The full version of this article is in Broadsheet No 68, April 1979. (Broadsheet, P.O. Box 5799, Auckland, New Zealand)
Women have suffered a history of misrepresentation in over fifty years of a male monopolised film industry. Their roles have been designed to be played off against those of men. The woman has been used to complement the male myth and reinforce the fertBle stereotype. His supremacy is asserted by emphasising her powerlessness; his strength is enhanced by re-inforcing her physical weakness; his masculinity contrasts her femininity; his superiority secures her supportiveness; and his domination wills her submission. Thus the mythical male traits embodied in chauvinistic cowboys, posturing pirates, brutal bandits, ruthless ranchers and dashing detectives have been elevated over the oppression of genuine female attributes.
An examination of film from its inception to the present day shows distinct phases through which the image of women has passed, while keeping the stereotypes intact.
Cute virgins in distress '
There was the time of childlike feminine virtue, the innocent orphan, a world of perpetual virginity and passionate purity. Following fast was the helpless maiden in distress, rescued with boring regularity from a fate worse than death, by the all-conquering hero. Those were the days epitomised by Mary Pickford, Lillian Gish and Shirley Temple. Later the image expanded into the vacuous playgirls of the twenties as the audience and Hollywood tired of cute victimised characters continually being rescued by outraged male protectors.
The female was undergoing change — from child to woman, from good to bad. The transitionary period of the roaring twenties and the flappers gave birtb to man's fully-fledged woman of the thirties — the femme fatale. Women were transformed into the slinky seducers of the unsuspecting male. The mysterious vamp, luring men to uterine depths, dutifully portrayed by Jean Harlow, Virginia Lake and Paola Negri; less dutifully portrayed by Mae West who gave it a twist all her own. Two notable imports from Europe added a further dimension of enigma and "class", Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich.
Women had lost their innocence and become objects of terrifying sexuality wreathed in an aura of feminine mystique which was regarded as an ominous threat to men. It was subtly suggested that this cigarette smoking siren would dare to climb on top in the missionary position. This transition represented the biggest menace to the male psyche yet. She had to be mastered, put down. So the sadistic gangster appeared on the screen, the coldblooded cow/boy hero and the fascist protector. From paragons of innocence, women had become paragons of deception, dominated by images of men fleeing from women in search of an elusive masculine paradise.
This transition was important as well, because from then till now the symbols of the rejection or fear of female sexuality never left the screen. Emerging too, was the increasing use and acceptance of violence which today has established itself as a substitute erotic sexuality
The barracks wall cutie
Again the war and Hollywood's never-ending quest for boxoffice success, changed the image of women. Came the time of patriotic missions, melodrama, morale building musicals — and the "pin-up". War is a man's game and served the screen well by presenting film-makers with the opportunity to validate chauvinism flushed with patriotism. "Casablanca", one of the better films of this period, amplifies sexist cliches when llsa asks Rick to do the thinking for both of them, begs Laszio not to attend a resistance meeting and suffers Rick's lecture on the role of the personal in the current world crisis. The rest of us were at home doing our bit, waiting faithfully or unfaithfully, for our heroes to get shot or come home in one piece, and allowed to appear strong - but still dependent on men.
Female stars especially, appeared on the walls of army barracks, mess halls and ships. Woman as a sex object was firmly implanted in the consciousness. The musicals of the time served not only to titillate the forces and induce patriotism with high kicking routines, but also to give the boys a breather from the carnage and horror they were wreaking.
It would be pertinent here to mention the effect stardom has on the stars. Film has manufactured its own personalities with an eye to gloss, glamour and gain. The majority of women who have attained star status have paid dearly for the honour. One has only to look at the bloated or faded victims of the medium to see that not all that glitters is good. Man-manipulated images of women have been peddled callously with little regard for the woman therein. Rita Hayworth, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Ava Gardner, and Marilyn Monroe are but a few who have suffered the consequences, either through drugs, alcohol or death. Survival in a celluloid world is precarious when it can twist the self into the image, turn the person into a personality, and create a marketable commodity out of it; an artificial world whose values are false, competitive and destructive. True, a few have managed to retain their integrity but generally there are more failures than successes.
In its inimitable way cinema feeds the audience stereotypes, cliches and blatant sexism as a norm without alternatives. Labels denigrating to women, indiscriminately spread throughout literature and film, crush the intrinsic sexuality of a person with a conventional confusion of femininity with chastity; of masculine identity with the protection of female virginity; of heterosexuality in opposition to homosexuality; this, in spite of the film-makers reluctance to show the passionate encounter of a man and a woman on equal, and in honest terms.
Lightweight ladies
The fifties saw the rise of the beat generation and a rash of youthful and youth oriented movies. As well, some adult light musicals and musical comedies were made catering to the whims of men: the voice and wholesome image of Doris Day, the pout and sex appeal of Marilyn Monroe and Carroll Baker's lingerie. Most of it was mindless drivel but that was not all; the post war years also meant a time to re-assess society and its values. Films were made which questioned the status quo, depicted the rebellion of youth and lost or misplaced identity. Sadly enough the status of women was never questioned, the rebellion of women and their identity received no attention, yet the foundation for the women's movement was being laid at this time.
Extract from: Women in films by Sharita Rai, Bangalore film Society Catalogue, March 1981, Available from Vimochana. 7 Balaji Layout, Wheeler Road Extension, Bangalore 5, India.
By Her Husband's Side
Indian films, particularly Hindi films, not only seem to concentrate on the negative aspects of Indian womanhood, but positively glorify them. Take for example, certain well-known facts of life, however unpalatable: alcoholic husbands, wife burning, dowry deaths, obsessions about bearing a son; even a modern sati* in Rajasthan. Since Hindi films are one of the most powerful mediums in India to influence opinion, why aren't they being used as a vehicle to condemn such practices? Instead, the well-educated town girl is a vamp of loose morals who meets a sticky end or is ill treated till she learns to eat crow and behave like a proper, chaste wife. Whether a woman is kicked, mauled or starved, her place is by her husbarxj's side.
The instances are limitless. In Deewar (The Wall) the mother is ditched by the father and goes through untold sufferings to bring up her two sons. Twenty years later, the father is found McCarthyism imposed serious restraints on the arts including film. Television was luring the audiences away from the cinemas — it was a time of many changes.
After the Second World War the awareness of women continued to develop and grow. When the sixties blossomed with its alternative seeking lifestyles, minority revolts, student revolt, anti-war fever, politicisation and musical revolution, women took over the reins of liberation and the reverberations echo still. And in a male monopolised film industry some women actors have stood up for their rights, demanded responsibility, and commanded respect. Not by virtue of their gender but by virtue of their talent and intelligence, e.g. Shirley McLaine, Joanne Woodward, Glenda Jackson, Vanessa Redgrave, Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton and Anne Bancroft. These same women are influencing changes in cinema in the seventies, the same minority whose numbers unfortunately have not increased.
John Cassavetes "A Woman Under The Influence" comes closer to the reality of a woman's situation in a maledominated society. Because that is what the film deals with. Cassavetes does not elevate the inequality of women and men with a high-flown theory. He states that the inequality exists.She suffers not because of what Freud, Marx or Reich said,but because she is a woman in a male-dominated society.The repercussions she suffers when she attempts to change her condition are because she attempts to change her condition.
She has few reserves to draw on because she has been conditioned to passivity and male dependency. Thus her undeveloped self is unable to cope with the desire for change and the reaction she causes in society because of it. Cassavetes treats the subject without the usual deceits and it is a credit to his sensitivity that he comes close to creating her reality within the patriarchal confines and not what he thinks it should be. The film has been variously described by critics as: "A brutal portrayal of the role of a woman in a mediocre marriage"; "Cassavetes means for marriage what Peckinpah means for violence"; "Looks at a woman with unnerving realism". It is not without flaws but go and see it next time round — it was made in 1974 dead in a train compartment and the police officer who discovers the body is none other than his son (Shashi Kapoor), who rushes home to prevent the mother from applying Sindoor.** She wails and beats her chest and dresses up like a widow for the rest of the film.
Insults on the woman bring appreciative responses from the audience, predominantly male. In Naukar (The sen/ant), for example, the quiet, henpecked husband finally becomes a lion when he thrashes his wife into submission. Even the women don't seem to be repulsed by the indignity of the whole thing. Bringing the woman to heel means heaping as many insults on her as possible. The spoilt, rich girl who is brought to her senses by the poor, upright man-whether it is Ponga Pandit (The Priest) or Swayamwar (The Selection of the Bridegroom), the theme is the same. Being modern and 'westernised' is a sin, and the sooner the woman realises it, the better for her.
* The burning of a widow on her husband's funeral pyre.
** Vermilion powder worn by women in the parting of the hair to signify marriage. She has continued wearing it through 20 years of her husband's absence.