After Watching this film I had many thoughts about what was going on in this film. There were glimpses of sexuality flaunted throughout the film. One scene in particular was in the beginning when Tank girl “catches” her “boyfriend” stealing water. She guns him down and threatens to kill him. In this scene she has the power. Throughout the entire movie I felt like tank girl always had power even when she was being “abused”. The way tank girl endured the pain and some how made these elements humorous was interesting to me. In what ways does tank girls actions cause her to poke fun at men and there sense of “seriousness?” Tank girl challenges feminity by adding a twist of humor, in what ways does this make the film feminists or anitfeminists?
Is tank girl meant to represent a superhero? Does she portray this "image" or does she challenge it?
Alyse I was also very intrigued by this film and the sexuality in it. Tank girl was very sly and to me she just gave off this “whatever” kind of sense of humor that helped her get through all situations. However, she did use sex for play and to her advantage. For example, the beginning scene with her boyfriend definitely was for play. But when she was supposed to be on look-out and her enemy approached her, she used her cleavage to tempt her enemy and then take better control of the situation. I also think she is poking fun at men in their lack of self-control when sex is brought into the picture. Sex is kind of a “whatever” thing to her, it does not control her but she uses it to control other men. This shows men kind of like dogs and gives them a weakness. By giving men a weakness and giving women power I think that could be seen as a feminist trait.
ReplyDeleteTank girls is not supposed to be a “super-hero” I don’t think but just a “hero”. She does not really have super powers, she’s just really good at a lot of normal things (at least normal for the movie). She definitely is a hero to the underdog however (the non rich white men in suits type of people). She definitely uses sex to her advantage but she is also smart and daring. She doesn’t need “super” powers to do what she does, which could also be seen as feminist.
Overall, I think this film could be seen as pretty feminist (although not to an extreme, you can still tell she is a girl by the way she dresses provocatively), and it pokes fun at the traditional stereotype as women being weak and just pretty. She uses sex as a tool and men can’t use it back against her really.
I did enjoy the humor that went along with Tank Girl's use of sexuality. It was definitely poking fun at men and their inablility to resist women and sex. Tank Girl definitely uses this to her full advantage and by doing so, is where you begin to read it as the script that is expected in both males and females.
ReplyDeleteI think Tank Girl truly understood the power her sexuality held, and she was not afraid to use it. She realized that her sexuality could be more than just fun, and she used this to her advantage. In some instances, such as playfully threatening to kill her boyfriend during the game, she uses her sexuality to have fun and demonstrate the power it gives her. At other times, such as being cornered by the enemy outside her house, I think she uses her sexuality to protect herself. I think she her sarcastic and tough-girl nature could be her way of keeping her guard up. Perhaps she truly is frightened by the men around her and so she uses her sexuality as a defense mechanism. This is certainly strategic on Tank Girl's part because her sexual behavior proves to protect her at times.
ReplyDeleteI think the film is meant to be feminist and certainly has feminist attributes, but some may consider it antifeminist because of Tank Girl's overly sexual attitude and behavior. As I mentioned in my post, Tank Girl embodies a postfeminist attitude, and some feminists may take offense to that.
Also, I think Tank Girl could be seen as a hero, but she also challenges the typical idea of a hero. Most heros or superheroes in films are men, but she proves that women are strong and possess many of the same qualities and abilities of heroic men.
If not a superhero, Rebecca in Tank Girl is definitely the heroine. She saves the day, but she isn't able to do it the way a "hero" in the story would have. She has to use her sexuality, femininity (or lack thereof), and humor to get herself out of situations. A hero wouldn't have had to use his sex appeal to save the day, that would have just been the "side story," a perk to being able to defeat the "bad guy." The more we discuss this, the more I feel like Tank Girl really fell short of accomplishing what it may have originally been intended to portray about feminism, power, and sexuality.
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