©2010-2012 ~ZeTrystan---(Picture)
I want to write a short blog about this picture. I stumbled upon it a few months ago while writing my review of Run Lola Run and found it to be a very powerful metaphor.
I knew I wanted to blog about it but did not know exactly what I wanted to say until we read the latest section of Beauvoir. This drawing in a way represents what she was saying especially if we take it as losing one’s virginity. The picture could be about violent rape but it could be losing of virginity and rape—and to Beauvoir they are symbolically the same thing.
This picture takes the romantic ideal parodied with the same symbols in the well-known film Robin Hood: Men in Tights, that the right guy is the “right fit” or even “the perfect fit”. Literally, we are obviously talking about the penis but if we delve deeper, more meaning can be found—essentially going back to the story of Aristophanes where sex is our search to find our other half—our “soul-mate”. The bloody key in this picture is a match to the key hole in the doll where the genitals normally are however, from the mood of the picture we can see that this was not the romantic “deflowering” she had in mind but painful, confusing, unexpected, and that in the process, this “toy” lost something she cannot get back. Physically this is her virginity but metaphorically, it is also her innocence and things like that.
Also the fact that the artists calls her a toy—the concept men have that women are things for their pleasure and amusement that they can “play” with and that, as with most people and their toys, will outgrow, become bored with, and\or move on to a new toy. Essentially that society (as in media and gender stereotypes) perceive women as disposable things—not people, that are transient and can easily be replaced, as the other part of the title of the piece implies—another broken toy.
What do you think of the drawing? Do you agree that these concepts are still real and present in society?
One beautiful day you will find...
The cute little doll.
A little girl easy to play with.
Beautiful little eyes. Beautiful little lips.
Her little heart beats, again and again.
You only have to use your key.
Find the keyhole and turn, turn.
Turn to hear her little voice.
Turn to hear her crying.
And then, you're bored.
You don't want to play with the little doll.
So you put her in the garbage.
Goodbye little broken toy.
...
And one beautiful day you will find...
The cute little doll.
A little girl easy to play with.
Beautiful little eyes. Beautiful little lips.
Her little heart beats, again and again.
You only have to use your key.
Find the keyhole and turn, turn.
Turn to hear her little voice.
Turn to hear her crying.
And then, you're bored.
You don't want to play with the little doll.
So you put her in the garbage.
Goodbye little broken toy.
...
And one beautiful day you will find...
©2010-2012 ~ZeTrystan---(Poem)
Well, that's certainly quite a picture.
ReplyDeleteI'm also wondering why she's smiling. Did she find some kind of joy in this experience? Everything else (the blood, the pins, the sallow color of her skin) would seem to argue against this interpretation. Does is just fulfill the artist's fantasy to depict her smiling?
I think the smile is painted on like the smile of a doll or a toy just like everything else about her. We could interpret this as furthering the message of how men perceive women—as a plaything for them to pose and dress and use as they please. Or it could be painted on meaning that it is a fake smile—the smile of a doll, never wavering or faltering no matter what happens because things are the way they are and society does not care about what has happened to oneself, the horrid phrase (in this context) “grin-and-bare-it” comes to minds
DeleteAll of that depends upon THE MAN's nature. I said man's because if he really is a man. He would respect woman ;)
ReplyDelete