So last night I went to see The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo- Hollywood version. Having read all three books in Steig Larsson's trilogy (The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Girl Who Played With Fire, The Girl Who Kicked The Hornets Nest), and also having seen the Swedish version of the film- I was a little apprehensive, to say the least, as to how I would feel about the 'Hollywoodalisation' of book that I held in such high regards. But actually, I thought it was exceptional. Minor plot changes, sure, but nothing that distracted from the gritty, raw, edginess of the book, which I was grateful for; if mildly surprised by.
Now, I'm not going to go into great detail about the plot and the characters- if you want this, for God's sake, read the synopsis on Wikipedia here. Instead, it's not actually the film itself that I wished to discuss. In actual fact, it's the controversial clothing line that has been brought out by H&M in light of the recent film.
H&M have designed a series of garments based on the style of protagonist Lisbeth Salander, who's character unfortunately has had a pretty dark life and suffers abuse during the film. She's pretty ruthless and a bit fucked up (sorry Mum), but she's also the coolest heroine I've ever known in a novel. Unconventional in her gothic attire and emtionless punk attitude, she's also the 'ardest, most intelligent female character I've ever had the pleasure to get to know- and although growing up in a small village in South Devon means that I could never relate to her character in any shape or form, the bond was formed for me through a sheer want to BE HER. As you can probably tell, I'm a little bit smitten. (Totally forgot that I wasnt going to go into character descriptions...)
Anyway, here she is:
And here's a look at the h&m collection:
I LOVE IT. And because of this, I might strike you as a little biased as I go into the reasons why this clothing line has been deemed so controversial, but I will let you make your own mind up...
After the clothing line was released on the 15th December 2011, Natalie Karnefwe posted a blog item titled "An Open Letter to H&M from a Rape Survivor": "…H&M, you have created a line of clothing based on her character: a woman who has suffered a lifetime of abuse, who is violently raped, and who is hunting down a man who violently rapes and kills other women."
"Lisbeth has been through hell, and her clothing is her armor. That's her choice, and it's an understandable choice. But you glamorize it, putting a glossy, trendy finish on the face of sexual violence and the rage and fear it leaves behind."
Now, a H&M spokesperson then responded by saying "We have read the open letter by Natalie Karnefwe and apologize if she or anyone has been offended by the Girl with the Dragon Tattoo collection by Trish Summerville – this has not in any way been our intent. The collection is based on and inspired by the film and character Lisbeth Salander and though we think Lisbeth is a strong woman who stands up for her ideal, we are not trying to represent her specifically."
"Our goal is to rather offer a collection that we see in today's trend picture that will appeal to many customers. We do not view this collection as provocative-it contains pieces that are staples in many people's wardrobes: jeans, biker jackets and t-shirts. It's all about how you wear them. We encourage our customers to find their own personal way to wear our products."
But I don't think I can put it any better than Julie Gerstein, style editor for The Frisky, a woman's lifestyle blog, who wrote: "I doubt that H&M's desire to create a clothing line based on the Lisbeth Salander character in 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' has as much to do with glamorizing rape culture as it does with capitalizing off of what's sure to be a blockbuster film. As it is, basing a collection off of a dystopian nightmare of a story hardly makes for a strong and well developed fashion line. It seems more of a marketing decision than a statement on rape culture..."
In any case, I really like all the clothes in the fashion range, even if they are a bit rapey (which I sincerely don't think they are, for the record). In my opinion, Salander's style in the film may well have connotations of the abuse she has suffered, and directly represent her segregation from society- however 'grunge' is not a new look created for the film. It is a fashion genre in it's own right, and should in no way be tarred with such negative connotations as rape. It is not those connotations that H&M are trying to get across, it is the style at face value; completely removed from the film's storyline. I sincerely don't think that the people who bought the items did so through the want to look like a rape victim, more probably because they just like the clothes and that.
Anyway I would link you to the range, but apparently the whole lot sold out in a matter of 10 hours in LA, so if you want any, I'd check EBay.
L.
