How Will The New “Straw Dogs” Handle Amy’s Sexuality?

[jwplayer id="7185011"]

The original "Straw Dogs" from 1971 has a scene in which Susan George angrily marches upstairs, pulls her top off, and stands in the window where the workmen can see her breasts. These same workmen will later rape her. Will this sensitive plot point be included in the "Straw Dogs" remake that comes out tomorrow?

Actually, we checked, and yes it will. Amy and David discuss the issues of being ogled and provocation at one point (before the rape), David gets into a little victim-blaming, and that's when Amy pulls her top off. (We should note that the book upon which these movies were based, "The Siege of Trencher's Farm," doesn't contain a single rape.) Even if the two movies technically go about the rape in the manner, the underlying issues differ due to the setting.

Specifically: he 1971 version takes place in England during the Vietnam War; Amy considers herself a liberated woman, but David wants their relationship to include traditional gender roles. She asserts that if she has to play housewife, then he needs to be a manly man, handy with tools and chummy with the community. The sexual and social tensions aren't just contained in the movie, they're embedded in the universe around it.

Alternately, the 2011 version takes place in the South, and David and Amy are Los Angelenos (yes, that's the demonym) who work in the film industry. We're not saying that female liberation has ceased being an issue, or isn't an issue to people who work in Hollywood, but it seems like the modern "Straw Dogs" isn't running on anything else than the tired concept of The South = "Deliverance."

· "Straw Dogs" (1971) (imdb.com)