Women in the American cinema

Résumé du document

Some people say that movies offer a clear reflection of a society or a culture, and put into light its majors concerns and views of the world. And one has to admit that this is particularly true for the American cinema, which, from its origins in the beginning of the 20th century, often followed the cultural trends of the society. As for women one just has to recall the importance of the Hays code since the thirties. Some morale values, inherited from the so-called American Puritanism, prevailed over more than the first half of the century. However this did not prevent directors from creating strong women characters, and this period was also the area of the major actresses in Hollywood's history, such as Bette Davis, Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe.

When one thinks about the image of woman in the American cinema, it is usually referred to the traditional image of the household woman conveyed during the fifties, and it had not yet acquired the status it has today. Men characters were more often put forward – in the wake of Western movies… -, and it was finally more the actress herself than her role that was preeminent. A movie like The Night of the hunter reveals a quite cynical vision : Willa Harper (the woman character) dies because she seems forced to abide this traditional perception of women devoted to her religion and husband. She is quite naive, and like most of the female characters in the classical movies, a bit single-minded. For love and marriage to cohabit harmoniously, woman has to follow the evolution of her social model, and the model is no longer the Wife one; sex-appeal has became a powerful incentive for feminine characters. They also usually obey to a sort of Manichean rule which set a difference between blonde and brunette girls, the latter representing the “impure love”, whereas the former stands for the true innocent heroine of the love-stories. And this is particularly true in musicals.

Extraits

[...] Like the Hays code recalls : sanctity of marriage shall always be upheld”. Some assert that the image of woman may finally be analyzed as a mere counterpart of the image of man ; it would be in the shadow of the evolution of the way the latter is perceived in nowadays societies that woman ought to be seen. This is a quite arguable point. Much more independent and predominant models such as the image of the Mother have to be put forward. [...]

[...] The importance of the Others is also a crucial issue in these films : how people see us, judge us, and spread rumors about us ; this is related to the woman topic for it seems to constitutes the roots of their everyday behaviors. Women tend to be much more dependant on the reactions and behaviors of the others than men : this is finally the case in Mankiewicz All about Eve, which develops in a more modern way woman intrigues and cynicism. And this is as a matter of fact one of the apparent evolutions of American cinema that women characters tend to gain more importance and independence. [...]

[...] As for women one just has to recall the importance of the Hays code since the thirties. Some morale values, inherited from the so-called American Puritanism, prevailed over more than the first half of the century. However this did not prevent directors from creating strong women characters, and this period was also the area of the major actresses in Hollywood's history, such as Bette Davis, Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe. When one thinks about the image of woman in the American cinema, it is usually referred to the traditional image of the household woman conveyed during the fifties, and it had not yet acquired the status it has today. [...]

[...] It is obvious that each element can be easily combined with the others. Marilyn Monroe in All about Eve (as in all of her subsequent movies) is obviously the third archetype, and her acting is often reduced to that aspect. Nevertheless things are usually more complicated than these simple academic categories : in a movie like Rear Window for instance, one of the main themes is precisely Grace Kelly's evolution from the third to the second archetype, and the ambiguous attitude of James Stewart towards this change. [...]

[...] She does not appear anymore like the uncommon image of beauty she incarnated at the beginning. The end might not be such a happy ending after all, and it almost seems that their relationship is bound to become like the other young married couple's they had observed sooner in the rear building. This is however not as obvious as in a movie like The Happy ending by Mankiewicz in the late sixties where a woman narrates her recollection of sixteen years of unhappy marriage On the other hand the usual link between those three archetypes we pointed out often lies in the perception of marriage. [...]