By Monique Gremaud A recent movie poster for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO shows the lead female character nude with her breasts and their piercing exposed for the world to see while the lead male character is wrapped around her. It also has the phrase “evil shall with evil be expelled” as its tagline.
This is just the latest in a string of movies, television programs, and posters that contain unnecessary nudity or sexuality. Recently, movies such as LOVE AND OTHER DRUGS and THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT showed graphic amounts of sex that had many people asking for their money back. Does Hollywood really need to amp up the immorality? The movie ad for THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATOO pushes the envelope beyond anything that Hollywood has done for a very long time. This poster will be hanging in public places where one cannot avoid it. Furthermore, it has nothing to do with the movie. It’s meant purely for shock value. This poster seems to draw inspiration from the French attitude toward advertising. It is no secret that the French have a completely different attitude towards nudity and obscenity than the American public. So, why are American advertisers trying to get the attention of the French? This ad is only a part of a trend towards the French. Media has become raunchier over the last few years, leaning toward the mostly dwindling, godless European market. It shows that American advertisers are becoming less and less concerned with how their American audiences receive the material, as long as there is some shock value to it. Whether or not you have a problem with nudity is irrelevant. This movie poster takes it to the extreme. Most nudity in American advertisements is that of implied nudity. The viewer can tell that a person is naked but cannot actually see any of their private parts. By having her breast exposed, the advertisers make their poster as “in-your-face” as possible. The poster also contains the tagline, “Evil shall with evil be expelled.” Whatever this is supposed to mean, but it is inherently immoral, going against almost everything civilized society holds true. The popularity of many movies can be attributed to their “good triumphs over evil” outcome, but this remake of the popular Swedish trilogy seems to be promoting the exact opposite. In deviating from typical American sensibilities, the producers are risking big box office dollars. If this poster says anything about the remake, it is that it will be extremely racy and probably inappropriate for most, if not all, audiences.
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