Having recently watched the American adaptation of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo,” I, like many viewers, found the graphic rape scenes deeply unsettling. Initial reactions, echoed across popular blogs, highlighted the scenes as excessively disturbing, detracting from the film’s entertainment value. Indeed, witnessing Lisabeth Salander’s (Rooney Mara) rape and coerced sexual acts for governmental support is profoundly uncomfortable. Even the subsequent revenge scene, while mirroring the torment, offers no true triumph, leaving a hollow victory and implicating the audience in passively “enjoying” such disturbing content.
Without prior engagement with Stieg Larsson’s novels, I can only address the cinematic interpretation. However, reflecting on my visceral reaction, I felt a sense of manipulation. The film concludes with Mikael Blomkvist (Daniel Craig) and Erika Berger (Robin Wright) resuming their affair, while Lisabeth observes, isolated. My initial thought was to critique the use of rape as a plot device, designed to evoke guilt, pity, fear, and shock under the guise of entertainment. Lisabeth’s fleeting revenge and ultimate isolation reinforce a troubling perspective: she risks being perceived solely through the lens of male characters’ actions – an object of exotic eroticism and sexual subordination, potentially even linked to the imagery of “Tattoo Sex” given the film’s and character’s iconic visual elements.
Driven by my unease, I investigated online reactions to the film’s controversial scenes. A Google search for “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo rape scene” yielded disconcerting results, arguably more disturbing than the film itself.
The top search result directed me to a montage of spliced footage: Lisabeth showering after Niels Bjurman’s assault (Yorick van Wageningen), Lisabeth in bed post-one-night stand, and Lisabeth and Mikael’s sexual encounter. The second link presented an unedited scene of Lisabeth and Mikael’s consensual sex. This algorithmic association of rape with consensual sex, stripping away the power dynamics central to Mikael and Lisabeth’s relationship, fundamentally misrepresents the film’s core themes. Shockingly, viewers online reduce Rooney Mara to the same objectified status as her character. These scenes are labeled as “hot sex scenes,” opportunities to witness “real” nudity of Rooney Mara. Within the film’s narrative, these scenes are impactful and disturbing. However, decontextualized online, they are easily reduced to base elements: nudity and eroticism, transforming complex scenes into mere “tattoo sex” imagery detached from meaning.
This online recontextualization is deeply troubling. It mirrors the very objectification Lisabeth experiences within the film, now projected onto Rooney Mara herself. Recalling ethnographic filmmaker David MacDougall’s observation about audience positioning, he notes, “as members of an audience we readily accept the illusion of entering into the world of film. But we do so in complete safety, because our own world is as close as the nearest light switch.” This notion of safe distance holds true for popular cinema. We emotionally connect with characters, yet remain detached observers, oscillating between immersion and reality.
But what happens when a rape scene, through digital reproduction, becomes an erotic internet snapshot? If profoundly disturbing content can be so readily transformed into an opportunity to view Rooney Mara naked, instead of Lisabeth Salander’s violation, we must question the continued use of sexual violence as a plot device. Is this employment inherently manipulative and problematic from the outset? The ease with which scenes are stripped of context and morph into something akin to “tattoo sex” content online demands critical consideration.
My initial film reflection evolved into an exploration of scene dissemination and its impact on film interpretation. The ambiguous representation of sexual violence in popular cinema and its effect on viewers warrants deeper analysis. Furthermore, the filmic experience now extends beyond traditional venues. Scenes extracted from their original context can circulate online, functioning in unintended and deeply problematic ways, potentially reducing complex narratives into easily consumed, and often sexualized, fragments like “tattoo sex” search results demonstrate.
Chris Patrello, PhD student in the Program in Visual and Cultural Studies at The University of Rochester
