History, Gender and Bodies - Movie Review Example

History, Gender and Bodies History and the Representation of Gender in Film Throughout history, the theme of interdependence between the sexes has been proliferated in popular literature, actual historical events and contemporary film genres; this has nevertheless been underscored by a prevalent notion of inequality. This is most visible in areas such as education, career and political power; retrospectively in some of the early historical events one can witness the interdependence as it was depicted by chroniclers and sometimes writers. Mark Antony for example stabbed himself after hearing that his lover Cleopatra had committed suicide while she induced a fatal snake bite on hearing of his death; in England, Queen Victoria’s reign was mostly influenced by Prince Albert and after his demise she went to mourning for over 40 years. While these instances reveal a relatively equal interdependence, the reality depicted in most popular texts more so film is far from equal. The film industry has for the last century endeavoured to paint women as damsels in need for rescue inevitably by heroic male figures (Smith, 2013). This perception is easily propagated to most people who were bred on a buffet of chauvinistic folklore such as snow white and the 10 dwarfs, Cinderella and other fairy tales (Ross, 2004). Therefore, by the time people are old enough to watch Hollywood productions, they are already acclimatized to the idea of submissive female roles and dominant male ones. There is a predominant culture of overt chauvinism in most of the movies screened today, owing to their portrayal of male aggression more so in the form of violence. Fight club, a film adapted from Chuck Palahniuk’s novel by the same name however presents a refreshingly different reading. The story is heavily layered and multifaceted; encompassing several genres predominantly the action and psychological film ones, however despite the predominant male action and roles, the film has been found by several critics to have a relatively developed feminist undertone (Boon, 2003). Most of the analysis into the film have tended to focus on the masculine factor consumerism and homoerotism but neglected to pay attention to the feminist bit of the film (Ta, 2006). Viewed from a non-conformist and non-patriarchal perspective, it effectively takes on the feminist cause seeming to undermine the hierarchical power that has seen to the perennial oppression of women. The film appears opposed the feminization of men through the culture of consumerism, it’s the men who label the action as feminine as a result consumerism is not so much a sign of femininity as it is a label of patriarchy. Fight club is therefore essentially a force against patriarchalism, which is in turn engendered by consumerism and by so doing hopes to dissolve the patriarchal label that keeps women subjugated to men. Characters of both gender appear to have embraced their state of ‘not all’, Chloe the cancer patient is depicted as allegorically standing for femininity through the fact that she is both sexual even in exhibitionist sense and lacks phallic power as evinced by the lack of satisfaction from her sex toys. When she accepts her inevitable death without fear, she distils in herself the fortitude required to immerse herself in a new way of thinking. In a way she represents the castration of men in project mayhem given that for them to achieve their new consciousness and avail themselves to female philosophies they have to sacrifice their phallic power through castration. In her case, since she has not phallic power to remove, her castration would literary have to be her death. The backdrop of the movie Fight club can be seen as a testimony to the historical inequalities in the western, primarily American social cultural set up. As the economic realities have changed with trends in the 21st century, women have found themselves holding white collar jobs. Nevertheless, this ratio still remains disproportionate, with men earning more than women for the same jobs. The combined force of parochialism and capitalism emasculate men at the expense of women who are paid less even as women become more educated and get jobs that have historically been men’s. This displacement results in men being forced into blue collar jobs as women take more white collar positions; however, to emasculate them the women earn less than men would have had in the same industry. The consequent situation is one in which women are working more but households have less so that the emasculation man as the provider can persist. In the contemporary society, just as was the case in retrospect, wealth is unevenly divided on the basis of race, status and mostly commonly gender. 2. Films Representing Gender To date, the woman and by extension the traditional female roles embodied in “Hitchocnian” films where the women is a lovely blond but in most cases completely hopeless in the face of challenges in her environment relying on the macho man to save her has not changed much. Even after attempts by the likes of Betty Friedman in her commentary on the feminine mystic in 1963, or even Naomi Wolf’s revelations of the Beauty myth constructed womanhood remains a common element of contemporary cinematography. The Hitchcock blond is vogue and her image is repeatedly exploited for sexual and emotional credits upheld as the pinnacle of class elegance and the demure side of femininity. The fact that women are still used for their sexual appeal and their intellectual abilities either “sexified” or underplayed is however a testament to the fact that despite modern opinions on gender equality, submissive female roles are always easy to tame and manage for most film writers and directors. In addition, the society remains fundamentally patriarchal and most of the directors would not know what to do with a masculine woman since they have so few real life comparisons to draw from. The traditional perception of gender which is still largely a reflection of the contemporary industry is fundamentally flawed in that it depicts men as saviour and “civilizers” in that they enter dangerous situations and through feats of strength bravery and intelligence resolve the problems. This was especially preeminent in the 80s where film focused on body perfect male, mostly white protagonists such as diehard and the terminator. According to Tasker, stardom, just like gender is flexible to change and in this was self-evident in the gradual change in the early 90s where the stars were despite being violent more predisposed to reflection as opposed to simply trying to solve all the problems through violence (Tasker, 2012). A comparison of the Terminator 1 movies in 1984 and the second terminator movie in 1991 brings out some of these changes in the perception of masculinity. In Terminator 2, there is a radical shift in positioning in which a non-destructive and non-killing morality is introduced most notably in the instruction to the terminator by John Conner that he should aim for the knees when he shoots. This is a huge departure from the often seeming senseless and needless killing that took place in the first terminator film where the collateral damage monumental. In the 90s there is also the humanization of the male body which is in sharp contrast with the indestructible body of the previous period. John McLane got through most of the violence in the Die Hard series without as much as scratch, unless one counts the superficial “flesh” wounds. However, in Robocop 2 and to some extent the terminator the body is completely destroyed but this damaged body still manages to be heroic. The male body in Robocop is seen to be capable of betraying the man and the directors seem to have put limits in the indistinctiveness of their male leads possibly to break the monotony of the perfect model cum body builder superstars. The vulnerability of the male body is perhaps best expressed in James Cameroon’s film Avatar in which the lead character is in wheelchair although for most of the movies he is in action in an avatar body. The vulnerability of the male body is also expressed in the fight club, unlike traditional male dominated films where a man’s “manliness” was determined by his ability to inflict pain on an opponent, the fight club has been feminized in such a way that the objective is for one to endure as much pain as possible. Halberstam proposes situations where sex is optional and asks who would desire say a penis if there was a way to “naturally” procure a real one: Who, he enquires would perhaps want to exchange theirs with an artificial one or vice-versa (Halberstam, 1999)? While not giving explicit answers to the questions, the willingness of men to give up their “manhood” in the fight club gives credence to his line of reasoning. It makes the audience wonder what else could have made the men so willingly surrender what society considerers possessing to be a ticket to a mostly superior status in life. Film gives voice to numerous desires and gender constructions that are otherwise often ignored or hidden in real life. In the film, Village Voice, the writer makes a clear distinction between what to most outsiders would be simply a dominant lesbian with a desire to act the man. Vera, in the film is a woman but she appears to reject her lesbianism in its convectional sense, instead she desired to have sex with other women but as a man; the sex is made lesbian by the fact that she is biologically a woman but in her mind she is a man having sex with a woman. She achieves this only by making sure that she keeps her clothes on during sex since by dressing as a man she ontologically makes herself one since clothes universally serve as the primary distinction between the genders (Halberstam, 1999). Ultimately, film provides an avenue through which the various expressions of sexuality can be represented to the audience and with time there appears to be a trend in the masculinization of the female character which is a reflection of the desire of women to transcend the submissive and soft roles they have always held in society over the years. 3. The Body in Sex and the City (2008) According to Turner (2009) the biggest problem with the ageing population in the capitalist west is that they have been pushed to adopt new and often complex measures of countering the aging process so as to preserve their youthfulness for as long as possible. Featherstone suggests that the consumer culture that has taken root deeply in the cotemporary world exploits these desires by providing a variety of options through which the attractiveness and youthfulness may be enhanced (Featherstone, 2010). The culture of consumerism takes advantage of the vulnerability of individual cling to self-preservationist notions and by promoting the body beautiful image convince people more so woman to invest in beauty and fashion products. In the film sex and the city, the quest for beauty is engendered in the lives of four women, three of them in their mid-30 while Samantha the oldest and apparently the most sexually adventurous one in her late 40’s. This film is a departure from the traditional male dominated film with its all-female lead cast where the real issues that face women are given centre place. Women openly discuss their sexual lives and the challenges in their love lives, issues that would rarely get more than a few lines in the convectional male centric films. Despite this seeming female approach, the film has come under heavy criticism from some feminist who claim that the by virtue of the fact that the three of the women end up getting married, the films is simply another depiction of women’s helplessness in the absence of men. While that question remains controversial especially in light of the content of the previous parts of this paper, the focus on the film will be on how the body, in this case the female one, is depicted and portrayed in the film. The first thing one notices about sex and the city is its nearly all white cast with the leading women being middle class white as are their respective partners. Large part of the film is spent as the women engage in activities designed to improve their appearance especially shopping and filling the trunks of their cars with designer labels such as Luis Vuitton, Gucci and many others. The quest for enhanced beauty through fashion is counterpointed by the suggestion that women come to New York in search of love and labels. These labels are mostly the fashion accessories that improve a woman’s appearance making her more desirable to the opposite sex. The women are not portrayed as being extremely attractive so as to provide room for the audience to appreciate their less feminine strong points such as intellect and aggressiveness. However Carrie for instance appears to be singularly enamoured to clothes and shopping and she is always glamorously turned out, this enhances her natural beauty and endears her to the men in her life as well as the male audience. Responding to the films depiction of the role and position of women in society, Virginia Brown (2008) critics the film arguing that while it basks in the glory of achievements won by the previous feminist movement it does not advance the fight. She argues that there is simply too much emphasis on fashion and this serves to distract the women from the necessity of liberation in a sense that would make women feel better about themselves just for being women rather than just looking glam. The film has also been critiques for too much prominence on marketing of products but also for the glorification of what is justified as the female preoccupation with appearances which is a predominant feature throughout the film. Therefore, although it is not explicitly implied, from the amount of time and effort the characters dedicate to their bodies and the result as well as impact on perception, there is an implicit suggestion that women need to be thin and stylishly attired in order to achieve happiness. As is often the case in majority of films and adverts targeting women, the capitalist class through the mass media dictates the standards of what is to be considered ideal beauty and the industries involved maximize their profits through the response of the public. This lesson is a consistent undercurrent in the Sex and the City show and film as well as numerous other similarly structured films with women striving to acquire the body beautiful ideas so as to gain self-confidence and empower themselves. From a feminist perspective; ultimately, these assumptions propagate the objectification of women since the more they strive to define themselves through their physical appearance the more the society, more so men will continue to judge them based on it. In the long run, this contributes to the objectification of women and encourages the youths to also get fixated on the bodily attributes which leads to the perpetuation of the stereotype that a woman is only as good as she looks and other patriarchal notions. References Boon, K. A. 2003. Men and Nostalgia for Violence: Culture and Culpability in Chuck Palahniuks Fight Club. The Journal of Mens Studies, 11(3), 267-276. Brown, V. 2008. Sex and the City: a sign of womens liberation? Direct Action; Issue 3. Available at: http://directaction.org.au/issue3/sex_and_the_city_a_sign_of_womens_liberation Featherstone, M. 2010. Body, image and affect in consumer culture. Body & Society, 16(1), 193-221. Halberstam, J. 1999. F2M: The making of female masculinity. Feminist theory and the body: a reader, 125-33. Ross, D. (2004). Escape from wonderland: Disney and the female imagination.Marvels & Tales, 18(1), 53-66. Smith, J. 2013. Normalizing Male Dominance: Gender Representation in 2012 Films. Grand Rapid Institute for Democracy Available at: http://griid.org/2013/02/12/normalizing-male-dominance-gender-representation-in-2012-films/ Ta, L. M. (2006). Hurt so good: Fight Club, masculine violence, and the crisis of capitalism. The Journal of American Culture, 29(3), 265-277. Tasker, Y. (2012). Spectacular bodies: Gender, genre and the action cinema. London: Routledge. Turner, G. (2009). Ordinary People and the Media. London: SAGE PUB. Read More