1924’s Aelita, directed by Yakov Protazanov is a silent science-fiction film made during the rise of the Soviet Union after the October Revolution and the civil war. The film focuses around an engineer named Los who becomes obsessed with building a rocket to travel to Mars after receiving a strange message no one can decipher. As he works for the government, his wife Natasha is taking care of refugees from the civil war that had recently ended. There we are introduced to a recovering soldier named Gusev, a nurse named Masha, and a former member of the bourgeoisie named Viktor. Various events happen throughout the first half of the film that involve Gusev and Masha falling in love, as well as Viktor tries to woo Natasha while he and his wife try to scam other tenants of their appartment. Los sees Viktor with Natasha several times and becomes more and more convinced that she is having an affair. Meanwhile Tuskub, the king of Mars, and his engineer, Gol, are looking at a device that Gol has made to observe other planets. Aelita, the queen of Mars. and her servant see this and it peeks the queens curiosity. She manages to convince Gol to let her look through the device. In it she sees various scenes of life on Earth including Los happily embracing and kissing his wife. She is surprised by this and asks Gol to, “Touch my lips with your lips as those …show more content…
people on Earth did.” Gol appears confused by this and the two awkwardly kiss. After several more sessions of observing Los, Aelita begins to fall in love with him. This makes Gol jealous so he destroys his machine. Back on Earth, Viktor steals a sack of sugar which in an investigation by the authorities. Among them is Kravtsov, an amature and incompitent detective who acts as the comedic relief. Los is currently away from home assisting in resource excavation and has been gone for six months. He finally is allowed to go home but as he arrives he thinks he sees his wife kissing Viktor. This finally pulls Los over the edge and he shoots his wife in anger. After fleeing the scene he disguises himself as one of his former coworkers who fled the Soviet Union. He attends his wife's funeral and is distraught. Los then fully dedicates himself to going to Mars since there is nothing left for him on Earth. As he leaves, Kravtsov recognises his disguises as a suspect for the stolen sugar case. He attempts to follow him but is tricked. The film then cuts away to Gusev who is now bored since he is no longer is needed as a soldier and can not find enjoyable work. When he sees the Los, who is using his friend's name Spiridinov, looking for people to accompany him on his expedition. Gusev happily accepts to the dismay of his wife. Masha then tries to lock Gusev in his room so he can not leave. This results in a humorous scene of him escaping through his window as he is dressed in his wife's clothes. At the same time, Kravtsov accidentally sneaks onto the ship in an attempt to arrest Los. The ship takes off and he reveals himself. Los then strips off his disguise and shows the detective that they are far beyond the reaches of Earth and thus the police. On Mars, Tuskub and his scientists observe the ship heading towards them. He demands that they calculate its landing point so that he can have the humans killed in order to not spread their influence. Aelita hears this and has her servant kill the chief astronomer and sends her to bring the humans to her. When they arrive Los falls in love with the queen thinking that she is Natasha and the two embrace. Kravtsov sneaks off and finds the king and his guards believing them to be authorities from the Soviet Union. He approaches them and demands their assistance in arresting Los. He is then taken prisoner and thrown into the workers pits. Tuskub then sends his guards to find the other humans. Los and Gusev are eventually found but they create a diversion that allows them and the queen to escape. They flee into the worker pits where the common people are slaves who constantly work and are put into cold storage when not in use. Los and Gusev see this as an opportunity to spread communism on Mars and lead the workers in a revolution. This results in a battle in which the workers prevail. Immediately after Aelita takes control for herself and orders the guards to fire upon the workers. This causes Los to once again lose control and he kills her. The scene then snaps back to reality and it turns out that Los had imagined the whole thing, however, this was still after he had shot his wife.
He sees Gusev and Masha as they are about to board a train and told them what hbe has done and that he is going back. They follow him only to see that Los and Natasha embracing. Apparently he had missed when he shot at her. Natasha then convinces Los that she never had any affair with Viktor, who has been arrested for his theft. After their embrace, Los takjes his plans for the ship and burns them, saying that their work must be focused on Earth and making the Soviet Union
greater. The period of time that the film takes place is right after the civil war between the Red Soviets and the White Soviets. As such the film focuses on Red Soviet, or Bolshevik ideas of spreading communism and showing those in the bourgeois and ruling classes as villains. The film is primarily a view on the lives of common people of the Soviet Union with all of their problems stemming from Viktor and his selfish capitalistic ways. Overall was revolutionary for its time. Its use of bizarre sets and costumes for the Martians accompanied with their emotionless and mechanical movements serve to divide them from humanity only to become more animate when they are exposed to communism and freedom. The uses of music in the film also helps to emphasize the emotions on screen. It also makes use of different themes besides sci-fi such as comedy whenever Kravtsov is doing something. It is almost very Charlie Chaplin esque in its use of occasional slapstick. As for its influence on future films I drew several connections between Aelita and 1927’s Metropolis in its similarity in sets and the theme of an outside party leading the workers in revolution. While the use of propaganda seems sparse except for moments at the end, it seems to me that the film is more meant to entertain with the ideas of space travel and aliens so I would imagine that it would have been popular at release but then be replaced with more propaganda saturated films as Stalin comes into power.
The film illustrates the common social and sexual anxieties that the Germans were undergoing at that period of time. It also employs cinematic aesthetics alongside with new technology to create what would be considered as one of Germany’s first sound-supported films. Furthermore, it was the film that popularized its star Marlene Dietrich. The film is also known for combining elements of earlier expressionist works into its setting without becoming an expressionist film itself. It is important also to point out that the visual element has helped to balance the film easily against the backdrop the nightclub lifestyle that Lola leads the professor to fall into.
After the success of antislavery movement in the early nineteenth century, activist women in the United States took another step toward claiming themselves a voice in politics. They were known as the suffragists. It took those women a lot of efforts and some decades to seek for the ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment. In her essay “The Next Generation of Suffragists: Harriot Stanton Blatch and Grassroots Politics,” Ellen Carol Dubois notes some hardships American suffragists faced in order to achieve the passage of the Nineteenth Amendment. Along with that essay, the film Iron-Jawed Angels somehow helps to paint a vivid image of the obstacles in the fight for women’s suffrage. In the essay “Gender at Work: The Sexual Division of Labor during World War II,” Ruth Milkman highlights the segregation between men and women at works during wartime some decades after the success of women suffrage movement. Similarly, women in the Glamour Girls of 1943 were segregated by men that they could only do the jobs temporarily and would not able to go back to work once the war over. In other words, many American women did help to claim themselves a voice by voting and giving hands in World War II but they were not fully great enough to change the public eyes about women.
The growth of one woman interferes with one man’s idea of being able to conquer Woman. The two main characters of the book Ladies’ Paradise named Denise and Mouret have a unique sense of love, if it really even is “love.” She is very shy and unattainable while he is charismatic and lives a greatly successful life. Her unordinary attitude creeps into Mouret’s mind, causing him to desire her at an extreme amount. Mouret is not able to conquer Denise in the same way that he does women in his department store which defeats his conquest of Woman. The idea of feminism is prominent throughout the novel since Denise is such an independent character and does not give into Mouret’s power immediately. She briefly gives Mouret a new set of eyes, allowing
Classic film noir originated after World War II. This is the time where post World War II pessimism, anxiety, and suspicion was taking the world by storm. Many films that were released in the U.S. Between 1939s and 1940s were considered propaganda films that were designed for entertainment during the Depression and World War II. During the 1930s many German and Europeans immigrated to the U.S. and helped the American film industry with powerf...
The 1950s was a time when American life seemed to be in an ideal model for what family should be. People were portrayed as being happy and content with their lives by the meadia. Women and children were seen as being kind and courteous to the other members of society while when the day ended they were all there to support the man of the house. All of this was just a mirage for what was happening under the surface in the minds of everyone during that time as seen through the women, children, and men of this time struggled to fit into the mold that society had made for them.
At this point, the difference perspective in ideology and political action has divided the women movement into some feminism types; socialist, Marxist, radical, liberal and many others. While liberal feminist focus their struggle for equality on civil, economic, and political rights, and education, the feminist socialist and Marxist believe women 's oppression is “the product of the political, social and economic structure within which individuals live.” (Tong, 1998: pp.94). Although some other people suppose that the feminist Marxist and socialist is quiet different, but both of them believe the source of women oppression are capitalism and patriarchy. The Marxist feminism is rooted in 19th century thinker such as Marx and Engels, whether
“Women’s roles were constantly changing and have not stopped still to this day.” In the early 1900s many people expected women to be stay at home moms and let the husbands support them. But this all changes in the 1920s, women got the right to vote and began working from the result of work they have done in the war. Altogether in the 1920s women's roles have changed drastically.
From the 18th century onwards, feminisms were beginning to emerge within society. First wave feminism began in the 18th century, focused on public inequality; political, economic, legal and social inequalities surrounding men and women. Following on from first wave liberal feminists came second and third wave feminists which saw radical, black and postmodern feminist schools emerge, which all had a different set of agendas, for example radical feminists focused on family life, violence and the control of women’s bodies, whereas, black and postmodern feminists focused on the ‘more modern’ differences and diversities between women’s lives such as race, class and sexuality issues. All of these feminist theories have led to dramatic changes in Great Britain such as changes within the law regarding education, employment and domestic life. However, whilst there have been improvements in these areas, there are still issues within the 21st century regarding females in employment and in the domestic sphere. What also needs to be taken into account is the changing face of Britain’s female population with the rise in ethnic minority women and homosexual women, and subsequently other schools of feminism need to be explored and developed in order to explain these differences.
Feminism can be defined as a social idea that men and women should both have equal rights. The topic of feminism has been debated for many years. Throughout the early 1900's, the Women's Rights Movement was one of the largest social movements in the United States. Eudora Welty was born in 1909, right around the time where women's rights were being debated the most. Welty grew up in Mississippi, a common setting in many of her short stories. She was a smart girl who enjoyed reading and writing. Welty was also an artistic soul who enjoyed painting, photography and drawing. Eudora Welty started her career as a writer early on in her life. After attending college to receive a degree in literature, she worked for various newspapers and radio stations. As time progressed, Eudora started writing larger pieces of work that she had published. Today, she has many published works including her very popular short stories. Many of Eudora Welty's famous short stories contain strong examples of character and feminism.
The Feminist Movement begin in the in 1848 spearheaded by the Seneca Fall Convention (Smith & Hamon, 2012). Feminism is the reaction to many year of oppression by a male dominated society. In the Feminist Movement women like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Canton Stanton desired rights, opportunities, and the identity that women deserved (Smith & Hamon, 2012). Osmond and Thorne (1993) stated that Feminist respond by expressing their desire to “develop knowledge that will further social change, knowledge that will help confront and end subordination of women as it related to the pattern of subordination based on social class, race, ethnicity, age, and sexual orientation” (p. 592). The “first wave” of the Feminist Movement
In the United States, the feminist movement was a civil rights issue that sought to establish equality for women. The movement aimed to transform the lives of women in American society and exerted a profound global effect throughout the twentieth century. Today, individuals who support this movement are identified as feminist: an ideology that all individuals should identify with. Feminism is the doctrine that advocates women 's rights which advocates political, economic, and social equality in comparison to men (“feminism”). This movement for equality is a rational and logical idea that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution should be expanded to accommodate the other half of the human population, promoting inclusion, individual identity,
In the presented essay I will compare the style of work of selected artists in the montage of the film. I will try to point out some general regularities and features of Soviet cinema. At the same time I will try to capture especially what is common in their systems and similar or conversely what differ. For my analysis, I will draw on the feature films of the Soviet avantgarde, namely these are the movies - The Battleship Potemkin (S. Eisenstein, 1925), Mother (V. Pudovkin, 1926) and The Man with a movie camera (D. Vertov, 1929).
Feminist theory is the extension of feminism into theoretical, fictional or philosophical dissertation. It helps to explain the main nature of gender inequality. It further explains the social roles of women in the society such as education, communication, philosophy, sociology and so on (Chodrow, Nancy 1991).
Feminism is defined clinically as the advocacy of women's rights on the basis of the equality of the sexes. By a less medical definition, feminism is a philosophy in which women and their contributions are respected. It is based on political, social, and economical equality for women ,and men in a few instances. Feminists can be anyone in the population regardless of sex, gender, or ethnicity.
In the 19th century, there was an up rise in feminism for their social role in life. Women were expected to be an average house wife, to take orders from their husbands without questioning them. The woman did not have privileges such as right to vote, to be educated, be free spirited and hold jobs. They lived in patriarchal society where man made all the decision in the household and his wife followed them. The inequality between the genders created frustration amongst females, of which after a prolonged mental impact they revolted. It can be said that the ambition for women to fight for their rights sparked the feminist movement. This movement was based on set of viewpoints, political ideologies, cultural and moral beliefs where women felt compelled to obtain their given rights. The feminist movement was a multi-facet of waves, each of which left an impression to the issues in relation to social status, legal inequalities, and liberation.