WARNING: Possibly TMI
In the thread about the different sizes of labia, I wasn’t sure what the OP was talking about. So I Googled “labia reduction surgery”. There were pictures of a procedure they do just before the surgery, that involved pulling the labia apart and kind of stretching it. The first thing that came to my mine was Eewww! The second thing was Predator!.
Does it make a difference to all the penis and vagina imagery that the original predator was a bipedal lizard thing that was changed at the last minute because the costume wasn’t working?
And re-moving it from IMHO to Cafe Society.
Scumpup, while Arnie may have lost his gun by the time he finally confronts his gynophobia, embodied in the yonic features of his nemesis, note that he is able to fashion an effective weapon from an enormous log: the symbolism here is obvious {and, if I may be permitted to reference myself, also reminiscent of “Woody” in Toy Story}. As the log smashes into the alien’s “kisser”, a clear allusion to the labia {I’m grateful to Hillbilly Queen for the suggestion}, it is clear that Schaefer {shave her?} has figuratively established himself as the “big swinging dick”.
I just remembered that the misogynist joke told by one of Arnolds men is about his woman having a huge vagina. And let’s not forget that the alien only goes after the ones who are armed, ie, equipped with a phallus. When it kills Carl Weathers, it first shoots off his weapon arm and we’re treated to a shot of the severed limb on the ground still clutching the gun and uselessly firing off it’s load. Talk about castration fear. And no one had mentioned Jesse’s Big Gun which he has even named “Painless.” In a couple of shots, we are treated to a real “Mine’s bigger than yours” moment when the Gov. whips it out. Gun films are pretty easy targets for this kind of analysis.
“Some have claimed that my art is extremely vaginal. Does that word bother you? Vagina.” -Maude Lebowski (sort of)
Case Sensitive,
Your interpretation, while it is well thought out and plausible, misses the underlying psychosexual conflict and, therefore, your interpretation of its reolution goes awry. The Predator represents not only male sexuality, but also technology, which is an aspect of the male prediliction for “tool” use. Arnold, in contrast, comes to represent the female force, and as such becomes essentially an avatar of “Mother Earth.” Through covering himself with mud, s/he is protected from the technologic male impulse to destroy. The embrace of the mother protecting from the violent father, as it were. The “weapons” that Arnold, in his new feminine role, constructs, far from being technologic constructs, are taken directly from the body of Mother Earth Herself. Arnold even symbolically becomes a dryad at one point, in an episode referencing the Ancient Grecian myth of Apollo and Dapne. Although the tree that strikes the Predator may superficially appear to be a phallic symbol, it is in fact an homage to The Giving Tree. Here, the tree is both giving Arnold safety and giving the Predator the gift of freedom from his phallocentric technocratic alien societally imposed role. Alas, the Predator is not as able to adapt to this change as Arnold; and instead of embracing a new existence where he will not be chained to a mechanical penis, he instead self-destructs using a miniature atomic device. This is a visual pun on “la petit mort” as the Predator’s death is a figurative final orgasm of techology.
It reminds me of that girl I woke up next to one Saturday morning after a night out at Jay’s Pub.
(Note to self: No more hard licquor, stick to beer)
Well, Danny Glover does say “Your move Pussy face” in Predator 2 for a reason.
DAMN IT!!!
I was just about to post this.
Impressive. Very impressive indeed.
That’s pretty sophisticated for a bunch of half-assed mountain boys.
This could be a fun game for Cafe Society: Overanalyze the gratuitous action movie.
We’ve been there with the recent “Toy Story: Woody’s Gun?” thread - this thread is kind of a spin-off of that one.