Feminist Film Analysis

Feminism is a movement or number of actions aiming to establish equal rights for women. These rights may be political, economic or social. Feminism exists in many movies whether it is small things like how a certain character is portrayed or in the narrative as a whole. Feminist Film theorists would look at four things to determine if it’s feminist;

 

·         Development/Empowerment of women – This is whether or not the female character has been developed or empowered in any way for example gained status or strength etc.

·         Containment – Containment is where a female character would be contained by patriarchal society, for example a strong independent mother only strong because of motherhood. Mental health is another example of strong women being contained.

·         Male Gaze – The male gaze is where the camera focuses on the female, usually on an entrance, in the male’s point of view. This happens in countless films and it gives you an indication on the male dominance on the creation of the film, a lot of the time.

·         Representation of women – This is simply how the women in the film are represented, whether it be through their costumes or their actions.

 

Sarah Connor, between The Terminator and Terminator 2, develops in many ways but also is contained for a portion. In the first film we see her as a damsel in distress, a helpless young woman who is mainly reliant on the male to help keep her alive. Even though she is seen as important person for the future of the world, she is only important so she can give birth to her son, who will then lead the charge for our planet. This shows that The Terminator is in no way a feminist film as all of the strong characters are the males. This all changes however in Terminator 2. In this sequel we are faced with a strong woman, who in her very first scene is doing push-ups and is significantly more toned than we have seen her before. However we then find out that she is in a mental hospital and, even though we know that she is telling the truth, she still comes across as a bit unhinged. This is fairly typical containment in that the strong, independent woman has to be contained in some way. This is different to other examples of containment however. In Terminator 2 she is stuck in the mental hospital with no possible escape. She seems to have given up hope until she tries to escape. In the extended version there is a deleted scene where Kyle from the first film comes to her and gives her the motivation to get up and get out. We don’t know why this scene was cut out but we can assume that it was because James Cameron didn’t want this new, tough, strong Sarah Connor to be reliant on a man to go and do what she needs to do like the first film. This could suggest that Terminator 2 is a feminist movie. Although it could be seen as a feminist movie, the hero is still the man in this film and ultimately it is a man that saves the day which somewhat contradicts the feminist theory.

 

A lot of the time females are contained because of their looks and stereotypes of beautiful girls can’t be smart or capable. In Transformers Megan Fox’s character is the victim of ‘male gaze’ many times because she is the typical beautiful woman we have come to expect to seeing in major blockbuster movies. Because she is beautiful her character is automatically assumed to be stupid and incapable however we find out early on that she is quite a tough character who is very handy with cars. Even though we learn she is a tough person early on there is still that sense of vulnerability to her throughout the film and even though contributing, it is down to the male characters to save the day.

 

How women are represented determines a lot on the target audience and the genre. Predominantly slasher/horror movies are aimed at men and that is why you tend to see women objectified much more obviously in these types of films in comparison to dramas or a lot of comedies. An example of this is ‘Piranha’ 2010. This film is a comedy/horror that shows women in bikinis in most scenes, the film is almost like one big male gaze. There are things like wet t-shirt competitions which further objectify women in the film. Furthermore the sequel to Piranha was called ‘Piranha 3DD’. This gives audiences an indication that they can expect large breasts, in 3D. Women are objectified in all genres of films however none so obviously and perhaps humorously than these types of films, as opposed to maybe perhaps dramas and more character based films where the creators may want the audience to take the female characters more seriously.

 

There are examples of films that some people see as feminist and others see as objectifying and representing women negatively. For example ‘I Spit on Your Grave’ is a brutal film about a woman who is assaulted and raped many times by a group of men who then leave her for dead. In the sequences she is being assaulted and raped she is severely objectified and powerless at the hands of the males. However, after all of this she survives and goes out for revenge on these men that did this to her. She gets bloody and gruesome revenge and the audience is almost routing for her because of what she has gone through. When she goes for revenge she is a tough, cold character that won’t be stopped until she has finished them all off. So in a way this movie shows an empowerment of the character however at the same time objectifies her before this new found toughness. Another example is ‘Death Proof’. This film is about a stuntman who tends to cause collisions and crashes in his stunt car with women, after he stalks them somewhat and follows them. The first half of the movie shows him talking to 3 very attractive women before he follows them and crashes into them causing their grizzly death. The whole first half of the movie is shot on digital intermediate film and makes it look like it is set quite long in the past. The second half of the movie is shot on normal film and is made to look much more modern. In the second half of the film it is much the same situation, 3 very attractive girls stalked by this man, however when he tries to run these 3 women down, it is a much different story. They are 3 very tough, strong women who won’t take any of his antics and end up chasing him down. This shows the empowerment of women and with the difference in the camera techniques shows the progress in women’s rights and women’s capabilities, at least how their capabilities are viewed, over time.

 

Men are represented very differently in films than women are. For example in the majority of movies, the male would be the hero and the female the damsel in distress, the one needing rescue. Although you do get films where the woman is the hero and the role model and tough character, the majority of cases it is the man. And even in films where the woman is the hero there is usually a strong helping hand from a male. With containment and the male gaze, women are made to seem like something to look at in films rather than someone you should take seriously. For example in ‘The Mask’, when Cameron Diaz enters the room the whole film almost comes to a standstill and you just see Jim Carrey’s point of view of her entering. This is a prime example of the male gaze and how women are represented differently than men. Although you very often see men with their shirts off etc. a lot of time, like in The Terminator where Arnold Schwarzenegger is topless, it is to show is muscles and how masculine he is.