JoBlo has a contest running for a Terminator poster that caught my attention. Maybe it’s because I’m taking a Gender Communication class at my friendly neighborhood public university, and I see everything through a gendered lens, but this is definitely a strange poster in my view.

If the woman in this picture is supposed to be Sarah Conner (which I’m pretty sure isn’t the case), then this is a pretty drastic change in terms of sexualization of the character since the end of T2. If you remember, Sarah Conner went from the naive, breast baring victim to a weathered “pissed off at the world” ultra de-feminzed version of herself. One thing’s for sure, Sarah Conner wasn’t what anyone would call “sexy” or “alluring” in T2. The new Fox show, which you can check out right here, takes place after the events of T2, so that poster wouldn’t really be applicable to the character.

If it’s the new Terminator, then that makes more sense, but why would you show a giant close-up of its breasts? Even this poster is still sexualized, but at least you know it’s a damn killing machine. It at least reveals something about the show. The poster to the right does no such thing. It’s actually pointless. When I see something like this, it doesn’t give me any faith in the show at all. If the marketing campaign has to rely on giant breasts to generate interest, then that doesn’t bode well for the quality of the program in my opinion. I’m still going to watch this show, all I’m saying is that superficial “sex sells” stuff like this raises more red flags than it generates reactions of “Holy crap, I really want to see this now!”

I love all three Terminator films, but when I watch one, I don’t want sex to be in the equation. The joke in T3 when Kristanna Loken “enhances” her breasts for the cop was just stupid. I don’t need sex to sell me on a Terminator TV show. I want a killing machine. That is all.

In any event, this would make a great Splattercast discussion topic that could branch out into the greater topic of how women are portrayed in horror films. Feminists hate most horror movies and I’m sure they are looking at that poster to the left and saying something like “Men control the advertising! Down with all men!”. That’s sarcasm folks. I respect any and all of our feminist readers Anyways, diverging off into another subject, I’m going to be writing about Hostel and taking a look at the film from a gendered perspective for my final paper this semester in my Gender class. Now that should be an interesting viewing session

UPDATE: a little research has revealed that the female terminator is John Conner’s “protector” and goes to school with him, making that sexualization factor a little more creepy…

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