Representations of Men- Superficial Liberation

Superficial Liberation

Superficial Liberation has quite a huge part in this film as female characters are allowed to do their own thing, however they're still being objectified at the same time.
My first example of this is Glenda. Glenda is a quite dominant character anyway as she is able to control conversations and the pleasure side of things with the male characters in the film. There is a specific scene with Glenda that signifies superficial liberation, which is the Jack and Glenda sex scene. Here Glenda is the more dominant one as there is a load on innuendos included to connote this as the revving of the car, the change in the gear stick etc... it is her changing those visual signifiers; therefore it connotes that Glenda is the one who is getting everything from A-B, including the sex, which goes against traditional views of men being the more dominate ones in that matter. However, against these reasons Glenda is still serving the male characters in this film as she is serving Jack for pleasure, and with the likes of Kinnear she works for a male dominate.

Another example of Superficial Liberation I have is Anna and how she is rolling around on the bed, and her own sexual pleasure which is dictated by Jack when he rings her from Newcastle. Which is a signifier than women didn't have to have a men present to have pleasure which leads to my next point of male characters like Jack, represents traditional gender roles and puts them in their place as if Carter wasn't on the phone to Anna then basically, the act that happened, wouldn't have. In this particular scene, Anna is caught during her act by Kinnear and she is asked if she's having problems, which she replies with something along the lines of just having a workout, signifying that her being under male dominance makes her timid and fearful.

My final example of this, Superficial Liberation is the character Edna. Edna signifies superficial liberation in many ways, by firstly how she goes against the traditional attitudes towards men, where women would basically not even speak to a man out of line, where as here Edna almost speaks down to Carter, as she isn't your traditional woman as she is a business owner of her B&B. She tells Carter on occasion that she will ring the police on him, which is obviously a threat, which goes against those traditional roles. This scene depicts the change in society during/after the 'Swinging 60s' due to the scenes like this as women now would no longer be (that) disrespected in society by men which signifies this social change. However, men such as Carter would still attempt to live up to those traditional roles by basically, trying to overrule and be the dominant contender in Edna's own home and in her business which is disrespectful. Ways that this was exemplified was when Carter pushes past Edna into her home after her basically saying that you're not welcome back in my B&B... However, due to his demanding power, he just pushes past her and shoves her off his back basically.