Flowers From Another World Essay

Flowers from Another World, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown and Yoyes all show aspects of feminist films. In Flowers from Another World from a gendered aspect reveals the fact that the three leading female characters -- Marirrosi, Milady and Patricia are properties in the eyes of their male lovers. From the start of the film this is made obvious. It is the men who invite the women to come to town to conduct what may be considered a commercial transaction, the men who parade them as if they were cows at a country fair, and most importantly, the men who have the power to get rid of them if they don't like the product. The case of Milady is most noticeable in this account. Carmelo parades her like a sexual object as if she were a trophy from a hunt overseas, and when Milady displays her independence by spending a night dancing in Valencia, he lashes back by beating her

The film alternates between the celebration of women's economic and sexual liberation through the characters of Marirrosi and Milady. Another example is how Milady's sexuality is represented as uncontrolled and therefore dangerous. Essentially, the film makes the stereotypical view of race intertwining with sexuality, where the darker a persons skin the greater the ones sexual expertise. Milady's sexuality is presented directly and graphically when she gets on top of Carmelo and literally makes love to him without even taking his or her clothes off. Patricia's sexuality, which coincides with the middle ground between "black" and "white" sexualities, is shown but under the covers of the “matrimonial bed.” Finally, at the other end of the race/sexuality dimension, Marirrosi's sexuality is implied when she and Alfonso fall on the floor and out of the camera's view to make love. Milady’s example serves the narrative purpose of creating