Post Six - The Changing Portrayal of Women in Films

Since the Hollywood studio system began the representation of women has been a topic of discussion. Many feminist theorists have argued that Hollywood films use fixed and repeated images of women which reflect myths about women and femininity encouraging typical female stereotypes.

This post will look over some of the key points in cinema history and how women’s portrayal has changed in films over the past 90 years.

Classic narrative films have been looked at first and how women have been portrayed through these films. Looking at typical Hollywood films beginning in the 1920’s women are portrayed as powerless objects of desire (Cook and Bernink, 1999). Men on the other hand are starring in roles as active, powerful businessmen. This structure of films has been looked at by theorist Laura Mulvey. Mulvey has looked at the ways in which both narrative and visual techniques turn voyeurism into a male prerogative.

“Within the narrative of the film, male characters direct their gaze towards female characters. The spectator in the theatre is made to identify with the male look.” (Cook and Bernink, 1999)

When watching classic narrative films the audience watches from the male perspective. There are three levels of the cinematic gaze:

•   Camera
•   Character
•   Spectator

Mulvey argues that these factors make women an object of desire in these films. An example being the classic Breakfast at Tiffany’s starring Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn plays a beautiful socialite who is pursued by a writer living in the same apartment block. She is seen as the object in this film as the storyline surrounds George Peppard pursuing her.

The male characters in these films have more powerful egos meaning the audience automatically identifies with the male rather than the female.

Hollywood films were repeatedly being made for the male desire so early feminists made women’s films that would go against traditional Hollywood storylines and techniques and from this we get women’s cinema or counter cinema.

Feminist counter cinema took its inspiration from avant-garde and theatre. It was part of the 1970’s film making and the coincided with the second wave of feminism. These counter cinema films avoided Hollywood conventions and accommodated a female point of view (Cook and Bernink, 1999).

An example of a feminist film is the short film Thriller, this film was re-written from a classic called La Boheme. The main character Mimi is split into Mimi I and Mimi II. Mimi I investigates how she is portrayed as an object and finds out that the female cannot be part of the male language or classic narrative. Mimi I investigates her death and doing this she explores what separates her from the “bad girl” in the film. This film uses mirror shots and one key moment is when Mimi I recognises she is an object she is shown with her back to the mirror and facing the camera this image is repeated on several mirrors behind her instead of showing the back of her head. This complex shot shows Mimi I’s recognition of her split self. From this it is shown that women understand they are not split so should not be split through film narrative. This film is directed by Sally Potter and provides a female version of the original La Boheme.

Counter cinema provided a door for women to be seen as powerful women in films rather than objects of desires like those written in classic narrative films.

Another key portrayal of women through films is the vamp. This image of women on screen was originally from Europe but made its way into Hollywood cinema and provides female spectators with a positive, independent image of femininity. Women spectators can relate and identify with this character as this image of women is positive.

This image of women can be seen in film noir films; this woman uses her sexuality and attractiveness to manipulate men to gain power. This character in Film Noir rejects all typical female roles such as loving mothers and housewives and in the end the disobedience of social norms leads her to self destruction or destruction of others. Film Noir’s portrayal of Femme fatale supports the likes of classic narrative storylines because although this female character is powerful she is punished for it in the end.

When first looking at film noir films the femme fatale character receives a punishment for not playing a typical female role, looking at this a bit closer film noir films showed that women are constrained to playing the same roles in other films. At the end of these films it is the fearless femme fatale that sticks in the audience’s minds because she stays true to her destructive nature unlike any other female characters of the time.

Film noir was another movement in which women were to be seen as more powerful greater things than just objects of desire.

Another key portrayal of women through films is through the genre of horror films. In almost all critical writings of horror films women are shown to be the victims. Looking at classic horror films such as Psycho this is the case, the last girl tends to be sought after by the killer making the so called “Final Girl” the killers chosen victim. Looking at horror films on a modern scale this is now not the case. Taking Scream as an example, Sidney Prescott is a teenage girl whom Scream is trying to kill. She is seen as a victim in this film with constant attempts by Scream to kill her but she could also be classed as the feisty “Final Girl” she is the one girl through the film who fights, resists and survives from the killer that is Scream. The “Final Girl” character is masculinised through what has been described as the male gaze, therefore dominates the action. In modern horrors the “Final Girl” becomes her own saviour. This characters self rescue turns her into a hero.
 

This modern take on horror films has again made way for women to be represented as strong and powerful. Although mainly all critical writings speak about women as victims, women can also play a very different part in horror films as the monster.

Barbara Creed is an author who discusses this topic in the book Monstrous-Feminine. Creed views the portrayal of women in horrors differently to most theorists. For example in the film Carrie, Carrie plays the part of a witch. This role is unconventional in the fact that it isn’t often seen but the part of a witch in films is always played by a woman. This theorists argument is that man fears women and see's women as ambiguous and from this develops these unconventional, monstrous female characters.

As a result womens portrayal in films has certainly moved on with the times. Looking back at the 1920’s where women could only play conventional stereotypical roles such as housewives compared to today where women can fight killers and become their own saviours, women characters in films have definitely changed. Although the one thing that has stayed the same is that women can still be seen as objects of desire, this may have been evened up on a modern scale with men also being seen as objects of desire in genres such as chick flicks.

COOK, P and BERNINK, M (1999). The Cinema Book. 2nd ed. London: British Film Institute. 353-362.

CREED, B (1993). The Monstrous-Feminine. Oxon: Routledge. 73-83.

http://www.filmnoirstudies.com/essays/progressive.asp

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2009/oct/13/ridley-scott-alien-ripley

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1138946/Hollywood-portrays-women-image-obsessed-man-mad-idiots-says-British-academic.html