Two Cutting Movies, Two Thoughts
I am writing a piece on nonsuicidal self-injury (NSSI), out sometime next year, but was unable to fit in some thoughts on two cutting movies. I would like to write a longer piece about self-injury in film one day, but for now here’s another quick post!
Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004) — horror film, werewolf film
Thought #1
Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed is a cutting movie, although I’ve never seen it described in this way. It deals with institutionalization, self-injury, gender. (The first film dealt with menstruation, desire, gender and continues to receive a lot more attention than the sequel.) The film opens with our protagonist Brigitte ‘B’ Fitzgerald cutting in the bathtub. The camera zooms in tight on her arms. Blood drops and spreads through the water. She’s cutting herself to track how fast the werewolf virus is progressing through her body, then injecting monkshood/wolfsbane, a toxic plant, to slow it down. In a journal, she records dosage amount, healing time, and visual observations:
Healed faster.
No marks.
Less Scarring.
Healed.
Most of the film takes place in a partially locked ward where B is involuntarily held. Once locked up, B is prevented from injecting monkshood and the disease progresses: her ears lengthen, her palms harden and become hairy, and a blood lust descends. Cutting herself is about staying alive (relatable!). B doesn’t want to kill herself, she wants to stop the virus from killing her—turning her into an unrecognizable, violent animal. Her cutting is about staying ahead of the biological contagion that threatens to rip through her DNA.
Secretary (2002) — drama film, BDSM film
Thought # 2
Maggie Gyllenhal cuts in Secretary, but James Spader commands her not to ever do it again and she doesn’t. “You will never, ever, cut yourself again,” James Spader tells her. “Have I made that perfectly clear?” (James Spader commands her to stop doing other things too: stop sniffling, stop waggling your tongue, don’t wear those frumpy clothes again!) I laugh when I watch this film. How would he have that much power? Several of my boyfriends had threatened to break up with me if I continued to cut. Is a threat a command? What happens when someone is told to give up something they use as harm reduction?