Women in Film

Paper Summary:

This paper explains that the way women are depicted in film generally reflects how women are viewed in the society, which produced the film. The women in the 1940 films were empowered because of woman who worked in a factory during the war; however, the 1950s film depicted a return to a more domestic image of women, though challenged by the sex bomb. The author points out that these film images of women contributed to the unrest and dissatisfaction that led to the development of the women's liberation movement in the 1960s. The paper analyzes in detail 1940s films "The Philadelphia Story", Mildred Pierce", "Now, Voyager" and "Double Indemnity " and 1950s films "The African Queen", "Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison", "The Girl Can't Help It" and "Some Like It Hot".

Table of Contents:
Introduction
The Forties
The Fifties
Conclusion

From the Paper:

"Elizabeth Mulvey describes the view prevalent of the woman as being woman as icon, and Tracy clearly does represent an iconic image to every male in the film and to many of the woman as well. She is the goddess to Dexter, Connor, and her fiancee, though in different ways and with differing degrees of acceptance. To her father, she is a failed woman, a woman who will never be a true woman until she changes her way of relating to men and her way of being looked at and being displayed."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Cowie, Elizabeth. Representing the Woman: Cinema and Psychoanalysis. London: Macmillan, 1997.
• Cukor, George. The Philadelphia Story. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, 1940.
• Curtiz, Michael. Mildred Pierce. Warner Bros., 1945.
• Dowdy, Andrew. The Films of the Fifties. New York: William Morrow, 1973.
• Haskell, Molly . From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies (New York: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1974)

More papers on Women in Film:

• Research Paper # 61789 : "Women in Film Noir"
• Analytical Essay # 115697 : "The Role of Women in Film Noir"
• Analytical Essay # 88698 : "Women in Film: "Jerry McGuire"

APA Citation:

MLA Citation: