Gender Roles
In our last class we noted that there are very few female-character-driven films. In fact there are very few films that strive to portray the broad-spectrum of roles that both genders play in relationships. The writer/director who I find does the best job of presenting an interesting spectrum of relationships and gender roles is Pedro Almodóvar. This is good timing for our discussion of this because 9 of his films are being re-released into theaters over the fall. His films are serious yet comical, and always interesting. If you don’t mind the subtitles I highly recommend them. I also recommend his most recent release “Volver” which stars Penelope Cruz and is entirely centered around female characters and artfully balances dark comedy around serious and thought provoking situations. I mention these films because I have come to find that we often become so entranced in the mainstream films of our country that it is hard to pick up on the biases/ cultural influences in them. When I started watching Spanish films I became much more aware of not only what Hollywood was not accurately representing in movies, but also how different subjects and topics could be approached. ¡Viva Pedro!
July 24th, 2007 at 2:23 am
[...] talked about Gender Roles in a recent post and the lack of female-character-driven films. To be honest, I had never really [...]
July 24th, 2007 at 10:54 am
[...] Finally, Que Onda? commented in a blog on the role of gender in films. He observed that “In our last class we noted that there are very few female-character-driven films. In fact there are very few films that strive to portray the broad-spectrum of roles that both genders play in relationships.” Especially given the nature of my meditations on Portrait of Jennie I would agree completely with this, especially with the first sentence. In fact, it got me thinking about how the film would have played out if the film had been Jennie’s story instead of Eben’s. Would the story have been less about art and more about time? Would Jennie have been portrayed in such a flattering, romantic light, or would she have come under attack for pursuing Eben and been labeled a tramp? Or would she have been considered a heroine, a goddess, for effortlessly rescuing Eben from the abyss of creative brokenness? It’s impossible to tell because the situation is almost impossible to imagine. As for the second sentence considering the lack of broad-spectrum roles given to both genders, I would agree as well. Especially in the 1930s and 1940s, a romantic film was notable and valued for its romance, whether it be comical or dreamlike. The burgeoning relationship between the male and female leads was the whole point, not the subtleties of their character. It is entirely unnecessary for the two leads to be depicted in beautiful, epic detail since really, the romance between them is all we care about. In fact, when all the roles played by the two are examined, it becomes much more difficult to focus on that romance; the audience begins to examine those roles instead of the romance, and the film falls apart…or becomes another genre. This is demonstrated in Portrait of Jennie with Eben and Jennie both possessing very simple roles to fulfill: Jennie as the Muse; Eben as the Artist; Jennie as the love; Eben as the lover. Jennie, poised on the brink of becoming a superwoman, dies before she can transcend these roles, leaving her character beautiful, lovely, and simple. [...]