Evolution Of The Actress Research Paper

166 Words1 Page
bulb-icon

Recommended: Theater in the elizabethian era

Looking back in history, it can be easily argued that the role of the actress in society has gone through a notable evolution. During the 16th century, it was a rare occurrence for a woman to be seen on stage. Women’s roles were played by young boys. It wasn’t until the 17th century that women first appeared on the English and Parisian stages. However, it was considered improper because women were expected to remain in the shadows, and actresses had to put themselves on display in order to work. As the role of actresses evolved and they were seen more frequently on stage, society considered them to have bad morals and be prostitutes. It wasn’t until the late 19th century that the view of an actress in society had reached a respectable level.

Show More
Related

  • Women In Hollywood: Pre-code and Post War Eras

    1963 Words  | 4 Pages

    Slowly she asked "Is anyone there?" as she walked down the dark deserted road. When she heard a loud sound she turned abruptly trying again "Hello?" Met with only silence she picked up here pace almost running down the dirt road. Her nerves had just began to calm when she heard "WRRRREEENNNNNRRRRRRR" as a chainsaw started behind her. Running she started looking behind her hoping that whoever it was, wouldn’t catch her. With her lack of concentration she tripped over her high heels and face plants into the dirt, giving the murderer a chance to catch up. Slowly he lowered the chainsaw and began cutting --CUT -- This is a common plot used in horror movies today. Movies have changed over the years. They were different five years ago, fifty years ago, and even a almost a century ago. Technologies have unthinkable things possible. They have allowed us to re-sink "the unsinkable ship." They have allowed us to see dinosaurs in all their brutal glory. We have seen imaginary creatures, only ever mentioned in stories brought to life. Movies have moved so far from the 1920's and 1930's. They have developed ideals, rules and even standards; but where did they begin? Did movies just fall out of the sky? Did they just come into being? No they began slowly, silently moving towards a new era, the era we today call "Pre-code Hollywood"

    Read More

  • All About Eve Analysis

    1013 Words  | 3 Pages

    Joseph Mankiewicz 1950’s ‘film du theatre’ All About Eve, provides an insight into the qualities needed to succeed in the star-studded world of the theatre. In particular, the protagonists, Margo Channing and her “carbon copy”, Eve Harrington, are portrayed as flawed characters because of their single-minded pursuit of fame and fortune. Whilst Margo eventually recognizes the absurdity of her dreams in a 1950s socially-conservative chauvinistic world, Eve appears to emerge triumphantly but discredited due to her wily, manipulative streak.

    Read More

  • Trifles and A Dollhouse

    855 Words  | 2 Pages

    Throughout the plays, the reader can visualize how men dismiss women as trivial and treat them like property, even though the lifestyles they are living in are very much in contrast. The playwrights, each in their own way, are addressing the issues that have negatively impacted the identity of women in society.

    Read More

  • Erotic Objectification: Equally Degrading

    969 Words  | 2 Pages

    In her essay “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema”, Laura Mulvey discusses the subject of how female characters, through various methods, are subjected to erotic objectification, by both the characters on screen as well as the spectators within the auditorium. While Mulvey makes an excellent point in acknowledging female’s exposure in cinema, she fails to realize that male characters are just as likely to be subjected to the same kind of objectification, depending on what type of audience the motion picture is directed at. Mulveys claim depends on a generalization of a homogenous audience and characters that only consists of heterosexual men. When transferring Mulveys claim onto homosexual male characters starring in a production that is in first-hand directed towards a gay audience, the erotic objectification of male characters share several similarities with those Mulvey describe women to be exposed to in her essay. Consequently, erotic objectification is governed by different circumstances, in which the audience plays a large role.

    Read More

  • The Invisible Woman: Female Directors in Hollywood

    2721 Words  | 6 Pages

    Film scholar Louis Gianetti says, “In the field of cinema, the achievement of the Women’s Movement [of the 1960’s] has been considerable, though most present-day feminists would insist that there is still much to be accomplished in the battle against patriarchal values” (428). Gianetti’s words are an understatement. Women in Hollywood are underrated, underrepresented, and generally shoved into the background of the film industry. However, with film becoming one of the most pervasive and influential art forms of the 21st century, women’s leadership in the film industry is vital not only to the feminist movement, but to the perception of the modern female overall.

    Read More

  • Gender and Sexuality in Hollywood Films

    1553 Words  | 4 Pages

    Noted in Yvonne Tasker’s Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema, Goldie Hawn says this about women's role in the film business “There are only thee ages for women in Hollywood: Babe, District Attorney and Driving Miss Daisy” (1998, p. 3). While Haw...

    Read More

  • Essay On Klute By Laura Mullvey

    1316 Words  | 3 Pages

    In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Mulvey states that, “Traditionally, the woman displayed has functioned on two levels: as erotic object for the characters within the screen story, and as erotic object for the spectator within the auditorium, with a shifting tension between the looks on either side of the screen.” (Mulvey 40). A woman’s role in the narrative is bound to her sexuality or the way she

    Read More

  • Marilyn Frye's Definition Of Sexism

    1622 Words  | 4 Pages

    Even in today’s society, sexism is still prevalent and inhibits the people who are affected by it. For the purpose of this essay, sexism will be defined as any action that consciously contributes to a gender stereotyping society. In her essay, Marilyn Frye notes this definition of sexism stating that “making decisions on the basis of sex reinforces the patterns that make it relevant” (846). Therefore, any decision that contributes to the gender binary and its framework is considered sexist. The musical Gypsy has instances in which the main character, Rose, can be considered both going against and contributing to the “patterns that make sex relevant.” In one scene, Rose can be seen subjecting her children to gender roles which feeds in to sexism,

    Read More

  • The Role of Women in Screwball Comedy Films

    4993 Words  | 10 Pages

    Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.

    Read More

  • Comparing the Roles of Women in Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Look Back in Anger

    1829 Words  | 4 Pages

    In Arcadia, The Importance of Being Earnest, and Look Back in Anger, the women characters play distinct roles in the dramas. However, the type of roles, the type of characters portrayed, and the purpose the women’s roles have in developing the plot and themes vary in each play. As demonstrated by The Importance of Being Earnest and Look Back in Anger, the majority of women’s roles ultimately reflect that women in British society were viewed to be unequal to men in love and in relationships and generally the weaker sex, emotionally, physically and intellectually. However, I have found an exception to this standard in the play Arcadia, in which Thomasina Coverly plays the role of a young genius.

    Read More

  • Women’s Roles in Classical Hollywood Cinema

    2563 Words  | 6 Pages

    Women’s roles in movies have changed dramatically throughout the years. As a result of the changing societal norms, women have experienced more transition in their roles than any other class. During the period of classical Hollywood cinema, both society and the film industry preached that women should be dependent on men and remain in home in order to guarantee stability in the community and the family. Women did not have predominated roles in movies such as being the heroin. The 1940’s film Gilda wasn’t an exception. In Gilda, the female character mainly had two different stereotypes. The female character was first stereotyped as a sex object and the second stereotyped as a scorned woman who has to be punished.

    Read More

  • Sexuality And Power In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes And American Beauty

    892 Words  | 2 Pages

    Sexuality and power are synonymous to each other. This was shown through Howard Hawks’ Gentle Prefer Blondes, where Lorelei Lee, played by Marilyn Monroe, uses her sexuality as power over her fiancé. Another instance in which sexuality is seen as power is presented in Sam Mendes’ American Beauty, where Angela Hayes , played by Mena Suvari, unknowing uses her sexuality to alter the depressing life of her friend’s father in a mid-life crisis. The disadvantage of power is that the extreme use of it constitutes oppression. Consequently in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and American Beauty it is clear that Lorelei Lee’s and Angela Hayes’ sexuality restraints or oppressed not the people around them, but it oppressed themselves. The purpose of this essay is to establish how sexuality and its oppression are seen through the use of costumes and cinematography.

    Read More

  • Underrepresentation Of Women In The Film Industry

    2435 Words  | 5 Pages

    Back in time and in today’s world, films have been used for entertainment and to show the audience the human imaginations and ideas about the world reality and fiction. Women character roles have been a huge impact to all generations on audience in all ages by reflecting negative stereotype towards actresses. There have been issues about how women’s characters are portrayed as submissive and the one who has to obey the male character’s roles. In addition, women play roles that risk too much by showing parts of her body or being basically naked, which makes the audience see women as sexual object. In fact, the net worth that women receive its less than male actors, which demonstrates to the audience how men's roles are still dominating the

    Read More

  • Women's Roles in Television

    1106 Words  | 3 Pages

    During this time, women were introduced in a completely diverted way then a male actor. Women

    Read More

  • Gender and Narrative in the Fiction of Aphra Behn

    2859 Words  | 6 Pages

    With the restoration of Charles II to the throne following the fall of the Commonwealth and Puritanism came a surge of sexual and artistic freedom in England. This new libertine ideology brought with it not only the reemergence of the theatre, but and a society that embraced freedom of sexuality and thought in a way that was unprecedented. It is this new libertine society that provided a context for the writings of Aphra Behn. While Behn observed men like rakish Charles II and the effeminate Earl of Rochester enjoying England’s newfound open mindedness, she was forced to navigate, or rather circumnavigate, the limitations that remained in place for women. In a time when actresses were first appearing on stage and Charles II’s mistresses were regarded practically as pop culture icons, women were finally breaking out of the private sphere and being thrust into the public eye.1 While women, and even their sexualities were at last being celebrated outside of the domestic sphere, it was far from on their own terms, and entirely relative to the roles they filled for men. While the society so often characterized by the court of Charles II was on the whole highly performative, women were expected to perform in a much more specific way than their male counterparts. On and off stage women were expected to conform to a limited selection of character types that started with wife and ended with whore, and the spectrum between was narrow if not nonexistent.

    Read More

More about Evolution Of The Actress Research Paper

Open Document