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.
Possession of sexuality is being able to arise sexual feeling from another person. In both movies, this is accomplished through costumes. In the opening act of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes where Lorelei Lee and Dorothy Shaw perform I’m Just a Little Girl from Little Rock both Lorelei and Dorothy are both shown wearing eye-grabbing skin-tight, low-cut dresses that are slit at the thigh to expose their legs and also shows every little curve of their bodies. The little or lack of costumes are undoubtedly used to demonstrate sexuality. This can be examined in the cruise ship when Dorothy sings “don’t anyone know about the birds and bees” the olympic team dancing around her are adorned in nude coloured sorts that makes them appear naked.
In American Beauty, the lack of costumes are used to reveal sexuality as well. Similar to the opening of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in which the two ...
... middle of paper ...
...mple when her hands move from her chest and lowers the camera zooms in and follows.
Oppression through cinematography in Gentlemen Prefers Blondes is during the same number as Dorothy is not just surrounded by diamonds but consistently chased and surrounded by the men on stage without room to breathe just like the scene where she’s boarding the cruise ship and they're all gathered around her. For Angela it is clear that her forward sexuality deterred her in gaining any favourable interest from others. This is evident in the scene where she's swaying her hips in front of Jane’s window but the camera zooms in away from her to Jane.
In conclusion, in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and American Beauty, costumes reveals Lorelei and Angela’s bodies while cinematography enhances their sexuality. These filmic elements also act as oppression as these restrain both characters.
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
Despite initial criticism at the time of release, Paul Verhoeven’s erotic drama, Showgirls (1995), has become a camp classic that challenges notions of identity and sexuality. The film traces Nomi Malone’s challenging journey from a stripper to a showgirl where she experiences the brutal and sexist economy of Las Vegas. Verhoeven (1995) uses the relationship between Nomi, Cristal and Zack to explore Sedgwick’s (1985, pp.23) concept of the erotic triangle. This is where the bond between two men seeking the attention of a women are usually more potent than “the bond that links either of the rivals to the beloved” (Sedgwick, 1985 pp.21). However, this traditional representation of erotic triangle can be altered by the friendship between women.
Many different depictions of gender roles exist in all times throughout the history of American culture and society. Some are well received and some are not. When pitted against each other for all intents and purposes of opposition, the portrayal of the aspects and common traits of masculinity and femininity are separated in a normal manner. However, when one gender expects the other to do its part and they are not satisfied with the results and demand more, things can shift from normal to extreme fairly quickly. This demand is more commonly attributed by the men within literary works. Examples of this can be seen in Tennessee Williams' “A Streetcar Named Desire”, where Stella is constantly being pushed around and being abused by her drunken husband Stanley, and also in Charlotte Perkins Gilman's “The Yellow Wallpaper”, where the female narrator is claimed unfit by her husband as she suffers from a sort of depression, and is generally looked down on for other reasons.
It is no secret that there is an obvious difference of how women are portrayed in the media versus men. This movie discussed female characters never having lead roles and stated that when they did it ended in the women depending on, loving, or having to have a man. One young high school girl said, “Women never play the protagonist. The girls are
The movie Bridesmaids defies the stereotypical role of women by showing the unseen manner-less and crude side of the gender throughout multiple scenes of the film. In each scene the main characters, Annie, Helen, Lillian, Becca, Rita, and Megan, act in obscene ways that are not socially acceptable for women. They all come from different social classes but are forced together for the wedding of Lillian. The gender role of a woman is a very traditional, narrow, and specific idea that does not allow women to be open and crude as they are in this film. The film shows the crude, vulgar, lusting characteristics that are not normally highlighted and acknowledged in films. Scenes like the dueling speech, food poisoning in the dress shop, and the morning after, are all examples of ways this film defies the stereotype and the divide of class by money between the women.
Gerard Butler and Katherine Heigl, are two very famous stars who represent America’s acting industry as two of the most highly regarded feminine and masculine actors. Both are thought to represent femininity and masculinity and very. It comes as no surprise that these two characters were chosen to play the parts of Abby and Michael within The Ugly Truth. The Ugly Truth displays a lot of stereotypes of men and women or what is expected to be masculine and feminine. According to Gendered Live: Communication, Gender, and Culture by Julia Wood, “A stereotype is a generalization about an entire class of phenomena based on some knowledge of some members of the class” (Wood, 2011, 122). Stereotypes can cause a lot of problems in society if individuals don’t fit the particular mold or idea of what it means to be feminine or masculine. Within The Ugly Truth, the first stereotype which arises is that women in powerful roles cannot have a relationship (Luketic, 2009). As an example, this particular stereotype causes a large amount of trouble for Abby when she takes to...
...ereotypes and patriarchal norms (Annie baking, Helen being a rich step-mom, the wedding itself), it also undermines patriarchy at the same time. At one point or another throughout the film all of the female characters go against the common conception and portrayal of women being proper and passive. They can be raunchy, drink, use vulgar language, and show they aren’t that different from men.
We come to scene which is most important when talking about dependency on male counterparts. Evey is caught in the act of prostitution by fingermens who then decide to do whatever they want with her and even kill her but that’s when V a character from V for Vendetta comes to rescue Evey as a damsel in distress (Moore and Lloyd 6). This shows how Evey’s character is defenseless and couldn’t take on a masculine role and is instead waiting for someone in a masculine role to come and save her. By showing that scene Moore and Lloyd have separated male from a female according to their bodies and their representation of masculine and feminine. In an article about gender stereotyping and under-representation of female character in children’s picture
The story boils down to two men, forced to dress like women in order to run away from the mafia. The fact that they dress like women makes it inevitable for the film to be brought up in the discussion of gender roles in film (Benshoff et. al, 2011). The film itself highlights the issue of gender roles in several ways. For instance, the iconic Marilyn Monroe plays the role of Sugar. Sugar’s character (unlike archetypical female characters in the then and now) rejects the protector portrayal of masculinity. She wants a man who can depend on her, instead of her depending on him. In a seduction scene, she is the aggressor (so to speak), completely blurring the gender stereotype of femininity. The cross-dressing romantic comedy destabilizes gender distinctions by virtue of man pretending to be a woman. The comic element provides a stable medium to alter the gender roles. The effectiveness of which is highlighted by Jerry’s apparent transformation into bliss, from the moment, he turned into a woman. Some Like it Hot does not just try to bend the concept of gender; it makes a great effort at obliterating the entire concept. It dismisses the stringent stereotypes, societies formulate to try to control or inculcate a desired social
...emale sexuality or the "castration" undertones. Female viewers, on the other hand, could be angered by the characterization of female sexuality as being something monstrous and almost inhuman. This is the kind of response, however, that can bring into a dialogue contemporary society's prevailing notions of sexuality.
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.
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
Consequently, they must then take on parties, dates, auctions, beach days, and fashion shows, all while concealing their true male identities. While doing this, the movie portrays extreme stereotypes of gender roles and expectations. Although the portrayal of female expectations and characteristics is exaggerated for comedic effect, the underlying points and issues still remain. The way the brothers dress, speak, act, and understand their new social life as females, all contributes to the obvious contrast in gender specific qualities. The consistent sexualization of women and over pompous attitudes of men throughout the film provides exceptional evidence that society has established acceptable norms for both genders. These established roles of femininity and masculinity conflict within the undercover agents as they struggle to act poise, arrogant, non-confrontational, and sexy like their fellow female friends are, yet this is completely out of the norm for them as they are truly males. However, when they slip-up and allow their defensive masculine traits to show through it allows for not only a comedic break, but an exceptional
The American black comedy The Wolf of Wall Street directed by Martin Scorsese was released December 25, 2013 and stars the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill and Margot Robbie. While on face value The Wolf of Wall Street looks like a film about excessive cocaine binges, long evenings filled with men with cigarettes, large portions of alcoholic consumption, having many sexual escapades with various women and even dwarf tossing from time to time, the film is deeply rooted in perception gender within the genre of The Wolf of Wall Street. The word ‘genre’ is rooted into a similar category as
Pretty Woman, 1990s Hollywood movie, embodies many new as well as old values and ideologies. I was surprised when I saw that, the old themes and sexual stereotypes are not completely abandoned, but the old portrayals of gender stereotypes are transmuted.