Dakinis and femmes fatales: Sexuality and fear in contemporary Himalayan Buddhist cinema
Issued Date
2025-10-01
Resource Type
ISSN
1059440X
eISSN
20496710
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-105029098258
Journal Title
Asian Cinema
Volume
36
Issue
2
Start Page
127
End Page
142
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Asian Cinema Vol.36 No.2 (2025) , 127-142
Suggested Citation
Stacy I. Dakinis and femmes fatales: Sexuality and fear in contemporary Himalayan Buddhist cinema. Asian Cinema Vol.36 No.2 (2025) , 127-142. 142. doi:10.1386/ac_00093_1 Retrieved from: https://repository.li.mahidol.ac.th/handle/123456789/114923
Title
Dakinis and femmes fatales: Sexuality and fear in contemporary Himalayan Buddhist cinema
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Abstract
This article explores the association of fear and sexuality in the Buddhist figure of the dakini in two recent films by Bhutanese filmmakers, Dechen Roder’s Honeygiver among the Dogs (2016) and Khyentse Norbu’s Looking for a Lady with Fangs and a Moustache (2019). Both films consciously connect the Buddhist figure of the dakini, traditional depictions of which are characterized by overt sexuality, with that of the femme fatale. In doing so, they create a profound sense of ambiguity, with the ostensibly benevolent function of dakinis undercut by fear of seduction and sense of sexual threat. However, both films subvert the trope of the femme fatale and reassert the traditional esoteric but benign role of the dakini. Rather than fear being conquered through rationality, it is precisely fear of the irrational and the sexual that drives the radical personal change that is necessary, in the Buddhist world-view, to progress towards enlightenment.