Get Carter representation of women

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

Get Carter is set in the Swinging Sixties era Britain, a time that everyone associates with free love and above all liberation for women. This is said to be the time when women finally gained independence from men and became liberated, largely thanks to the introduction of the birth control pill. However Get Carter paints an extremely different picture than the one that is usually connected to this era. In Get Carter women are not liberated. They are used throughout the film for sexual needs and for information and mainly are only in it for male members of the audience to look at.

One example of this is the scene when Anna, who is played by Britt Ekland, is on the bed naked while Carter is talking to her on the phone. The first thing that shows that women are not liberated is that there is no reason for Anna to be naked. Carter cannot see her so it is not for his benefit. It is purely for the benefit of male members of the audience. This proves that men still want to see women in this way, not in the new liberated way that is connected with the Swinging Sixties. Also it shows Carter to be in control of Anna even though he is not there. When she tries to be affectionate towards Carter by saying “I miss you” Carter shows no affection back and goes straight to the sexual element by telling her “I want to touch you”. This shows that Carter is in control the whole time and that women are not important and nothing to be cared about, they are just there for ‘something to do’.

Another example is when Carter is with Glenda in her flat. She goes upstairs gets into the bath. This again reinforces the idea that women are to be looked at, as she is naked in the bath. In the scene she does not have to be naked in the bath, but she is because this is how the male audience wants to see her. Also when Carter puts Glenda in his boot and she is killed both us as the audience and Carter don’t really care because throughout the film we see women through the eyes of a man and we don’t really care about her as a character so when she dies we don’t feel bad because she is not important and we can afford to let her die.

The final example is of Edna, the woman who owns the house that Carter stays in. When he brings Thorpey back to Edna’s she threatens to call the police and is very angry with Jack. However he takes no notice and tells her to make them all a cup of tea and she does it even though she is in her own house. This reinforces that she is easily controlled and influenced by men. Also it shows that men don’t take women seriously and anything they say is just meaningless and unimportant. Also we hardly ever see Edna come out her house. This reinforces the idea that women should stay at home and work in the kitchen doing housework than go out and work. This is the opposite to the attitude that the Swinging Sixties is known for when women were strong and began to gain independence.

Overall Get Carter portrays women in a completely different way to the Swinging Sixties era, as they are seen as objects to be used and for the male audience to look at, rather than key characters in the film who propel the narrative forward a lot. This suggests the Swinging Sixties is purely an exaggerated myth that took years and years to happen, and that men’s attitudes did not change within a decade and it took them a lot longer to take women seriously and not just use them to be looked at.