Talk:Straw Dogs (1971 film)

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Significance of the film's title

I just watched this film, and was curious to find the significance of the title Straw Dogs. Finding none in the Wikipedia article, I did some research, which yielded the passage from the Tao Te Ching and other information regarding sacrificial animal figures, as provided in the article's new section.

However, without more research, I felt unable to document what I feel are the obvious implications of the metaphor without resorting to original research. But the lack of a conclusion makes the section rather lame. These implications seem obvious enough, but I ended up deleting two paragraphs of expository material for lack of citable sources.

A familiar English translation of the Tao Te Ching passage goes: "Heaven and earth are ruthless, and treat the myriad creatures as straw dogs; the sage is ruthless, and treats the people as straw dogs." The implication is that the David Summer character (the mathematician/"sage") regards the people around him with the same dispassionate, analytical, cold practicality as the Taoist creator ("heaven and earth") regards all of us and everything else in the universe.

It is a chilling and compelling image, of which I feel Peckinpah must have been aware. But, of course, if I were to expound upon such things in the article without citing sources, it would seem as though I were unhinged and trying to proselytize some personal philosophy, which is not my intention.

Any help? It's just a beginning; the section could use some work. Rangergordon (talk) 07:04, 11 November 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Chinese translation

Took the liberty of changing "ruthless" to "not benevolent" a more exact translation. The implication being that Heaven and Earth (ie. the world as a whole) aren't evil and out to get you, they're just indifferent, and that fortune may come or go. The sage should model himself on Heaven and Earth, and also be indifferent in regards to people (in contrast to the Confucian focus on benevolence, and strictly ordered hierarchical relationships among people.) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 134.10.126.52 (talk) 17:52, 6 August 2009 (UTC)[reply]

Anal rape?

"From Venner's expression, it is implied that the rape is anal." It would be interesting to know some more about the distinctive characteristics of the expression involved in anal rape. Clearly the writer has more experience in this area than I. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.171.176.206 (talk) 03:05, 7 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I agree. Why anal? Because it was painful? I am sure we can find many women to testify to the fact that vaginal sex can also be extremely painful under the right circumstances. Given that she had just been previously raped (sensitive), she probably didn't find the second man attractive (not lubricated), and the fact that he probably wasn't being very careful (lots of friction/pulling), I would say that it is reasonable to expect that it would be painful in any case. I think without a source, we should take this out.--24.24.142.225 (talk) 09:01, 13 October 2010 (UTC)[reply]

I concur with 24.24.142.225, and I've removed the statement per WP:NOR. Erik (talk | contribs) 13:40, 13 October 2010 (UTC

I would rather say that any kind of sex can be painful under the wrong circunstances.

correct link ?

The Michael Sragow essay is at salon.cm at http://www.salon.com/1999/07/29/straw/

99.251.239.140 (talk) 19:49, 21 September 2015 (UTC)[reply]