Feminism in Film
The development of feminist film theory was first influenced by second wave feminism In the United States by the early 1970’s it was generally based on sociological theory and focused on the function of women characters in particular film narratives or genres and of stereotypes as a reflection of a society's view of women.
The iconic image of Sigourney Weaver, (Alien 1979) cursing behind awesome firepower (and butch hair in Alien 2), spawned a whole crop of chicks-with-ammo knockoffs. But the real leap was 10 years earlier, when writer/producer team Dan O'Bannen and David Giler were pitching their script about a monster that steals aboard a spaceship and starts picking off crew members. It was the mid-70s, and when the filmmakers heard that Twentieth Century Fox was looking for strong female leads, they decided at the last minute to make their main character, Ripley, a woman. Ripley was never intended to be a spokesman, a symbol or a poster child; at first, she was just a marketing gimmick. But when Ridley Scott took over the film and cast then-unknown Weaver in the role, he gave us one of the beautiful, powerful and believable heroines we'd seen so far: She fought to keep the ship secure, fought to keep her crew alive, and finally, in a harrowing last scene, managed to blast the terrifying alien into deepest space. Scott made very few alterations to accommodate the new gender of its star and only survivor, which was exactly the point. It was the first time I ever saw a capable woman onscreen in a way that didn't call attention to the fact that she was a "capable woman."
After viewing the well known film Thelma and Louise, I found that it was much more than a female version of the classic road film. This film also has a strong feminist perspective as these two women leave behind the constraints of their daily lives in order to find adventure and freedom. As long as they are driving on the road they are getting away from and escaping all that ties them down back home, mainly the men in their lives. Both women are in unhappy relationships and depend on each other for the only good and solid relationship that they have in life. I think this film takes on a feminist perspective as the women gain authority throughout the film, through the use of guns and violence, but these women take charge and enter what normally on the screen is viewed only as male characteristics. They become confident, assertive, and fearless.
I think the term feminism describes the utopian view of the equality between men and women in terms of what both genders are able/expected to do, in terms of personal characteristics, actions, and lifestyles. Feminism allows women to step outside their culturally created gender roles and perhaps take on a job or activity or lifestyle that is not traditionally "female", and thus allows for the freedom of choice, which is what I think feminism is at the core, the power of choice and individuality free from gender norms and cultural expectations. Thelma and Louise certainly go against cultural norms as they become violent and assertive women as the film progresses. However, much like the film "Woman on a Motorcycle" thier freedom is put to a halt when at the end of the film they die (or we assume that they die). The film recognizes them as outlaws who must be punished, which is customary in American films, however it also indicates that they must be punished in someway for their deviant behaviour and expressed the idea that the "wild" woman" will not go unpunished, and in some ways counteracts the freedom and feminist ideals that the film was promoting all along. Had they survived, which perhaps they did, I think that it would have indicated that these women, though non-traditional escaped the binds of their daily lives and societal norms and remained truely free. And if they died, (which seems more likely) we are comforted by the fact that they didn’t, nor will they ever conform to the stereotypes of women, they will be eternally viewed as strong women. They lived and died for their freedom form oppression.
Jackie Stacey’s research suggested that women could obtain a great deal of satisfaction from representations of women being powerful and in control of their lives or struggling to remain in control. So our potential female audience would gain visual pleasure from watching a powerful female lead, who is a assassin so is constantly quite literally ‘fighting to stay on top’Laura Marley while referring to the ‘male gaze’ said “The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation." Maulvey also speaks about the objectification of women in Hollywood cinema and how they function as unrealistic representations to attract the male audience for the visual pleasure they provide. Taking this into account we plan to portray our female protagonist in a realistic fashion. Wearing appropriate clothes for her role, and like in ‘Kill Bill’ looking realistically hurt, bloody and dishevelled when appropriate. unless you plan to totally re-create the representation of what a women is, there is no way to fully avoid the objectifying view of the male gaze. And if you did chose to portray the female lead as someone someone who isn’t powerful, attractive, confident, you would lose the female audience. Why change aspects of a women’s character in the attempt to change how men view them, surely it is the man who should change.
Taking all of this into account, we created our character, she is a strong, individualy powerful woman.
Her strengh coming from her skill and sucsess as an assassin, she uses her talents in hand to hand combat and knowledge of weapons to sucseed in her life.
She ulike other female leads, does not use her good looks to manipulate her opponents. We would like her to be viewed as a strong lead, the equivilant as a male lead. With the same tendancies as any other assassin, male or femal.
Her sex is irrelvant as it is not used as weaopn. In all our character is not 'aware' of her attractiveness, she doesn’t use her good looks to manipulate men, or to gain attention she uses her power as a person not as a woman.
The iconic image of Sigourney Weaver, (Alien 1979) cursing behind awesome firepower (and butch hair in Alien 2), spawned a whole crop of chicks-with-ammo knockoffs. But the real leap was 10 years earlier, when writer/producer team Dan O'Bannen and David Giler were pitching their script about a monster that steals aboard a spaceship and starts picking off crew members. It was the mid-70s, and when the filmmakers heard that Twentieth Century Fox was looking for strong female leads, they decided at the last minute to make their main character, Ripley, a woman. Ripley was never intended to be a spokesman, a symbol or a poster child; at first, she was just a marketing gimmick. But when Ridley Scott took over the film and cast then-unknown Weaver in the role, he gave us one of the beautiful, powerful and believable heroines we'd seen so far: She fought to keep the ship secure, fought to keep her crew alive, and finally, in a harrowing last scene, managed to blast the terrifying alien into deepest space. Scott made very few alterations to accommodate the new gender of its star and only survivor, which was exactly the point. It was the first time I ever saw a capable woman onscreen in a way that didn't call attention to the fact that she was a "capable woman."
After viewing the well known film Thelma and Louise, I found that it was much more than a female version of the classic road film. This film also has a strong feminist perspective as these two women leave behind the constraints of their daily lives in order to find adventure and freedom. As long as they are driving on the road they are getting away from and escaping all that ties them down back home, mainly the men in their lives. Both women are in unhappy relationships and depend on each other for the only good and solid relationship that they have in life. I think this film takes on a feminist perspective as the women gain authority throughout the film, through the use of guns and violence, but these women take charge and enter what normally on the screen is viewed only as male characteristics. They become confident, assertive, and fearless.
I think the term feminism describes the utopian view of the equality between men and women in terms of what both genders are able/expected to do, in terms of personal characteristics, actions, and lifestyles. Feminism allows women to step outside their culturally created gender roles and perhaps take on a job or activity or lifestyle that is not traditionally "female", and thus allows for the freedom of choice, which is what I think feminism is at the core, the power of choice and individuality free from gender norms and cultural expectations. Thelma and Louise certainly go against cultural norms as they become violent and assertive women as the film progresses. However, much like the film "Woman on a Motorcycle" thier freedom is put to a halt when at the end of the film they die (or we assume that they die). The film recognizes them as outlaws who must be punished, which is customary in American films, however it also indicates that they must be punished in someway for their deviant behaviour and expressed the idea that the "wild" woman" will not go unpunished, and in some ways counteracts the freedom and feminist ideals that the film was promoting all along. Had they survived, which perhaps they did, I think that it would have indicated that these women, though non-traditional escaped the binds of their daily lives and societal norms and remained truely free. And if they died, (which seems more likely) we are comforted by the fact that they didn’t, nor will they ever conform to the stereotypes of women, they will be eternally viewed as strong women. They lived and died for their freedom form oppression.
Jackie Stacey’s research suggested that women could obtain a great deal of satisfaction from representations of women being powerful and in control of their lives or struggling to remain in control. So our potential female audience would gain visual pleasure from watching a powerful female lead, who is a assassin so is constantly quite literally ‘fighting to stay on top’Laura Marley while referring to the ‘male gaze’ said “The presence of woman is an indispensable element of spectacle in normal narrative film, yet her visual presence tends to work against the development of a story line, to freeze the flow of action in moments of erotic contemplation." Maulvey also speaks about the objectification of women in Hollywood cinema and how they function as unrealistic representations to attract the male audience for the visual pleasure they provide. Taking this into account we plan to portray our female protagonist in a realistic fashion. Wearing appropriate clothes for her role, and like in ‘Kill Bill’ looking realistically hurt, bloody and dishevelled when appropriate. unless you plan to totally re-create the representation of what a women is, there is no way to fully avoid the objectifying view of the male gaze. And if you did chose to portray the female lead as someone someone who isn’t powerful, attractive, confident, you would lose the female audience. Why change aspects of a women’s character in the attempt to change how men view them, surely it is the man who should change.
Taking all of this into account, we created our character, she is a strong, individualy powerful woman.
Her strengh coming from her skill and sucsess as an assassin, she uses her talents in hand to hand combat and knowledge of weapons to sucseed in her life.
She ulike other female leads, does not use her good looks to manipulate her opponents. We would like her to be viewed as a strong lead, the equivilant as a male lead. With the same tendancies as any other assassin, male or femal.
Her sex is irrelvant as it is not used as weaopn. In all our character is not 'aware' of her attractiveness, she doesn’t use her good looks to manipulate men, or to gain attention she uses her power as a person not as a woman.
posted by AIMEE~NATASHA at
19:11
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