An acrylic painting on wood panel, titled 'Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion', looking up at an angry woman as she digs with a shovel. Her black hair shooting outward projecting a deep-red ray. Prisoner guards surround her on the hills above and one guard is firing a rifle into the air and the blast mimicks fireworks.

Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion

(1972, Shunya Itō)

“Pinky violence” is increasingly becoming one of my favorite film genres though I can't watch them with a “2016” mentality since violence against women is hard to enjoy regardless of how stylish it is filmed. But we can appreciate the tone with how the film often relates back to the Vietnam War era and the 1960’s anti-war student protests in Japan by showing young people brutally oppressed by the “old” military mentality.


A screenshot from the film 'Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion' of a older man on the telephone oblivious to the silhouette of a woman with a large hat behind him in the distance. An animated gif of a scene from the film 'Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion' of a women lying on a bed of flashing lights as her hair is repositioned spreadout above her in stop motion. A screenshot of a woman standing off-center from the camera with her chin up as guards loom menacingly behind her. From the movie 'Female Prisoner 701: Scorpion'.

© 1972 - Toei