see any connection (emotional or physical) between the characters" is an incredibly dumb criticism, even for Pajamas Media.

[Tom Block]

"As a libertarian,"

...eyes glazing over already...

"I am usually totally opposed to censorship."

Why do I sense a "but" coming?

"But"

Now, there's a shocker.

"I’d make an exception for any works by this author, in print or film"

So much for that "totally".

"if you haven’t seen Seven, don’t rush out and get it for any sexual interest"

Excellent advice.

"the only genuinely human character in the film [is] destroyed by the end"

Especially if you ignore that pesky Morgan Freeman guy...

A.O. Scott was at least working toward a good point about the exploitation angle: "It also represents a failure of nerve and a betrayal of the sexual egalitarianism Lisbeth Salander argues for and represents."

[Joel]

Tom: Where is that quote from? I didn't see it in the linked article.

[Tom Block]

It's from one of the comments. I know, I shouldn't go there. But I wound up in a brouhaha--one that was definitely short on the "haha" part--in a Big Hollywood thread, and now my brain is formulating responses to these numbnuts in my sleep.

[Zach]

That's just wacky. It actually seems, when you're reading it, that it HAS to be parody. It's hard to name a favorite passage - besides the one Glenn quotes, there's this gem:

"Whether it would be wise to ask a violent and hostile person to perform [oral sex] against her will is one of many legitimate questions the movie simply ignores in its quest to provide an ever more-revolting series of gruesome images."

How dare Fincher, Larsson, and all the rest of the liberal pinko pulp fascists show naked highschoolish ta-tas and brutal rape! Furthermore, don't they know that it's harder to rape spunky hacker chicks than pliant, willing country girls? I mean, come on, didn't they do research on this film? WHERE'S THE CREDIBILITY? If I was a rapist (which I'm not, by the way, I hate rape; it's gross) I would never mess with some gothed-out girl. Even if she does have nice boobs. But she's too young. Young-looking, I mean. Wait, what were we talking about?

[John M]

Wish I'd gone to John Boot's high school.

[Brandon]

Just in case anyone wanted to know: The literal translation of the first book's title is MEN WHO HATE WOMEN (Män som hatar kvinnor).

So, the under-thought question posed by this reviewer is kind of ridculous.
In spite of Salander's so-called non-traditional appearance, all of the men choose to see her as primarily female above all else (meaning vunerable to exploitation). Until she bests them. Gender studies types could go as far as to say that she stands in as some sort of cipher for misunderstanding and underestimating the complexity of "female" as a gender.
That Salander uses all this conflict (and luck) to her advantage is what makes her an intriguing character. Her intentionally created facade does not repel any of these men from trying to harm her. If anything it provokes them into eventually seeing her as 'something less(?) than female' in their continued pursuit.
Yet, she works within 'their' system to use these misconceptions and lack of understanding about the complexity of gender (or just humanity in general) to circumvent it.
Or whatever.