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Look! It Moves! by Adi Tantimedh #47: The Next Heroine Du Jour

Published Mon, 17 May 2010 10:00:34 -0500

Last updated Mon, 17 May 2010 14:46:40 -0500

Saw something interesting when I'm out and about these days: a lot of women in their 20s and 30s are reading the first two Stig Larsson's MILLENIUM TRILOGY novels THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO and THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (the third book, THE GIRL WHO KICKED THE HORNET'S NEST, isn't out in the US yet). On buses, on parks, on the subway. When I talked to them about the books, I found that they don't like the TWILIGHT novels. This struck me as interesting. It's not like I'm conducting a survey or social research on this, but this strikes me as a kind of corrective to the TWILIGHT craze. Sure, TWILIGHT fans has numbered in the millions, but there seems to be a demographic difference: TWILIGHT fans are mostly teenage girls and 40-year-old women, while MILLENIUM TRILOGY fans are generally women in their 20s and 30s, not to mention the TWILIGHT books were aimed at Young Adults while the Larssen trilogy was aimed at the more adult detective thriller market. The generalization may seem crude, but it might be an indication of an interesting pop cultural shift that's just gathering speed.

The main appeal of the MILLENIUM TRILOGY is in its heroine, Lisabeth Salander, a "researcher" who's really a computer hacker able to dig up dirt on anyone. A survivor of abuse, she's decked out in goth-punk leather, piercings and the dragon tattoo on her back, she isn't a crusader but instead is about staying hidden and off-the-grid, except when she surfaces to wreck havoc for reasons entirely of her own, usually revenge. She wants to be left alone, and when she or her own are threatened, she's ruthless, merciless, lethal. The viewpoint character of the novels – and the movie adaptations – might be the earnest crusading journalist Mikael Blomkvist who goes after the cases and mysteries that drive the plot, but he generally plays Watson to Salander's Holmes, since she's so much smarter and more savvy than he is. Salander is a far cry from the passive wallflower Bella Swan from the TWILIGHT books, whose passivity has a dreadful power all its own, mostly involving getting inappropriate men to notice and rescue her. Salander makes her own decisions on who she gets involved with and who she wants to fuck, male or female. The rest of the time, her vibe is strictly "don't touch, don't stare, don't' fuck with me, stay away."

It's interesting to track what kind of genre heroine enters the zeitgeist. It's different from heroines from chicklit or chick flicks that become popular. It's not surprising at all that Carrie Bradshaw and her gang from SEX AND THE CITY became idols to post-feminist girls and women obsessed with shopping and shagging. The heroes and heroines from thrillers are a different proposition: they're empowerment fantasies for dealing with the worst things the big, bad world can throw at you: killers, criminals, conspiracies. Heroines are different from men because there is always a question of how acceptable their toughness should be while still retaining some degree of "femininity". The creation and presentation of the genre heroine has always been a negotiation with feminist debate since the 1970s. The first real genre heroine was Jamie Sommers in THE BIONIC WOMAN, followed by the TV version of WONDER WOMAN, neither of whom gave up their fundamental femininity while still being able to throw a man across the room (I'm of the impression that Wonder Woman never truly became a pop culture idol until the 70s TV show, despite having been around since WWII). It took at least another decade or so before a truly strong, fighting heroine hit pop culture in the form of BUFFY. Joss Whedon understood that a real heroine, like a hero, was one who didn't need to be rescued, even if she might need help from friends and allies, and would always be the instrumental figure in dealing the decisive blow that resolves the major conflict at the story's end. Since then, every heroine on TV could be said to be post-Buffy, a response to the purity that Whedon brought to the archetype. You can feel the insecurities of the male creators of characters like VERONICA MARS when she constantly makes dumb mistakes and then needs her dad or boyfriend to rescue her when the shit hits the fan in the season finale. Bella Swan in TWILIGHT always felt like an anti-feminist backlash to BUFFY as it preaches abstinence and submission to an abusive man. Sookie Stackhouse in Charlaine Harris' TRUE BLOOD books and HBO show was a step above Bella, but only a step or two, since she tended to be a romantic wishfulfilment stand-in with the dangerous supernatural men all falling for her, and she's constantly in need of rescue, only to have to rescue herself as a last resort as opposed to someone who was truly competent from the start. That's why Lisabeth Salander is an interesting new addition to the list of pop heroines. It's refreshing that young women are taking to a heroine so feral and merciless, a nemesis to misogynist men. The villains of the novels – serial killers, slave traders, corrupt politicians – are all exploiters and abusers of women and are dispatched through the prism of Salander. Blomkvist serves as the audience's point of view as they share in this fascination and curiosity with the mystery of who she is and what she is, since she's deliberately defensive and closed off, not someone who allows easy access to her inner life.

Larrsen's novels have been a huge hit in Europe and the English translations are bestsellers in the UK and US. The original Swedish movie of the first book has already grossed over $77 million at the European box office, so of course Hollywood will come a-calling. The movie of the first movie is still doing well on the arthouse theatrical circuit in the US at the moment. For ages, Hollywood has dismissed the idea of making more thrillers with female heroes, claiming that they weren't popular enough to make proper coin at the box office, but not even they can ignore the earnings of THE MILLENIUM TRILOGY in Europe. Money talks and the assholes walk. The US remake has David Fincher attached to direct and every actress under 30 is currently campaigning to play Salander. Pretty much anyone you can name is trying to land the role right now, but it's hard to imagine any of the current crop of Hollywood starlets as an anti-heroine so feral, uncompromising and unstoppable that getting shot in the head is only going to piss her off and make her even more hardcore than ever. It's hard to imagine any of the girly creampuffs from Hollywood embodying the hardened Salander better than Swedish actress Noomi Rapace, who already speaks perfect English, as most Scandinavians do.

As usual, comics have been slow to pick up on or even acknowledge THE MILLENIUM TRILOGY. Comics' attempts to create ass-kicking heroines are usually big-titted sex fantasies for boys rather than identification figures for girls. I wouldn't be surprised if a publisher proposes a licensed comic tie-in when the Hollywood movies hit. But not before then. As usual.