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.
The youngest films of the movie industry were not sheer matter of creative worth, but moderately scientific creations. At the time of the early 20th century era of making films, a cluster of scriptwriters, producers, and directors gradually transformed films into an intermediate tool for expression. A key player to the American film industry was Cecil B. Demille, an American film director and producer, known for both his renowned films in both the silent era and post silent era. DeMille is credited as being a visionary of the film industry, venturing into uncharted territories of film and pushing social norms. Prior to his career as a filmmaker, the film industry was on the verge of arriving at a new period of modernism. The old attitude among citizens that was brought on by Victorianism in the 19th century was progressively fading. The Victorian era had been comprised of, “virtues’ of sexual repression and restriction…. a code of positive morals that include[d] perseverance and an aversion to idleness; a sense of moral uniformity…self control, discipline, self-confidence, [and] self-sufficiency” (Belton 96). In other words, the era bred close-minded individuals, rigid to change and new ideas. As DeMille started his path into the movie business, he highlighted an upcoming subset of individuals and showcased the expanding diversity in the populace of America. Cecil B. DeMille influenced American film cinema to take on more diverse scripts in which the public had never seen before, through the implementation of both foreign actors and characters in his films and interwove them into his theatrical storylines.
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
Stam, Robert, and Toby Miller. "Chapter 25: Feminism, Film Theory and the Bachelor Machines (Constance Penley); Chapter 26: Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema (Laura Mulvey)." Film and Theory: An Anthology. Malden, Mass.: Blackwell, 2000. Print.
Film, as a product of patriarchal ideology, reflects a stereotype of women’s unfairness in reflecting women’s lives. Therefore, in the face of the oppression of male hegemonies film work, feminist films are intended to interpret women’s issue from a feminist point of view to explore women’s activities and women’s theme. However, there are stereotypes of female characters in traditional films. The image of women in traditional films often appears to be over-reliance on male and the role of women is limited to the unselfish dedication of the wife and the perfect mother. Moreover, women’s body shape is
Jhally, S., & MacLeod, K (Directors). (2009). The Codes of Gender Identity & Performance in Pop Culture [Motion picture]. MA: Media Education Foundation.
Beginning the mid 1920s, Hollywood’s ostensibly all-powerful film studios controlled the American film industry, creating a period of film history now recognized as “Classical Hollywood”. Distinguished by a practical, workmanlike, “invisible” method of filmmaking- whose purpose was to demand as little attention to the camera as possible, Classical Hollywood cinema supported undeviating storylines (with the occasional flashback being an exception), an observance of a the three act structure, frontality, and visibly identified goals for the “hero” to work toward and well-defined conflict/story resolution, most commonly illustrated with the employment of the “happy ending”. Studios understood precisely what an audience desired, and accommodated their wants and needs, resulting in films that were generally all the same, starring similar (sometimes the same) actors, crafted in a similar manner. It became the principal style throughout the western world against which all other styles were judged. While there have been some deviations and experiments with the format in the past 50 plus ye...
Clara’s experience with the motion picture industry gives us a picture of what it was like in the 1920’s. It was new and intriguing, enticing and corrupt. The motion picture industry underpaid Bow, which is almost inconceivable today. The environment of Hollywood now pays actors and actresses corpulent amounts of money...but that may be the only change. The “star-maker” environment is still as enticing and corrupt as yesterday’s.
In this essay I will be discussing whether female filmmakers in Britain find it easier to make a documentary feature than a fiction feature film in the current British film industry. I will be referring to the opinions and films of Kim Longinotto, Carol Morley, Clio Barnard and Alison Stirling. I will also be looking at the statistics from film festivals and the British Film Institute, and interviews with various British female filmmakers. I will argue that documentaries are easier to make due to them being less expensive to make and not requiring a large crew. I will try to show that female filmmakers are less like to get funding for a fiction feature film due to the people that make the decisions in terms of granting funding for fiction features are men, and consequently have a male perspective, so think that a ‘female subject’ is likely to bring in big audiences and will not do well financially. I will also look at ways in which films are shown to their audience, and whether those doing the selecting of which films are shown at festival have an effect on the commercial success of a film. Therefore I will be arguing that due to there being very few women in positions of power in terms of funding and distribution for fiction feature films, that female filmmakers find it easier to make documentary features as documentaries do not need as big a budget as fiction feature films.
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.