Edna

Edna

Edna is a better example of a woman that has been liberated. She has her own house and business but is single and going against the status quo. This is down to men being more attracted to the traditional housewives than the liberated women. This also goes with society itself , an example in the film is when Edna's neighbour argues with her and accuses her of causing trouble, this is an example of society not liking the liberated woman. In this scene Edna stands up to Carter but the traditional 1950s way to act prevailed. When Jack returns home Edna stands up to him and tells him he’s not coming inside. This causes Jack to disregard her and just walk in anyway, this is a disrespectful thing to do. This causes Edna to threaten to call the police but Carter says “no you won’t”. This shows a reversal to the 1950s way, she is afraid of Carter and is not independent anymore and then makes them tea. Many men still see themselves as superior and disrespect Edna. This links back to Laura Mulvey’s theory because Edna had an active role but once a man entered her house she turns to a passive role and Carter becomes the active role. In modern times there has been a persecution of famous men doing vicious acts against young women. This being in the 70s, women could not speak up, an example was a woman went to head of the BBC and said that Jimmy Savile had committed sexual acts against her without her consent and she was giving an ultimatum, be silent and keep your job or speak out and get fired. This was down to the 70s fostering this culture of abuse and taking advantage of women because nobody listened to them because they were not seen as equal. This is shown in the scene because Edna tries to stand up to Carter and it is fruitless and Carter does it anyway. Edna is their servant because she is told to make tea and she does it. Edna has no rights because Carter had no permission to enter and still did anyway. She is rewarded like a dog for doing a simple task “make the tea and you can see what happens”. In the 70s the culture was patriarchal this means it was run by men on the one hand Edna is independent by herself but when a man enters her life she reverts back to the patriarchal ways.