How are women represented in the films you have studied for this topic?

How are women represented in the films you have studied for this topic?

During the 1960’s (also referred to as the swinging sixties) women began to fell more liberated due to the release of the contraception pill meaning they did no longer have to fear getting pregnant. During the time period to get pregnant was to be seen as throwing your career aspects away to become a stay at home wife. Women then began to change the perception of themselves towards equal of males.

Get carter from the beginning changes this and shows that the swinging sixties did not have as much of an impact as was expected.  Throughout the opening scene she is seen to be quite glamorous but remains quiet whilst the men talk immediately suggesting that not much has actually changed for women and men are still seen as dominant figures.  This builds into the male gaze theory made by Laura Mulvey. She says “the representation of women in film as being dominated by a male point of view and that men have active roles in society and women are passive”. She believes that to enjoy a film it must be viewed from the eyes of a heterosexual male e.g. the male the gaze.

Mulvey goes onto say that women are seen as two things. The first being as an erotic object for the characters within the film. This is best expressed through the character of Glenda as she is initially introduced as an object or a tool of Kinnear to be used for his benefit, in the first instance to seduce Carter. She is used to please the men such as both Kinnear for his plans and Carter for sex. Within her introduction she is surrounded by men, told what to do by Kinnear (to which she obliges) and ignored when not needed. Even when she is not being ignored, when talking to Carter her voice is drowned out by the poker game surrounding them, implying Glenda as a lower status of the males in the room.  When Carter finds out why Frank was killed and that Glenda was partly responsible he flips out and nearly drowns her, then throws her in the boot of her own car. She is not seen or remembered again until the car is pushed into the river and Carter watches with no remorse as she drowns ultimately signifying her as just a object, and when she has played her usefulness than she can be easily disposed of.

Mulvey’s second point is that woman are seen as a erotic object for the audience. This is best shown through Anna through the phone conversation. Although Carter cannot see her, the film chooses to show her undressing anyway in order to appeal to members of the audience.  She is framed in a specific voyeuristic way that suggest she is being watched and that this is how the audience want to see women.  The male gaze applies to both Carter and the audience here as Anna as seen as a erotic object in both aspects of Mulvey’s purposes (although Carter is just imagining it). The phone scene shows women to be represented to appeal the male gaze and reflects the view of women held by many men after the 60’s and early 70’s Britain (when the film is set).

Edna’s role within the film is how most men seen women during the early 1970’s which was to serve the dominant male whether it was making food,