The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is a film based on the book with the same title, written by Stieg Larsson. It is based in Iceland, and follows the journalist Mikael Blomkvist throughout an investigation he is pursuing in order to clear his name and regain his credibility. Blomkvist is in search of answers as to what happened to Harriet Vanger, a sixteen year old girl who disappeared 40 years and is believed by her uncle, Henrik Vanger, to be murdered. Throughout the investigation, Blomkvist is being followed and observed by Lisabeth Salander, a young and withdrawn computer hacker with a dark past. She eventually joins with him in the investigation to uncover the grotesque secrets within the Vanger family's history.

The film carries with it deep running themes of corruption with society and authority, and the importance of truth and justice. For example, Salander has been constantly stepped upon and beat down by the judicial system, and is taken advantage of multiple times by the guardian that was set in place to look after her and assist her. This corruption has forcefully made many of the decisions in her life for her, and has placed bars up around her as to what she is able to do. Along with the corruption of authority, the theme of truth and justice is prevalent throughout as Slanader and Blomkvist are determined to reveal what happened to Harriet, no matter the costs. They dig into the Vanger family's past mercilessly in order to bring to light the atrocities that were committed.

These themes of truth, justice, and corruption that weave through the film also tie into what we have learned thus far in class. We must dig and search for absolute truth, and seek out and serve justice, for the world that we live in currently is so broken that distorted that it is often difficult to decipher what is real and what has been built up and sugar coated by the system set in place. The corruption that runs through every aspect of creation permeates our existence, and it is up to us to discern and decipher in search of the truth. Despite the knowledge that we will never be able to fully comprehend absolute truth, should we still throw ourselves mercilessly into the hunt for it? Are the positive qualities within the film overpowered by the graphic content?