Women in Film as Portrayed in the Movie, Double Indemnity Essay

In her “Oppressive Texts, Resisting Readers, and the Gendered Spectator: The ‘New’ Aesthetics,” Mary Devereaux discusses the notion of the “male gaze.” The male gaze is a term largely discussed by feminists who ultimately criticize the patriarchal nature of mainstream art. According to Devereaux, a gaze ought to be considered “male,” in the literal sense, if it is men doing the looking. In the figurative sense, the male gaze refers to a viewpoint which places women as its object.

Women’s roles in movies have changed dramatically throughout the years. As a result of the changing societal norms, women have experienced more transition in their roles than any other class. During the period of classical Hollywood cinema, both society and the film industry preached that women should be dependent on men and remain in home in order to guarantee stability in the community and the family. Women did not have predominated roles in movies such as being the heroin. The 1940’s film Gilda wasn’t an exception. In Gilda, the female character mainly had two different stereotypes. The female character was first stereotyped as a sex object and the second stereotyped as a scorned woman who has to be punished.

This genre is typically modern, perky and upbeat, but the common narrative in all of them is that it features a woman who is strong and she overcomes adversity to reach her goals. There is also a message of empowerment that also struggles with a romantic predicament and using comedy to poke fun at the male characters. Industries are still producing soppy romantic comedies for the female audience but the divide between the standard chick flick and romantic comedy is slowly disappearing. Similarly to the beginning of this essay it is evident that institutions are moving in the direction of women’s place in culture in relation to this film genre; women are usually shown as the super power since they are made to appeal to the female audience. However

The films we watched within the last weeks are really different from one another. From crime movie to musical to French New Wave film. The one thing I found most salient about them is the importance and the different depiction of women in the movies. In Double Indemnity (1944), the female main protagonist Phyllis is a beautiful and alluring woman. In her first appearance in the film, she is almost naked, wearing a white dress and thus seems to be very vulnerable and innocent. But in the progress of the film it turns out, she is not. Especially in the beginning, Phyllis is reduced to her beauty and as a result highly undererstimated. She uses her sexuality and her innocent look to manipulate men to get what she wants. Phyllis is represented

In light of this year’s monumental and thought provoking presidential election between business magnate, Donald Trump, and New York senator, Hillary Clinton, the misogynistic rhetoric drew controversial division amongst the country. The value and significance of a woman have advanced from the cult of domesticity to a politically intricate executive, but that graduation exhibits seldom progress for women in media such as television, film, and theater. The depiction of females deters the accuracy and complexity of African American and latino women and limits their characteristics as peripheral, unoriginal, and one-dimensional objects of a man’s pleasure. Absurdity conveys in continuously seeing women setting the tables, giving a kiss on the cheek

The objectification of women does not exist in America as it does in other areas of the world. In fact, they perfect equality and prosperity of all genders in all places: Wal-mart, schools, and even Hollywood. Showing women what they need to look like gives them an image to strive for. In movies, girls always need saving but never saves. Girls here know what they have to look and act like in order to find success, unlike other countries where they have to pretend they aren’t anything at all. Being the person everybody wants is better than not being anybody at all. Hollywood allows few lucky girls to act like that person while also promoting that woman to others. Today’s Hollywood gives women an outline to not only who but where society allows them to be. In films today, there is an undeniable lack of women as main characters. Less than a third of women receives main roles out of 800 movies and 35,205 speaking characters (Smith). As in movies, it is imperative for women to hide in life. Let the men take the spotlight, and stay in the shadows. For example, in the 2016 election, a woman ran for president. Having intellectual thoughts and opinions does not make a woman more attractive, which proves why Hillary Clinton inevitably failed, especially to such a politically polished and more qualified Donald Trump. Hillary fools herself into thinking a girl stood a chance against a man if she only wore an ugly

Women are deemed as a “minority” yet make up 51% of the world population and in 2014 made up only 12% of protagonists in films. And that is just on-screen, the percentage decreases as you go farther and farther into behind-the-scenes positions such as directors, cinematographers, and writers. Add race and ethnicity and those characters' percentages decline even more (Lauzen, 2015.) Women in film and television are often portrayed with emphasis based on their body type and in advertisement are largely objectified. The large objectification and misrepresentation of women in the media has led to an offset psychological view of women from growing up to adulthood.

The media, particularly the film industry, has been both confirming and challenging social constructs since its beginnings and has the capability to influence its point-of-view its viewers in ways that other sources of media simply cannot. After all, many of us remember during our childhood re-enacting our favorite scenes from our favorite movies with our friends. While many may not give this a second thought, some of the movie characters we strive to be like behave in a way that is misogynistic, violent, or disreputable. Furthermore, some films produced are confirming conservative gender ideologies which can also be dangerous because the viewer may then believe that adhering to these ideologies is acceptable and rebelling against it may prove

Today’s filmmakers have three areas to focus on: the event or theme of the film, the audience who will be watching the film, and lastly, the individual characters and the roles they play and how they are portrayed and interpreted. Many of these films bottom line objectives are to focus on the “erotic needs of the male ego.” The focus on fetishistic scopophilia tend to slant the view such that we see the world as being dominated by men and that woman are

Since the 1940’s, movies have predominately portrayed women as sex symbols. Beginning in the 1940’s and continuing though the 1980’s, women did not have major roles in movies. When they did have a leading role the women was either pretreated as unintelligent and beautiful, or as conniving and beautiful: But she was always beautiful. Before the 1990’s, men alone, wrote and directed all the movies, and the movies were written for men. In comparison, movies of the 90’s are not only written and directed by women, but leading roles are also held by older and unattractive women. In this paper I will show the variations and growth of women’s roles in movies from the 1940’s though the 1990’s.

Some might ask what effect do misogyny and sexism have on American media? Misogyny and mass media have made numerous examples where studies have concluded correlations between misogynous messages, both obvious and subliminal. Messages containing misogynous views have become incorporated into our society, affecting many parts of our lives. Misogyny can be found in many types of media, especially music videos that show Women being shown as just objects that are only good for abuse, sex and for the most part are just trouble for men. Also, another main form of media where misogyny is found is video games. Despite the achievements of the women 's movement over the past decades, misogyny remains a persistent force in American culture.

Discuss, in relation to two films, Marcia Landy’s assertion that ‘femininity is central to the early and late melodramas […] always present and always problematic’. ‘Film melodramas foregrounding women escalate in the latter part of the Ventennio. They offer problematic images of femininity, suggesting a crisis of representation inextricably tied to the figure of the woman. Woman appears as a malcontent, disrupter of the family, and corrupter of socially sanctioned behaviour.’ Melodrama was a cinematic genre that flourished in Italy under Fascist rule.

Second, films tap into more conserved roles for women because the film industry is not subject to much scrutiny. Feminism may have gained more legal rights for women and placed women on more equal footing with men, but there is no regulation on the content and depiction of women in the media. It is still arguable whether media has a significant impact on women’s lives and their perception in the workplace.

Since its humble beginnings in the later years of the nineteenth century, film has undergone many changes. One thing that has never changed is the filmmaker’s interest in representing society in the present day. For better or worse, film has a habit of showing the world just what it values the most. In recent years, scholars have begun to pay attention to what kinds of ideas films are portraying (Stern, Steven E. and Handel, 284). Alarmingly, viewers, especially young women, are increasingly influenced by the lifestyle choices and attitudes that they learn from watching these films (Steele, 331). An example of this can be seen in a popular trope of the “romantic comedy” genre in this day and age: the powerful man doing something to help, or “save” the less powerful woman, representing a troubling “sexual double standard” (Smith, Stacy L, Pieper, Granados, Choueiti, 783).

The presentation of women on screen is another highlighted issue in many of the gathered sources. Because men were ultimately in control of what went on the screen much of what the audience perceived were women from the male imagination or fantasy. Bernard Beck elaborates in his article Where the Boys Are: The Contender and other Movies about Women in a Man’s World that, “…women have been used to dress up a male story or motivate a male character” (Beck 15). Women were often insignificant and trivial characters. Although, Kathe Davis disagrees to a point. In her article, Davis offers a dissonant opinion to the fore-mentioned insignificance of the female character. She instead describes many female characters as “predators,” and analyzes the roles of lead women in three prominent films of the nineteenth century. In each film, she finds parallels and similarities of cases of “female emasculation” and instances where “women are turned into objects of male desire” (Davis 47-48). Davis does not perceive female characters as being insignificant, just stripped of their power and misrepresented. She discusses how females of power are often portrayed as crazy