...this was how I recalled it as well, to have had discussion points, which is what we’re looking for as well...it’s strange though how the beginning and ending were the main points of my focus in recollection and yet it was all the exploitation I was focusing on now, as in the middle bit...and yeah, I do get that the intention was that we strongly felt female empowerment as well ..?...but didn’t feel it and couldn’t feel it because all I felt was the vulnerability of the girls and that it all ended very, very sadly and very, very tragically...

I wonder if I had seen it when it came out originally would my own thoughts have been different? I was always a bit of a feminist but time changes how you view things as well and maybe I would have thought woman + sword = empowerment too, I don't know :think: I'm sure if I had watched it as a teenager I definitely would have thought that

...yeah when I think about it, that’s it also...it’s not so much that my focus hadn’t been there but that I obviously felt that empowerment...they became like Charlie’s Angel types, you know...so kick ass but I just wasn’t feeling that at all yesterday...actually my OH and I did have a big discussion about it because he had felt the same discomforts and wasn’t sure what to make of it...


...just a slight off topic and hmmmmm, I’ve always looked at characters like Lara Croft as embodying and showing female empowerment but is female exploitation more the thing there as well....I mean, the overriding thing ...maybe I’m going completely off course but the fight scenes or fight dreams were very video game, weren’t they...

I don't play video games so my only real knowledge of Lara Croft is through the films, that's an interesting question though, I never remember feeling that when watching them, I definitely felt she was bad ass and it was good to see a female lead like that. I haven't watched any of those films in years though so I wonder would feel different now? You know if we could find it somewhere, it might be a great one to watch next to test that. What do you think?

...yeah, I was just looking to see if there were any comparable ones to Tomb Raider in case it’s not screening but I can’t find any instantly that I would also attach that female sexualise thing in the same way...obviously Wonder Woman is a comparison but that’s more recent so I doubt any thoughts might differ from the first watch...I’ll check later to see if it’s screening, yeah it would be a good watch...

Great stuff, I'll try to think if other characters/films like that as well just in case we kind somewhere to watch Tomb Raider

Anyone else notice how no "real" male characters died in this movie? They were all giant samurai statues/steampunk Germans/robo-cops. No flesh and blood "men" were killed - injured, yes, but not killed.
Yet several of the women died...it just made me ponder.

Such a strange and dark yet interesting fantasy within a fantasy movie with coping mechanisms and psychological dealings, it's sad most of them died . I only watched it once years ago . I might have to revisit it again.
And wise man was like an angel figure aswell .

....in an earthly/human comparison, wise man was also like the social worker/psychologist/school family support counsellor as well...in that mentoring and teaching of coping skills, I think...that was a second watch for me, GoldHeart and it is an interesting movie in that I was focused quite differently this time...although I recall most of it as I watched again, it was also a bit like watching a different variant of the movie...

...Yeah, I hadn’t really thought of that...I guess because the concept was of female sexualisation but interesting...the other thing that I thought earlier as well is the age of the girls and although their exact ages weren’t specified as such, they were obviously very young and barely adult age...and Baby Doll especially is such a child name association....so obviously that adds another layer...

Baby doll was 20, the orderly asks her step father what age she was when he's filling out her admittance form at the start. We never get any of the girls real names though and each one of them is named after an object which I think is probably on purpose from the person who made the film, you know, him telling us how bad objectifying women is by objectifying women

...oh I do recall now with her age...you’re so good at recalling every detail, I tend to be quite focused with certain things, which is why the movie looked so different and because it is such a layered plot as well...but yeah, naming them after objects would have been purposeful as well, I would have thought...and their purpose was to dance/to entrance men...if they couldn’t do that then they had no purpose...I remember on first watch as well that I was very conflicted in thoughts about the female doctor... Carla Gugino’s character...because she obviously served the men in ensuring the ‘performed’ for them...a bit like a Madam in a way...?...but she was also protecting the girls in her way by ensuring they stay alive and fulfilled that purpose...?...

She did tell Blue when Blondie confessed their plan though :laugh: One part that made little sense to me as well to do with her was just after Baby Doll is lobotomised at the end, she stands there and lets him do it and then he says she was the one who authorised it and she's shocked because she didn't, I mean did she never wonder beforehand who did, she's her patient did she not think to ask first or look in her file at least? :laugh: