Hollywood in the 1970s - Coursework Example

Hollywood in the 1970s Choose One Question to Answer From Below Table of Contents Introduction 3 Hollywood Films & Feminist Concerns 4 Hollywood Movies and Their Relationship to Feminism 5 Bonnie and Clyde 5 Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore 8 Conclusion 10 References 11 Introduction The beginning of 1970 has evidenced the emergence of ‘second-feminism wave’, which commenced in the U.S. and gave rise to the importance of feminist-based roles in the society. The decade of 1970 has observed to bring in a renaissance against issues of gender discrimination, rape and sexual assault (You Tube, 2015; You Tube, 2011). With due consideration to feminist issues, Hollywood film industry took a big leap towards introducing women in movies and portraying them as lead characters during 1970’s. Majority of the contemporary issues, related with status of women in the society were carved and presented in front of the world by using the Hollywood movies as medium of developing such issues, after they were charged with non-dissemination of racist and sexist issues (Collins et. al., 1993). The period of 1970, further noticed a situation, where retrenchment and recuperation took place with a break in ideological, aesthetic and commercial traditions. This further led to the birth of an era of post-classical Hollywood, which aimed to focus on wider societal issues and improvise status of women in the society by shredding light upon those issues. These issues came to spotlight with the help of cinematic modes of representation, industrial re-structuring and aesthetic transformations (Schatz, 2004). Feminist issues exhibited by the Hollywood movies, in 1970’s, mostly concerned with the rising activities such as ‘Vietnam War’, ‘Women’s Liberation Act’ and ‘Civil Rights Movement’, amongst others. Hence, the module seeks to determine the industrial significance and cultural achievements of 1970’s era and its ongoing influence upon contemporary Hollywood practices. The module would emphasize upon filmmaking scenario, post 1967 era, through elaboration of two important movies that highlighted the issues concerning women dating back to 1970’s (Horwath et. al., 2004). Hollywood Films & Feminist Concerns As discussed above, the 1970’s era saw an upsurge within the field of movies astounding public with feminism based movies in theatres across the world. Nowhere in the U.S. or any other nation, there had been development of such movies earlier, surfacing issues of racism and sexism to a new level (Kolker, 2011). Lead roles portrayed by women found a prominent place in the mind of customers. This reflected on the notion that women has recognized their importance and wanted to eliminate gaps between men and women in a society. The movies also tried to eliminate the traditional thinking that women were capable of exposing their roles in movies only to fulfil sexual desires from men. This negative portrayal of women is noted to be developing a society against them and developing a hindering attitude for women (Kolker, 2011). Hollywood Movies and Their Relationship to Feminism Hence, the module would elaborate upon two famous movies of the 1970’s, depicting women empowerment, namely, ‘Bonnie and Clyde (1967)’ and ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974)’. These movies have been selected for this module, as they highlight feminist based issues to the maximum possible extent. The movie ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ exhibited Bonnie Parker, a female character playing the lead role in the movie (You Tube, 2015; You Tube, 2011). Bonnie and Clyde The movie illuminates a vibrant storyline that laid a strong emphasis upon women, in an era dominated by males. The second movie named ‘Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore’, stresses upon Alice, a female actor in lead role. The movie reflected on a unique concept, as it enlightened Alice playing multiple roles in her expedition to accomplish self-realization and gaining independence from the male relations (Kramer, 2005). Both the movies topped the box office and won academy awards during the era of 1970’s. The above-mentioned movies further emphasized on a common notion of treatment of women in the society and considered products of the new wave of feminism launched in Hollywood. The movie ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ focuses upon an era when feministic issues such as sexuality became much more expressive in big theatres and T.V. screens (Corrigan, 1991). The movie further marked the commencement of a generation, wherein differences between genders could be evenly expressed. Correspondingly, it even depicted the different feministic values with help of Bonnie, the lead character and her relationships with other characters depicted in the movie. The movie is important to be discussed, as it predominantly reflected on the struggle faced by women in raising their voice against the society dominated by males and free themselves towards achievement of independence. According to this movie, Bonnie had her own wants, needs as well as desires, which she wanted to fulfil, without being dependent on her male counterparts. Bonnie played a powerful character, which had strong sense of involving proper decisions, which finally led to achievement of success. The movie further demonstrates the issues of liberty from the different societal guidelines and traditional norms against women in society (Williams et. al., 2006). Character played by Bonnie, provides an intelligent disparity to most of the movies based on male-dominated premises. Furthermore, the movie is famous for its highly innovative subject matter and the techniques that have been used to dominate the status of females. In addition, the movie typifies features such as restlessness, immense sexual hunger as well as attraction and longing towards opposite sex. The movie Bonnie and Clyde was released in an era, when the U.S. movie industry was undergoing a phase of sexual revolution. According to the movie, it reflected a variety of themes, as part of the sexual revolution, which was successful in shocking the audiences who were already contented with the displayed sexual content in movies, prior to the 1970’s era. The movie gained criticism as well as accomplishments owing to the issues that raised turbulence amongst the viewers. In addition, the movie portrayed sexual experiences between couples for the first time in the history of Hollywood, and illuminated the concerns of objectification, inability and desire for sex (Grant & Wood, 2009). According to the movie, Bonnie is a woman, who has become frustrated by her male counterpart, owing to his inability to maintain cordial sexual relationships. Furthermore, increasing crime and violence in the society, makes Bonnie becoming aggressive towards matters of sexuality. The movie raised huge debate among public, as it was for the first time in the history of Hollywood that a movie was depicting such scenes. The movie further splintered previously known stereotypes and displayed sexual relations by inducing violence, role of gangster and crime within the movie. The movie clearly portrayed Bonny as a woman possessing independence and sexual attraction towards opposite sex. The girl becomes a symbol of sex, with her role requiring her to embark upon a life with the help of crime extravaganza (You Tube, 2011). In the movie, Bonnie was at the epicentre because she was able to flee away from her home, leaving away his male counterpart, to get a life free of dissatisfaction. Although Bonnie leaves her home to achieve new success in the society, she had to face a number of problems owing to her association with poverty and a low-income job. However, to gain a hold of her presence in the society, the movie depicts Bonnie to be holding a dominant position in the society, as Bonnie roams with a gun, and possesses high level of understanding regarding the sexual issues in the society and confidence to defend herself from external influences (Wood, 1986). The woman in the movie further channelizes all her available energy towards the development of her poem, which was published through U.S. The movie, apart from receiving several accomplishments, received criticism as well. One of the academicians quoted saying that although the movie depicts feminism issues on a large scale; however, it also exhibited upon the negative impact of gangster and their threats to the society. In addition, the movie received criticism concerning demonstration of male gaze as well as the objectification of the women in the society. Furthermore, the movie received negative comments, as it demonstrated Bonnie’s character as women having high desire for sex, in the context of the rights possessed by women to put forth their sexual desires. In addition, one of the critics revealed about the display of anger by the public as Bonnie was quoted as sexual object. The protagonist behind the movie was to represent the sexual powers that Bonnie possessed in order to gain success in a society dominated by males, after leaving her male counterpart and her poverty-stricken life. Although the movie was the epicentre of numerous positive and negative views, however, the movie succeeded in displaying the controversial feminist themes such as independence of women and their ability to dominate in all spheres of life (King, 2002). The movie received mixed responses from fans, as it created the base for upcoming movies to highlight upon the issues of sexual movement and exposed sex that was restrained to a particular extent in earlier movies. However, the movie further gained popularity as it revolved around components of sex as well as crime, which was never permitted and allowed to be displayed amongst the public until 1970s. The movie created a positive environment and boosted the morale of those people, especially women, who were concerned with the independence of their gender and discrimination from opposite genders (Penley, 2013). The movie portrayed woman in the lead roles, having desire for sex, but who was equally aware of the sexual activities and issues happening in the society and the ability to tackle the authorities in the movie, without having a quality formal education. Finally, the movie tries to represent the feminist viewpoint that women have a strong sensation towards sexual bonding, but it does not hinder their ability to gain and accumulate independence and knowledge (Anderegg, 1991). Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore Another movie, which was focused towards issues of feminism, dating back to 1970s, was Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore (1974), which displayed Alice as the heroine of the movie. As discussed earlier, Alice was in search of self-realization and relieves herself from the relationship she had established with her male counterpart. The movie tries to enlighten the status of women, as the earlier movies had failed to do so, by making Alice play the character of the lead role, whereas earlier movies depicted women as victims of pressure levied by males (McCabe, 2013). The movie tried to distinguish itself by drawing upon the feminist issues, such as sexism, love, care, awareness and gender attraction. Alice portrays the role of a mother, who tries to achieve success, leaving behind romanticism with the death of her husband. The movie strongly signifies on how a woman can create a room for herself in the society, without the assistance and need of support from the male section of the society. The movie is based on a real character that struggles after the death of her husband, but achieves success, as she is able to mark her presence in the contemporary world. However, the movie also received many criticisms, one of them being the inability of the movie to break free the sexual barriers of society and Alice becoming independent (Chaudhuri, 2006). In addition, some of the critics of the movie said that throughout the movie, Alice was in search of an opposite gender, who would support her after her husband died and did not elaborated upon the importance of women and their rights in society. In addition, the criticism reveals that Alice was a woman who was able to achieve success in a situation surrounded by men, wherein she was able to make her own decisions as she moved away from being a wife to a single woman. Another criticism received by the movie was based on the viewpoint that the movie displayed feminism to a safer extent and were unable to break the boundaries regarding situation of women that was prevalent in 1970. Alice is able to display split individuality, when her husband dies and tries to differentiate herself from the psychology and disappointment, characterized by women’s portrayal in that period. Furthermore, the movie tried to represent the dilemmas faced by single mothers, who led their life alone in the society, as during 1970’s being a single mother was considered as Taboo and women often faced difficulty in leading such a life (You Tube, 2015). Conclusion Both the movies discussed in this module, elaborated on the roles played by women to distract themselves away from the ill effects of society and opposite sex. Both the movies portrayed women who belonged to middle or lower class family and their struggle towards gaining independence towards creation of their own lives. Apart from this the different sequences used in the movie highlighted many facts. Additionally, the movies also gave a clear overview of the real world that women in the era could have a strong hold in the society, if they acquire and carry out their job with responsibilities. The movies even reflected on the fact that women could effectively deal with diverse challenges and situations even without the support from the male sections of the society. References Anderegg, M., 1991. Inventing Vietnam: The War in Film and Television (Culture and the Moving Image). Temple University Press. Chaudhuri, S., 2006. Feminist Film Theorists: Laura Mulvey, Kaja Silverman, Teresa de Lauretis, Barbara Creed. Routledge. Collins, J. et. al., 1993. Film Theory Goes to the Movies. Psychology Press. Corrigan, T., 1991. A Cinema without Walls: Movies and Culture after Vietnam. Rutgers University Press. Grant, B. K. & Wood, R., 2009. Britton on Film: The Complete Film Criticism of Andrew Britton (Contemporary Approaches to Film and Television Series). Wayne State University Press. Horwath, A. et. al., 2004. The Last Great American Picture Show: New Hollywood Cinema in the 1970s. Amsterdam University Press. King, G., 2002. New Hollywood Cinema: An Introduction. I.B.Tauris. Kolker, R. P., 2011. A Cinema of Loneliness. Oxford University Press. Kramer, P., 2005. The New Hollywood: From Bonnie and Clyde to Star Wars. Wallflower Press. McCabe, J., 2013. Feminist Film Studies: Writing the Woman into Cinema. Columbia University Press. Penley, C., 2013. Feminism and Film Theory. Routledge. Schatz, T., 2004. Hollywood: Critical Concepts in Media and Cultural Studies, Volume 1. Taylor & Francis. Williams et. al., 2006. Contemporary American Cinema. McGraw-Hill Education (UK). Wood, R., 1986. Hollywood from Vietnam to Reagan. Columbia University Press. You Tube, 2011. Timewatch - The Real Bonnie and Clyde. Movie. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRYp6Xos79k [Accessed March 21, 2015]. You Tube, 2015. Alice Doesnt Live Here Anymore. Movie. [Online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1cDtB1BKuY [Accessed March 21, 2015]. Read More