The film The Lady Eve has a powerful female protagonist who dominates the action to get what she wants. She is a successful professional who is good at her job. She is sharp as a knife, tough as nails, and does not suffer fools gladly. Some might argue these all point to a feminist viewpoint in the film. Yet, at the same time, Jean/Eve's career is as a grifter whose "professional" skill is to get men to fall in love with her. She also lets her emotional life get entangled with (and undermine) her professional ambitions (she succeeds, after all, by marrying). And the film plays with sexist stereotypes about "loose" women with "loose" morals. Is this film feminist -- or at least sympathetic to feminist ideals -- or is it yet another example of sexist cinema? Or something in between?
The film The Lady Eve directed by Preston Sturges is another example of sexist cinema that relates back to the origin story of Adam and Eve. It is no coincidence that there are mentions of snakes in the film in the opening and credit scenes. Snakes have a deeper-rooted meaning and the intention of implementing the message of cunningness and the particular role it plays in both of these stories is important from the beginning. The snake introduces the movie while in an apple tree solidifying the link between the two stories. In addition, the story of Adam and Eve has perpetuated the stereotype of women as cunning and/or helpless creatures that need guidance from men to make the right decisions. In the film, Eve’s father controls her life and tells her what to do and who to deceive, and she uses her sexuality and femininity to trick men into falling in love with her. She does this in order to distract the men her father wants to con. This can be compared to when Eve tricks Adam into eating the forbidden fruit. Additionally, in the origin of Adam and Eve, women are labeled as the cause of original sin, and therefore, have to take on the blame for all of humanity even though Eve herself was tricked into eating the forbidden fruit. In a similar instance in the movie, Eve grew up with a con artist father and was naive to the consequences of her corrupt actions because she didn’t know how to live any differently. Finally, in both instances because of the women’s naivety and ignorance they were cast away and punished for their actions, conveying the idea that women are the weaker sex.
ReplyDeleteThe film, The Lady of Eve, is yet another sexist film that portrays women as solely temptations for men. In the beginning of the film, as Charles arrives on the boat with his snake, Jean watches him from overhead. She recognizes his wealth and decides to take her apple and drop it on him. This scene demonstrates the story of Adam and Eve, where Eve brings Adam to the forbidden fruit. Jean is a con artist and she represents a smart, evil, and deceptive woman that only wants Charles for his money. However, Charles is put under a spell with her beauty and confidence, and fails to notice that she is a fraud. While Jean portrays a female character that displays confidence and strength and Charles displays more submissive traits, the film does not show this as a good thing. Since Jean is confident, she is able to take control of Charles. So much so, he unknowingly plans to marry her even though she is not who he thinks. After finding out the truth, Charles leaves her and the story seems to be over. However, when Jean dresses up as Eve, the same thing occurs. Charles is pulled in by her beauty and all other thoughts seem to fade way. Even Muggsy, notices her resemblance but after mentioning it to Charles, Charles quickly denies it, saying that if it was really her, she would have a better disguise. This film shows that if women were to have more power than men, as Jean does over Charles, men could be taken advantage of because women are too much of a temptation. In other words, Jean’s character is not a feminist, she is a sexist interpretation of temptation that is shown in a negative light.
ReplyDelete“The Lady Eve” portrays the main female protagonist as a powerful woman who uses her physical features as an advantage for her well-being; however, on a deeper level Jean’s actions maintain sexist stereotypes that depict women as fraudulent. At first glance, Jean is confident with herself and her surroundings as she knowingly uses her attractive looks to tease Charles so that she could steal his fortune. Jean combines both her beautiful physique with her masterful ideas to create schemes. While attempting to fool Charles into falling in love with her, Jean comments, “Do you like any of the rest of me?”, which seems to be innocent flirting. However, the innocent flirting is used to grab his attention and gravitate Charles towards her, furthering her plan to steal his fortune. Although her actions are impressive since she uses her body as an advantage instead of a sign of fragility or weakness, on the other hand, Jean’s deceiving actions perpetuate the idea that women’s only strengths are related to their figure. Additionally, her actions depict men to be the victims of women’s deceptive traits. During the party scene, Charles is hypnotized by Jean’s new persona, Eve. He is baffled by her appearance since he believes that he has seen her before. Eve deceives Charles by playing games with his mind through pretending to be someone she is not. Charles is perceived to be the victim of the masterful plan as he quite literally stumbles to try to recognize the familiar face. In spite of Jean/Eve’s confident and resourceful characteristics, her actions are interpreted to perpetuate harmful stereotypes that categorize women as deceitful.
ReplyDeleteThe 1941 film, The Lady Eve, promotes sexist ideals through the character Eve. Although the audience is not originally aware of “Jean’s” motive, she is able to play tricks and be deceitful even from one of the first scenes. As the actions of the women in the cruise-dining hall are narrated by Jean, she seems to look down at them throwing themselves at Charles. It appears that she believes Charles is really not worthy of all the attention the women are provided him. This idea is soon shattered when Jean purposefully trips Charles to get his attention and then declare him her own. Jean consistently manipulates Charles in any way she can to keep him close. Sometimes it seems as through the film is promoting some positive attributes, like confidence and assurance, but a further look at this proves that is not the case. The perhaps false confidence Jean seems to assert when she is with Charles displays itself as obsession and control. These are both negative attributes that are often associated with women in a relationship. She able drag him along for long enough to even marry him. This leads to one of the few times Jeans tricks are flawed. Charles leaves her and it seems he will live happily leaving her dishonesty in the past. Jean, now Eve, however continues to lie, deceit and manipulate again. She leaves Charles completely in the dark again furthering the narrative of women as duplicitous, and again he falls right into her trap. The film shows time and time again that women cannot be trusted and furthers sexist ideals of the time.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve by Preston Sturges is both a sexist and feminist film that shows Jean Harrington, the female protagonist, as a deceptive professional with "loose" morals, as stated in the description; nevertheless, she flips the roles in the relationship and also perfects her craft and accomplishes her end aim, marrying Hopsie, the male protagonist for his wealth. Her achievement demonstrates that, despite her nefarious intents, Jean can still empower women and behave as a feminist icon by attaining her final goal. The Lady Eve opens with a key illustration of sexist beliefs when numerous ladies attempted to impress the male protagonist, Hopsie, in order to possibly win his hand in marriage. An ideal example is when the woman dropped an object so she could show off her behind. This, I felt, was a misogynistic scene, leading me to feel this represents the females as the ones who pursue relationships as though they are objects. However, The Lady Eve impressed me when it quickly transformed the narrative as the relationship was actually shown as the opposite, as later we see Hopsie flirting with Jean once they start talking. Another example of sexism and yet feminism prevalent at the same time is Jean's immoral motivation for marrying Hopsie and her subsequent success in doing so. Jean, as previously said, reverses the roles with Hopsie and has him seeking her, for practicality purposes, making it simpler for her to take his money. It becomes evident that she, like most of the women interested, wants money from Hopsie's connection, but she is more successful in obtaining it because she scammed him (moreso her father) through the card game. Throughout the film, Jean falls in love with Hopsie and wishes to marry him, as we see when she pretends to be a different woman. Through her methods, she succeeds in both stealing his money and subsequently marrying him, demonstrating her achievement in what may be considered the feminist and sexist parts of the film. The apparent sexism is that Jean depicts a deceptive woman who is only interested in marriage for the money; although, during the film, Jean empowers feminist principles by achieving her objective of marrying Hopsie, demonstrating that females have the power and potential to achieve their goals.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve does an effective job portraying a woman in a powerful position, but her means of doing so are less than ideal. Eve as we know, is a con artist and card sharp, and this is how she built up her success and reputation. What this movie essentially tells us is that women cannot be in powerful positions unless they use their appearance and con their way to the top. Eve is shown to use her appearance to manipulate men. In addition to all this, Eve never really acts on her own, she does all of this under the influence of her father, so despite Eve being shown as a powerful and confident woman, she still follows the orders of others and doesn’t act on her own. This movie perpetuates harmful stereotypes that women cannot be independent, and if women want to be successful, they have to use their sexuality and charm to make their way to the top. This idea essentially says that the only asset women have is their physical appearance, and this idea even perpetuates for movies today, which underscores how significant this harmful stereotype in movies truly was.
ReplyDeleteI think at first, I believed The Lady Ever was a feminist film that allowed women to be in roles that are different from the typical role they were put into as more time has passed my opinion has definitely changed. The Lady Eve released in 1941 is the opposite of empowering, it's actually quite harmful to the perception of women in the 40s. Yes, while women in film in the 40s were quite regularly being portrayed as one note damsels and Jean is at least a fleshed out character, the way she acts tarnishes the film's potential pro-feminist legacy. Eve lies and deceives Charles more than once in the film. Not only swindling the lead (who is portrayed as very wholesome) but also manipulating the people around her to keep him close. So considering the historical context of the film, how are women perceived in cinema after it releases? There's one of two options: a damsel in distress with no depth, or manipulating conniving villain who, since she has more than one layer of depth to her, is evil. Instead of exploring what has made Jean this way they opt to keep portraying her as cold hearted and just looking for a man at any cost. So it’s basically saying ‘if you don’t act this way and have actual character depth to you, you’re simply a manipulative villain.’ This film is not only NOT a feminist film but it’s also a film harmful to feminist ideals that amplifies the idea that women are the villain. Which in my eyes, makes it an anti-feminist film by nature.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve represents how Jean is both bold and independent throughout the film and while these characteristics in themselves are not wrong, the way in which she utilizes them is. Jean is a con artist who manipulates men into falling for her in order to steal their money. She is able to use her boldness to not be ashamed to express these “feelings” she has for these men and shamelessly steal from good people. Jean on the other hand is also noticeably different from other women in the films we’ve seen so far, such as the general. Jean isn’t portrayed as a damsel in distress but rather someone who takes charge of whatever situation she finds herself in. Even with these negative aspects of her character, one can argue that she has a number of positive traits. Despite this, Jean's character reinforces negative stereotypes of women in a variety of ways by showing the type of woman she was. Jean was a liar who appeared to enjoy playing with men’s emotions for her own personal gain, and she was able to get what she wanted through both charm and appearance. In the end, this film isn’t portraying Jean as a feminist and in general, is bringing more negative ideas about women through the film whole also introducing serval positive attributes we haven’t seen in these films before.
ReplyDeleteThe 1941 film, The Lady Eve by Preston surge is a sexist film that portrays women as only using their physical characteristics in order to get what they want. Jean is a con artist who used her physical appearance to get what she wanted. She would flirt and manipulate with Hopsie to take his money. Preston Surge showed Jeans physical characteristics instead of the mental aspects she had. Jean's mental aspects were more important than her physical appearance because without those aspects she would never be able to manipulate her "victims". Since Preston Surge didn't focus on the mental aspects and more on the physical appearances of Jean, it contributes to another example of sexist cinema because it shows how women were seen for the appearances more than anything else during the time period. Adding on to this, I think the idea that Jean did everything from the authority of her dad in order to succeed occurs in the film. It contributes to the time where women were always with a man and could not be successful independently. Which shows how this film is sexist and women have to use their appearances to succeed.
ReplyDeleteThe film Lady Eve is a feminist film that flips the narrative of movies at the time where men are the protagonists controlling all situations. In Lady Eve, the protagonist is Mr. Pike however Jean Harrington steals the show with her ability to manipulate Mr. Pike throughout the film. The movie begins with many women throwing themselves at Mr. Pike trying to impress him, however Jean uses her intelligence to get his attention by tripping him as he walks by and blaming the incident on him. The relationship between the two is clearly shown outside of the norms at the time. Jean is the one who is making many advancements and remarks with double meanings trying to put Mr. Pike in a state of confusion regarding Jean’s goals. Jean is originally playing the role of a con artist with her father; however, she begins to see Mr. Pike’s true personality and likes him. Jean also shows her power in this movie by standing up to her father who is the head of the scamming operation. Mr. Pike, Jean, and Mr. Harrington are all sitting at a table playing cards with Mr. Harrington’s goal being to scam Mr. Pike for his money. Jean realizes that her father is playing a trick on Mr. Pike and ultimately disrupts his attempt to steal the money. This film flips the role of the protagonist and shows the female in control of the male. Jean is shown to be a very intellectual character with her ability to manipulate and control situations.
ReplyDeleteWhile the film The Lady Eve seems like a somewhat feminist film on the surface, it is actually just an example of another sexist film in cinema. Throughout the film, there are clear indicators that it is related to the biblical story of Adam and Eve. There is an apple, a snake, and Jean chooses her new name to be Eve to trick Charles. In the story, Eve is the one to offer Adam the apple. Adam’s response to God is that it was Eve’s fault because she gave him the apple. This is seen in the film quite literally when Jean drops an apple onto Charles’ head, but also in general throughout the movie as she deceives him and tempts him. She toys with him and hurts him by getting him into relationships and then breaking his heart. Another aspect of the origin story is what happens after the two eat the apple. God punishes both of them, and one of the consequences for Eve was that women would be subordinate to men and serve them. This is clearly a sexist idea and while we don’t see that a lot in the relationship of Jean/Eve and Charles, we do see it in the relationship between Jean and her father. Jean’s father seems to have control over Jean, as he tells her what to do in order to get money. Jean cons Charles, but with her father watching her in the background, using her to get money out of Charles. Another big part of the film is Jean using her looks and charms to make Charles fall for her. She is portrayed as a temptress, using her beauty to seduce men in order to get money out of them. This stereotype is quite objectifying, and puts an emphasis on women’s looks instead of the whole person.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the film Lady Eve directed by Preston Sturges is not a sexist film, but also not a film that trys to portray and promote feminism. In the movie, Jean is the protagonist and is made the star of the film. Her outgoing and boisterous demeanor is what contributes to her role as the protagonist in Lady Eve. At the time of this movie, a women’s role in life was to support her husband, stay home, and care for the children, and in this movie, that stereotype is thrown totally out the window. Jean is a single woman, but is very energetic and even slightly rowdy at times, which was uncommon for women to be. Charles on the other hand is much more calm and reserved during the film whereas Jean is the life of the party. At first, Jean tries to get Charles to fall in love with her so that she can take his money and run, but Charles is very aware of the situation and realizes what is going on. Charles then then attempts to end his relationship with Jean because he realizes that she is just after his money. Shortly after Charles tries to end the relationship, Jean catches actual feelings. At this point in the film, it is suggesting and contributing to the stereotype that men are smarter than women because Charles realizes that Jean does not have any actual feelings towards him, and that the women needs a man to be successful.
ReplyDeleteThe film The Lady Eve is a complicated movie which breaks gender stereotypes of the typical sexist film. From the very beginning of the movie, the typical gender roles are flipped in the relationship between Eve and Charles. We see Charles portrayed as a meek, passive character, and the many young women aboard the cruise are clearly flirting with him and taking the initiative in the interaction. These women bravely shoot their shot with Charles as he sits back and observes their actions. The viewer gets the sense that Charles is very popular with the women, but he does not seem to care. This same dynamic holds after Eve and Charles meet as Eve holds much of the power in their relationship. Eve makes the first move and initiates much of the conversation in a flirty, yet confident way. Already, this dynamic between Eve and Charles is atypical and differs from what we would ordinarily see in a Hollywood film. We later figure out the Eve is a con artist and scams people which only makes her seem even more powerful. She is not some naïve, submissive love interest who does whatever for her strong, valiant man. Interestingly enough, it is the exact opposite—Charles is a naïve, submissive man who is tricked several times by Eve. Adding on to this, the film is called The Lady Eve which automatically places Eve as the protagonist in the mind of the viewer. Even though the movie portrays Eve in a more negative light because she is a scammer, the movie still breaks the gender stereotypes present in many films of this time.
ReplyDeleteIn the film The Lady Eve there is a trio of swindlers portrayed as deceptive and swindlers. Two out of three of these con artists are male. For the most part, its unfair to say that the film portrays women as deceptive. If anything is a statement about how people would do anything for money. The plot is not driven by Jean’s deception; it is lead by the everchanging relationship between Jean and Charles. The film follows the stereotypical gender roles of the time, and it really does not try to make a statement either way. I think that this is intentional taking a side for either side of the argument would narrow your audience. If Hollywood movies were made in an assembly line fashion then art and statement would most certainly take a back seat to maximizing profits. Sticking with the car analogy, if you were to design and prototype a model of car for a year, with making money being your first priority, why would you design a car for a niche market. That’s why compared to an earlier film like The General there is obvious bias because it was made before such money-making practices were in place. Even if you look at blockbuster films from today you can see how neutral they are. For example, Marvel movies do not include any harsh biases any which way on any sort of issues. One could assume this would be to maximize audiences similar to The Lady Eve. So I guess you could say that it was a revolutionary film.
ReplyDeleteThe film The Lady Eve by Preston depicts a powerful women with a plan, but the way she is sexualized throughout the movie contrasts these ideas. In this film, Eve/Jean is seen as smart and cunning, as she schemes with her father to steal people’s money. During the film, Eve’s control over Charles is evident. In fact, it is so good that Eve is able to convince Charles that she is someone else multiple times, leaving him love-struck and confused. She continues to mess with him on the train after they are married by suddenly sharing all of her past sexual partners. This lack of information leaves Charles in shock, as he was not aware of this part of her identity. These actions show how much power Eve/Jean has, but she achieves Charles trust through seduction. Throughout the movie, Eve/Jean’s main intention is to gain money, and she looks to a man to help get it. This act puts Eve’s ability to support herself into question. Relaying on Charles for money, Eve tries to become closer with him. Eve uses her body and sweet talk to gain his interest, which works, as Charles is soon infatuated with her. After purposefully breaking her heal, Eve makes Charles follow her back to her room to change it. While in the room, Eve gets close to him and tries to seduce him, before making him put her shoe back on. Many scenes duplicate this, with Eve/Jean’s intention of making Charles fall in love with her. In the end, Eve is successful in her efforts of seduction. Eve’s plans were very clever, but since she is using her body to get what she wants, this film displays sexist cinema.
ReplyDeletePreston Sturges’ The Lady Eve features a powerful and arguably revolutionary female protagonist and clueless leading male. Therefore, I disagree with the notion that this film is an example of sexist cinema, but I agree with the idea that it is something in between progressive and conservative in its ideals. Firstly, Eve is the antithesis of the stereotypical damsel in distress depicted in early literature and cinema. For example, she has complete control of her relationship with Charles. Every interaction she has is one that is meticulously calculated, from the moment she dropped an apple on his head in an early scene to capture his attention, to a later scene in which Eve trips Charles to initiate their first conversation with each other. She has the unique ability to seduce men down to a science, which is a highly unusual position of power for a woman in this era, given the state of women’s rights at the time. However, the film does in fact play up the double standards surrounding sexuality and virginity that still exist today. Eve is heavily criticized by Charles during the train scene for sleeping with multiple men before meeting him. On the other hand, Charles’ sexual history is never once questioned or frowned upon during the film. The fact that the film paints sexual morals in a misogynistic light and highlights a common double standard in our global society leads me to believe that this film is not quite progressive, but due to the revolutionary nature of Eve’s character, it’s not from a conservative perspective either. Consequently, Sturges’ The Lady Eve is the middle ground of sexist cinema and liberal cinema.
ReplyDeleteI firmly believe that The Lady Eve cannot be classified as either a feminist or sexist film. It has various qualities of both by portraying Eve as both a sexual object and a powerful woman. Eve makes a variety of jokes and references to her body in hopes that Hopsie will find a sexual interest in her. She often calls attention to her figure or another aspect of herself. This does affect Charles as he ultimately ends up staying with her. He is drawn into her from the beginning and keeps feelings for her for the entire film. She is also extremely deceiving as she can tempt Charles into marriage even while he barely knows her. She portrays herself with good intentions while is it nearly the exact opposite. While her self-confidence and belief are admirable, it does not make the film a feminist one. She mainly relies on her looks and charm to trick a man into giving up his fortune. The film offers some sexist stereotypes such as Eve's beauty and glamour, as well as the way she can grab Charles' attention. However, these stereotypes are contrasted by allowing Eve to be the main part of a large plan. This is interesting as it gives a woman a platform to have a leading role in a scheme. She can differ from the average woman by being put in a position of power. It seems as though the film goes back and forth between showing Eve as both moral and immoral. She protects Charles from being scammed in one scene but is eager to take his money in another. The film does not lean hard enough either way to claim it is either sexist or feminist.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve is a feminist film as it depicts the woman, Jean/Eve, as the powerful character in the film. This screwball comedy film goes against the preconceived notion of women during this time period. During the mid-1900s, women were often seen as housewives who did everything to please their husband. Going against the husband was unheard of at the time. However, Jean/Eve in the film was everything that the typical woman in society was not “supposed” to be. Jean/Eve was cunning and deceiving in the way she had orchestrated her plan to make Charles fall in love with her. Jean/Eve meeting Charles was not by some pure luck. Since the moment Jean/Eve laid her eyes on him, Jean/Eve knew she wanted him in her life as she forcefully tripped him so that he would acknowledge her presence. Jean/Eve took action to make Charles fall in love with her; she did not sit and wait for him to come to her. Additionally, Jean/Eve made sure that she was in control the entire time of her being with Charles. When Charles left Jean after realizing she was a con-artist, she transformed into Eve overnight. Eve made Charles fall head over heels for her. With just one look at her, Charles found himself clumsily stumbling over everything and stuttering when speaking with her. Eve trapped Charles into a marriage that she made him fall out of love by recounting all her past lovers. Eve played out her plan with such precision that Charles went running back to Jean just as she’d hoped. She did all this while still managing to keep her cover; Charles never suspected that Eve was Jean disguised. Jean/Eve had this power over Charles for the entirety of the film, making the film contrast the stereotypes of women during this time period.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve is a sexist film in which women are represented as male temptations. Charles, a snake expert, develops a romantic connection with Jean, a con woman. They've only recently met, and neither Charles nor Jean are aware that Jean is after his inheritance or that she is in love with him. The concept is a power balance. When they arrive at Charles' cabin, for example, Jean is in complete control, having manipulated him into allowing her into his room. When he enters, however, he notices that one of his snakes has escaped its cage, and Jean immediately becomes a cliché, screaming in terror and sprinting to her own room, several floors below. Charles arrives to apologize, and she makes him search her room for snakes, despite the fact that, as he amusingly points out, the snake may have passed them. It's unclear whether Jean's fear is genuine or if it's all part of her act. Even by 1940s standards, the scene that follows is unusual. Jean invites Charles to sit near her in a small chair, but the seat is too narrow for him, and he falls to the floor. She then puts her arms around him and says, hold me tight," before remaining in a dominant position for the duration of the scene, playing with his hair and ears as he falls more in love. The usual gender roles have been entirely reversed, even though Jean remains submissive. Despite Jean's confidence and cleverness, her acts are seen to reinforce detrimental stereotypes about women.
ReplyDeleteLady Eve in my opinion is a feminist. She uses her power in order to get what she wants throughout many different cases in the film. She doesn’t come from a rich family so she has to fake who she is in order to take advantage of Charles. She’s aware of her power and resources and that’s why she’s so successful at doing this to him, her target. Her ability to completely act like somebody different and disguise herself is what gives her advantage too. She can use seduction and good manners to hide her intentions and lure Charles in. I don’t have to really get into feminist views of being treated respectably from men because she chose Charles and he’s a gentleman despite his clumsiness. Even if he does not do things the best she tells him what to do or teaches him. He is also not an extreme gentleman because he’s been on boat rides and living with snakes but in the end, it’s love that makes her stay with him and not his money. At no part of the film does she submit to weakness against Charles even when she thinks she loses him she picks herself up and goes to get her man. She has a tight handle on everything basically throughout the whole film. The power of love is a factor that throws off her motives but, in the end, she is able to get what she wants through both her power and love.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve, directed by Preston Sturges in 1941, is a film that can be seen as both progressive and nonprogressive for women. Personally, I can see The Lady Eve being both progressive and nonprogressive for women. The character we must analyze is Jean Harrington, played by Barbara Stanwyck. Throughout the film she is portrayed as an independent woman who knows how to take control and show power. However, in doing this, Jean is displayed as a temptress who manipulates her lover, Charles. Her character often takes advantage of Charles many times with her flirty, romantic nature. Another hint to what image they wanted Jean to have was through Charles's profession. Charles is a snake expert who has spent many days in the jungle working with snakes. This is to imply once he steps away from the jungle, he encounters another snake, Jean. She manipulates Charles into believing she has money, but in reality she does not come from wealth. This constant theme of being fake and manipulating others romantically is constant throughout the film. It also causes a huge debate on whether her character is a good case of female empowerment. The general look of feminism in this film is as follows: Jean has power over her lover, who is a man. She has control in the relationship and Charles seems to answer to her. Woman has more power over man. Simple. That must display characteristics of a feminist. Well, how does she get this power. She manipulates. She exploits the stereotype that the only way women can obtain power over men is using their romantic/flirty nature. That does the complete opposite of what feminism is trying to achieve. Again, I believe Jean does a bit of both demeaning and uplifting feminism.
ReplyDeleteWhile it could be argued that the film, The Lady Eve, supports feminist ideals due to a strong lead female role that is somewhat ahead of its time, the film could also be interpreted as having a sexist meaning. The cunning of Jean, and the way she uses he beauty and confidence to gain a mental grasp over Charles could be seen as empowerment for women, however this is a women simply being a temptation to a man, furthermore it pushes the idea that women should not be trusted, both of these things being sexist ideals. Jean is able to maintain the relationship with Charles through manipulation, therefore controlling the relationship. Being a controlling woman in a relationship is another way the film gives a negative reputation of women, furthering the sexism of the film. Once Charles is able to see past Jean’s act and the relationship is over, the same thing happens except Jean is Eve now. Her beauty and confidence are again a temptation for Charles and he falls into the trap again. Overall, the films provides a strong female protagonist, but once you look past that you can see that the film shows that women and controlling and can’t be trusted, and that they are temptations for men.
ReplyDeleteThe film, The Lady Eve, is a film that mostly goes with feminist's views. The film has a strong leading role for a female who demonstrates cunning, wits, and other traits that show an empowered women. However, the film also goes against feminist traits by making the lead women role someone who is deceitful and a liar. These traits show a negative view on women and definitely does not empower women. Jeans entire life is based off of scamming people and trying to trick them into giving her and her family money. By being a women who lives of lies and deception it only gives off negative views about women and who they are. Throughout the film people slowly learn more about Jeans family and how they have been surviving off of the lies their entire lives. Overall, the film has a women in a strong leading role but how she is portrayed goes against and with feminist values. In the end, due to the time period the film probably was more empowering then hurtful towards women.
ReplyDeleteThis film is an example of sexism in film and incorporates many different sexist stereotypes. The film shows Jean as a strong, witty character, however there are many troubling stereotypes that are also in the forefront of her persona. There are many situations in the film where she completely outsmarts and even takes advantage of Charles, however the many sexist stereotypes completely undermine the strong feminism ideals which are also presented throughout the film. Jean’s character development throughout the movie is very challenging and takes steps forward but also take steps back. When we first meet Jean, she is very observant, pointing out many different details, however only a few minutes later, she is shown to be making sexual advances and remarks on Charles. There are many examples of this sort of sequence that follows the same sort of step forward then step back for Jean and common stereotypes for females in movies. When Charles found out about her “job” and confronted her about it, she acted very emotionally storming out of the scene. She also reveals to her father that she has stolen money from him showing her lack of moral. The film creates scenarios where the character of Jean is a strong character but not strong. It allows for Jean to show she is more than a pretty face and other not true stereotypes in some scenes, but then contradict the progressive nature of her character. In conclusion, Lady Eve is an example of sexist stereotypes in cinema while it does incorporate some feminist viewpoints, the stereotypes overshadow creating a hurtful narrative.
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