How do the representations of women in Get Carter reflect the time in which it was made?

How do the representations of women in Get Carter reflect the time in which it was made?

I am going to show how the representations of women in Get Carter reflect the time in which the film was made by showing key scenes in the film, which involve women.

In the opening shot Carter is front and centre whilst Anna is lower down and to the side of the frame. This connotes ‘status’ as the man, Carter, is positioned higher than Anna who is lower than him to visually show their positions in society as women during the 60’s where considered second class citizens. The second group of women that are seen are in porn films and there is a painting of a naked woman above it, this suggests that women are meant to be seen as objects and only that.

Anna is in the room for the Fletcher brother as a means of pleasure; this shows that he has power over here. The camera tracks from the brothers’ face to his hand and then finally to Anna, this is to show his dominance and to show Anna as his possession.

Anna clearly shows that she is distressed and uncomfortable; however she cannot leave, as she is control by the Fletcher brother. The men in this scene are primarily shot at a low angle in order to visually show their dominance.

We get a shot from Jacks perspective in order to see her through his eyes, in which he sees her as nothing more than an object. Anna is denied to speak due to her being controlled and thus we do not get a female point of view.

When Carter returns after finding Thorpy, Edna tries to stand her ground by saying by telling Carter he cannot come inside, however what she says is ignored and walks past her. This reflects women’s place in society at the time as even though she is trying to stand her ground and tell Carter what to do she is quickly ignored and the man takes control. Edna is a liberated and independent woman before Carter enters her home; however once he does enter she takes up a more domestic role as she provides him with food, shelter and later sexual pleasure. This reflect society during the 60’s as this was the role that women where expected to take up, it also shows how they were supposed to behave as women where allowed to be free and liberated but as soon as a man comes into the picture they must do as they’re told. When Carter goes upstairs Edna threatens him by saying she will ‘call the police’, however Carter casually replies with ‘no you wont’ and walks upstairs. This shows that even when Edna tries to gain back control over her home Carter is barely affected by her attempts and ignores them completely, reflecting the dominance and control men had over women in the 60’s as well as showing the lack of seriousness taken towards women and there attempts at gaining independence.

In the Card game scene with Kinnear, Kinnear uses Glenda as a servant and as a means to distract Carter. She does this by adopting seductive poses; by doing this she uses her body and feminine qualities to attract Carter. This enforces the idea of the ‘male gaze’ as the first thing we see of her when she adopts the poses is her legs, this is so Carter and the spectator pays attention to them. While talking to Carter Glenda provides information, which could be considered vital, the men talking while playing a card game drown her voice out. This shows that even when a woman is giving important information the men still have more dominance in the situation, even when what they are saying isn’t very important. This reflects society at the time as during that time a mans voice had much more influence than a woman’s, if a woman attempted to speak it would have been very easy for a man to silence her to assert dominance.

The first thing we see during the phone sex scene with Anna is her taking her shirt off, this immediately positions her as an erotic object by showing her revealing more of her body. The camera never has her entire body in the frame, always close up and focusing on key parts of he body. This is to appeal to the male spectator by providing close ups of her body so that they can concentrate on those particular aspects.