Day 17: Teeth
In Bare Bones: Conversations on Terror With Stephen King, King tells an interviewer his greatest sexual fear: “The vagina dentata, the vagina with teeth. A story where you were making love to a woman and it just slammed shut and cut your penis off. That’d do it.” I hope he’s seen the 2007 film Teeth. The vagina dentata myth permeates most cultures in the world, from Native America, to India, to some of our fairy tales, the idea of toothed vaginas is prevalent. Where do you think the term “man-eater” comes from? Or why the prince had to hack through thorns in sleeping beauty?
Teeth is a great movie about teen-abstinence spokesgirl Dawn, who wears a promise ring, and has taken a solemn vow not to have sex until she’s married. The real horror here is Dawn has no context for what her vagina is supposed to be like. While she is lucky to have a sex-ed class, the school board has put a big sticker over the picture of the vagina, and it is a sin for her to go exploring herself. (Even if it’s for science and not pleasure.) Pretty early on, Dawn is sexually assaulted…and wackiness ensues! The rest of the movie is her coming to terms with what she is, and how that conflicts with her conservative Christian values.
This could come across as heavy handed feminism, or anti-Christian rhetoric, but the film manages a straight face and a wink that allow the metaphor to work nicely. There’s a lot of severed penises in this movie (made me think of Piranha 3-D. In fact made me think Piranha 3-D ripped off Teeth) and for some reason, Chris was much more disturbed by it than I was. Reading about the vagina dentata trope was almost more interesting than the movie itself. It opens up a lot of thought about female sexual power and rape. It also made me think about ducks, and the rape-proof vaginas that they have evolved. Teeth was a great film, and I whole heartedly recommend it. If you dare.
This is the more whimsical movie poster. She really does wear that shirt in the movie.
Teeth is a great movie about teen-abstinence spokesgirl Dawn, who wears a promise ring, and has taken a solemn vow not to have sex until she’s married. The real horror here is Dawn has no context for what her vagina is supposed to be like. While she is lucky to have a sex-ed class, the school board has put a big sticker over the picture of the vagina, and it is a sin for her to go exploring herself. (Even if it’s for science and not pleasure.) Pretty early on, Dawn is sexually assaulted…and wackiness ensues! The rest of the movie is her coming to terms with what she is, and how that conflicts with her conservative Christian values.
This could come across as heavy handed feminism, or anti-Christian rhetoric, but the film manages a straight face and a wink that allow the metaphor to work nicely. There’s a lot of severed penises in this movie (made me think of Piranha 3-D. In fact made me think Piranha 3-D ripped off Teeth) and for some reason, Chris was much more disturbed by it than I was. Reading about the vagina dentata trope was almost more interesting than the movie itself. It opens up a lot of thought about female sexual power and rape. It also made me think about ducks, and the rape-proof vaginas that they have evolved. Teeth was a great film, and I whole heartedly recommend it. If you dare.
This is the more whimsical movie poster. She really does wear that shirt in the movie.