The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Empowering or exploitive to women?

[Moonwalk]

179. The Question is Problematic--There are Three Aspects to Consider...

First, the heroine. I would say she is not a feminist/empowering heroine per say because she falls into that stereotype. Which is that a brainy woman is going to be a cold, hard, angry woman. That is not feminist or empowering because it is an old stereotype used by men and women to imply that women who are smart aren't real women. They can't be kind, empathetic, nurturing, etc. They are "unnatural."

An empowering woman would be smart without having to be cold, hard, angry. Of course, the answer (excuse?) to that is that she's damaged. But that also raises questions: is she a realistic depiction of a strong woman survivor of rape (etc.) or is she a fantasy version--meaning a Red Sonja who, having been gang raped takes up a sword (but wouldn't otherwise), a female Batman who become a superhero to avenge wrongs done to her? If she is a fantasy version, is that more or less empowering than a real story about a real rape survivor? Would our heroine be what she is without the rape? If not, then she's even more problematic. We think it heroic for a man to run into a burning building to save a stranger--not because of any personal need or desire, but because that's what a hero does--but our heroine is involved in all this out of a desire for revenge and a need for personal catharsis. That's not heroic (to be fair, many male heroes have this same problem, that they must do what they do out of vengeance or because it's personal. Nevertheless, it's still problematic).

That's the first aspect. And then there are the other two--the man brutally murdering women, and the missing woman who was, likewise, brutally raped and abused. So, other women have been victimized and couldn't save themselves.

I suspect that the answer to your question is that the story/book/movie is or can be both. The wronged woman who gets revenge is viewed as empowering, but given that she's in many ways a stereotype, she remains exploitive. And that the mystery that she's involved in details violence and abuse against many helpless women certainly steals away from what might otherwise be empowering--a survivor of rape focusing on her strengths to solve a crime.