The Role of Women in Screwball Comedy Films
Joan Wilder: You're leaving? You're leaving me?!
Jack Colton: You're gonna be all right, Joan Wilder. Yea. You always were.
Like a contemporary Dorothy, Romancing the Stone's Joan Wilder must travel to Columbia and survive incredible adventures to learn that she had always been a capable and valuable person. Romancing the Stone (Robert Zemeckis, 1984) is part of a series of 1980s action comedies that disrupted previous expectations for female heroines. These female protagonists manage to subvert the standard action narrative and filmic gaze, learning to rescue themselves and to resist others' limited vision of them. Not only did these action comedies present strong female characters, they also offered a new filmic experience for female audiences. The commercial success of comic action heroines paved the way for women to appear in serious action roles--without the personal sacrifices required of Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley. Figures like Joan Wilder serve as an important link between previous strong yet feminine screen personas and current female stars.
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.
Comedy often allows for a subversion of the status quo that is not tolerated in more serious genres. Beginning in the 1930s, the subgenre of screwball comedy presented female characters who were active and desiring, without evoking negative characterizations as "unfeminine" or "trampish." Screwball comedies represent a specific form of romantic comedy that features a complicated situation--or more often a series of complications--centered around a strong-willed, unpredictable female. The comedy is generally physical as well as verbal. Screwball and other forms of romantic comedy do not just reverse the masculine/active, feminine/passive paradigm--which as E. Ann Kaplan notes accomplishes little in terms of change--but instead strengthens the female and weakens the male just enough to put them on more equal footing.
Laura Mulvey claims that the camera is almost always masculine and that all women in these films are objectified and punished if they don’t please the male characters by obeying gender roles. Carol Clover, however, believes that there is more to Mulvey’s claim. Clover argues that the boys of the film also die, insinuating that punishment does not just fall on the women. She also argues that the camerawork and the film itself are about gender fluidity; both boys and girls can identify with any character of the film, be it the killer, a boy, or the final girl. Sexual ambiguity, especially in regards to the first-person camera work, are the focus of the films. To some extent, I believe both women’s claims. However, I believe there is more truth in Clover’s argument due to the fact that retributions are inflicted upon all characters regardless of gender. Yet, it does seem that women in horror films have a special place in terms of their sexuality and roles for the film. The women have ambiguous gender rules as evident by the final girl. Her act of fighting is considered a masculine activity. These masculine activities performed by females seem to be more acceptable in these films than if a male was actively portraying something feminine, such as cowering in fear. This gives validity to the argument that being masculine or
By focusing on the production of Absent through the lens of a feminist spectator it is possible to clarify the effect of immersive spectatorship on the male gaze. Feminist spectatorship entails readership of a performance against the dominant ideology to exhibit how a performance address the ideal white, straight male spectator. Typically, performances will “employ culturally determined gender codes that reinforce cultural conditioning.” These representations encourage the male spectator to identify with a male hero, while both women in the production and as spectators are passive. For example, the Duchess has no agency in her story. Every news articles refers to her not as her own person, but as an ex-wife. Every aspect of her narrative is
Gender and the portrayal of gender roles in a film is an intriguing topic. It is interesting to uncover the way women have been idealized in our films, which mirrors the sentiments of the society of that period in time. Consequently, the thesis of this essay is a feminist approach that seeks to compare and contrast the gender roles of two films. The selected films are A few Good Men and Some Like it Hot.
King Lear has been in a position of authority and superiority. This position shapes King Lear into a man full of pride. However, as King Lear’s age grows, his emotional needs also grows. It is the false pride of Lear that blinded him with his emotional needs. King Lear behaved rashly and irresponsibly at the start of the play. Deep within Lear, he realizes that it is time for him to retired from this position of honor. Despite this realization, Lear’s pride keeps him from letting go of his power. King Lear wants the title and treatment of a king, but he does not want the work and obligations of the position. Therefore, when he makes the choice of letting his daughters to govern the kingdom, it foreshadows the strapping away of his p...
The most important events of this film all revolve around the female characters. While there are some male charac...
The film Klute, directed by Alan J. Pakula attempts to subvert this theory, but ultimately proves Mulvey correct in the system of the active male and passive female, that the male controls the film and drives the story forward. Jane Fonda’s character, Bree Daniels, sees herself at the
In her essay, “Women's Cinema as Counter-Cinema”, Claire Johnston proposed a path to creating Women's cinema to counter the numerous dominant male-oriented mainstream films. In it, she argues that you must first understand the ideology that is found in mainstream movies, and the ways that women are portrayed within it. She determined that there were two principle concepts to understand: how women are visually represented, and the effect that women have upon the creation of meaning within the film. The how refers to all the film techniques used in the creation of the image: lighting, hair, makeup, choice of lens, choice of wardrobe, and the framing of the camera shot are some examples. These are often done to increase the attractiveness of the female character, and creates a sign for the audience to accept and decode. The effect of the female character is limited to her physical traits and the impact that her presence has on the male protagonist, typically to send him off on an Oedipal journey.
These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).
In the thirty years since its release, Alien has become a film of various debates amongst film theorists. Academic analyses of the film draw attention to many differing themes, most popularly with feminism. Most critiques, academic and otherwise, ultimately conclude that Alien is a feminist film because of its representation of the workplace as a home to equality and a place where traditional gender roles have been obliterated. What is ultimately revealed by Alien is the anxiety of men during the era of second-wave feminism in which the film was produced. This film provides a step forward for feminists, but imagines men taking two steps back in equality.
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.
In the beginning of the play the reader learns that Lear is ready to give up his kingdom and retire from a conversation that two noblemen, Gloucester and Kent, are having. He asks his three daughters; Cordelia, Goneril, and Regan to express their love for him to help him make his decision as to who would inherit his kingdom. Cordelia has always been his “favorite” daughter and when asked how much she loved her father she does not lie to him and tells him “I am sure my love’s more ponderous than my tongue” (1363). Rather than being grateful for such love and honesty, Lear banishes her to France and divides his kingdom to his two other daughters. Kent does not agree with Lear’s decision and Lear banishes him too.
'My Fair Lady' (1964) and 'Pretty Woman' (1990), both based on the 1938 film adaptation of the original 1913 stage play Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw, are both widely immensed blockbuster movies who have made it to the 'classics' list of movies that never get old, gaining infinite fame and success. The female audience swoon over the movies, wishing for a Prince Charming, a Henry Higgins, or a Edward Lewis to magically appear before them, for who wouldn't want to live the life of a woman who goes from rags to riches in a few days and falls madly in love with her savior? What woman wouldn't want to be swept away, rescued, and redeemed into heterosexual heaven? To be completely transformed into societies perfect image of what a woman
Women have made progress in the film industry in terms of the type of role they play in action films, although they are still portrayed as sex objects. The beginning of “a new type of female character” (Hirschman, 1993, pg. 1). 41-47) in the world of action films began in 1976 with Sigourney Weaver, who played the leading role in the blockbuster film ‘Aliens’ as Lt. Ellen Ripley. She was the captain of her own spaceship, plus she was the one who gave out all the orders. Until then, men had always been the ones giving the orders; to see a woman in that type of role was outlandish.
Golf is an outdoor game in which players use specially designed clubs to propel a small, hard ball over a field of play known as a course or links. The object of the game is to advance the ball around the course using as few strokes as possible. Golf is a very popular sport throughout the world.
The main purpose of Human Resource management is to develop both the individuals and the organization. This means Human Resource is not only responsible for finding and maturing talents of workers, but also putting programs in effect that will enhance communication between other workers.