Saturday 24 September 2011

The Iron Lady? Or The Dagger Lady?



After a puzzling first promotional shot, followed by a puzzling first teaser, comes a puzzling first poster for The Iron Lady. The film, in case you have been hiding under a rock for the last few months, stars Meryl Streep as Margaret Thatcher, and will attempt to portray her as a fully human being, including her softer side. I now look forward to: "Pol Pot: I Was Misunderstood".


I am not sure how much a good sign it can be that this film has been purposefully not shown in any of the big autumn film festivals, such as Toronto and Venise, considering how important they have become for Oscar's baits. Unless the studio behind it is hoping to hit big at the end of the year, at a time when many of its competitor might begin to show some exposure fatigue.

So this first poster. Somebody thought it would be a good idea to photoshop half of Maggie/Meryl/Iron/Thatcher 's face onto a vertical Westminster skyline. The end result makes her look more like a dagger lady than an iron lady. A subtle metaphor for the Tories cuts of the 80's, which are making a nostalgic comeback?

If you were going to go for weird, would it not have made more sense to fully portray her as an Iron Lady, as a sort of murderous fembot with an iron skin, as a bit like the Superman 3 villain that traumatised a whole generation back in the 80's, in a scene that was wholly unsuitable for a family film?

The Iron Lady: Meryl Streep took Method's acting to new lengths
Although at least Superman 3's fembot got defeated at the end... Expect no such happy ending in here!

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