Abstract

FILMS

The article focuses on the motion picture "Working Girls," by Lizzie Borden. At bottom, the point of "Working Girls" is to put the hooker film out of business, to replace mystery with information and ruin prostitution as the ever-flexible metaphor. Turning tricks is a job like any other, Borden says; the women are workers whose biggest problems are their working conditions and relations with the boss. It is frequently the best economic option around, she argues, even for middle-class women. This is not the first time Borden's ideas have jolted even the progressive audiences who follow her work. Her previous film, "Born in Flames," is set ten years after a socialist revolution that did little to improve women's lot. It tells of a few women who decide to smuggle guns from Africa and start the revolution again.