Punk Rock Feminism in the 90s or Genetically Engineered Kangaroo/Dog/Men are Good in Bed: A reflection on 1995’s Tank Girl.

The 1990s was a strange decade.  We saw the death rattle of the 80s with Guns n Roses, the birth and death of Ska in popular culture, and the birth of Mall Punk and Hot Topic with Green Day (just to name a few).  One big theme of the 90s was Girl Power, or “Grrrl Power” or “Riot Grrl,” whatever you want to call it.  This paved the way for Sailor Moon, The Powerpuff Girls, and No Doubt.  Combine those three and you pretty much have 1995’s Tank Girl, complete with a Gwen Stefani look-a-like in the lead role (Lori Petty).

Based on the much cooler comic from the UK of the same name, Tank Girl took a Cliff Notes/Paint-by-numbers approach to the film.  The film is odd, disjointed and full of many WTF moments (I’ll get to those in a second…).  Compared to the comic, Tank Girl is the Americanized bastardization of what seems to be a fairly brilliant comic.  All that aside, after a few beers, Tank Girl is quite enjoyable trash.
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