Frances
The Philadelphia Story
Class Action
Vertigo
John Berger purports in his work Ways of Seeing that A mans (power) presence suggests what he is capable of doing to you or for you. ... (46) He goes on to argue that women are born into the keeping of men (46) and that she (woman) is a split person, continually viewing herself while being viewed. ... Berger goes on to support his hypothesis of objectified women by illustrating, through nude European oil paintings, the female nude object exhibiting herself before the "gaze" of the male artist/spectator/voyeur. ...
Ann Kaplan continues to explore the assumption of the "male gaze" in her text Women and Film: Both Sides of the Camera. ... (24) She proposes that to use the psychoanalytic theory of Freud (which defined the place of women in society) and to question the "male gaze" is to find the gaps and fissures through which we can insert woman in a historical discourse that has hitherto been male-dominated and has excluded women. (25) In other words, by understanding, knowing, and questioning the patriarchal myths which objectify women then we can from a feminist perspective "deconstruct" and expose the limitations which the Capitalistic nuclear family imposes on women. ...
In the films Frances,The Philadelphia Story, Vertigo, Rear Window, the female leads are portrayed as objects to be seen. Although the women characters (Frances, Tracy, Judy/Madeline and Lisa) attempt to voice their opinions and ideologies, both are dehumanized by their male overseers.
Frances (Frances) and Maggie (Class Action) are "heroines" in a drama/melodrama genre while Tracy (The Philadelphia Story) is their witty counterpart in a romantic comedy. The three women are placed on a presumed pedestal of beauty and intelligence. ... Real goddesses/women are compassionate, forgiving, warm, yielding, and compliant. ... She is portrayed as the "real" woman and represents the status quo/double standard which women have been educated to believe: that it is male to be unfaithful and female to overlook and forgive. ... Again, the message is clear: women are weak and need the bottle in order to show courage and honesty. Yet when they are strong and defiant these same women are portrayed as cruel, heartless creatures. ... Its women characters are granted only a moment of strength and determin-
ation--but in the end, they are brought back into the "real" world of traditional patriarchal values.
JOURNAL II
Rear Window
A Stranger Among Us
Coma
IMAGES OF HEALING AND TAILORING
According to popular feminist film critics and writers such as Elizabeth Cowie, the Hollywood artist/storyteller promotes the "status quo" philosophy that a strong, independent woman is "sick" and must "recuperate" or be remade by the end of the film. ... Each of the women is transformed by the male power to become a compliant part of mans society. The metaphorical images seen in these three films are images of health (physical and mental), and tailoring (clothing and hair etc. ...
Scottie believes that Lisa is sick with the images which she believes are expected of a woman of her caliber.
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