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Essays about women in film
Essays about women in film
Portrayal of women in film
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In a typical classic romantic movie, there is always a Gallant, young, brave prince and a beautiful innocent girl who needs to be saved. In the movies, the prince finds the girl and saves her from her horrible life, then he brings her to the castle, they fall in love, get married and live happily ever after. The film I watched completely fits this description. It exemplifies the genre perfectly. The roles of men and women in the classic movie Cinderella really emphasize the gender roles and the biases than used to be a big part of their society and their daily life during that time period. Also, the film showed how women are represented in classic romantic/fairytale films. After watching this movie, I can clearly see the expectations of each gender and how most decisions are based on appearances. There was a big contrast to when I compared those views to society's views today. …show more content…
They all believe that marriage is the ultimate life goal and that love is superior to both independence and education. People in the 1950’s thought that women should be confined to the role of housewife. Today, the way our society these topics is very different. Women now put their jobs first and marriage isn't their only goal that they want to accomplish. Also, not as many women stay home and become housewives because they have jobs outside of their homes. Lastly, it is worth pointing out that in the film Cinderella, the idea that a woman’s value is determined based on how they look is very prevalent. This is seen in specific parts in the film, such as when Cinderella meets her Fairy Godmother. Initially, Cinderella is dressed quite badly in her house clothes. Her transformation into a impeccably dressed glamorous young bachelorette reinforces the beauty ideal in these old
A young girl is forced to live with her step-mother and step-sisters after her father and mother die. She becomes the maid of the family, tending to their every need. Eventually there is a ball; she acquires a fairy Godmother, goes to the ball, falls in love with the prince, blah blah blah. All you really need to know is that she has a happy ending. A happy ending. No matter how much suffering she went through in her early years, at the end, it all came together and she had no more worries. And this is the problem. Cinderella is not realistic. It never was and never will be. Watching this movie when I was young made me believe there was a prince waiting for me somewhere. I grew up thinking that life was simple and uncomplicated, that I did not need to worry about the future because there was a man that would provide everything I wanted and needed. But as I got older, I realized this was not the case. I saw many of my friend’s parents divorce, people die, and the world fight with each other. My fantasy died off, and I realized I had to work hard for myself, and not others. The poem Cinderella by Anne Sexton made fun of the ending of Cinderella. She states, “Cinderella and the prince / lived … happily ever after … / their darling smiles pasted on for eternity. / Regular Bobbsey Twins. / That story.” (Sexton 11). Notice who she referenced and how she has a sarcastic tone. Cinderella and the prince smiled for others, trying to convince
In Peter and Wendy, written by J. M. Barrie, the characters exhibit specific qualities which are stereotypical of their genders. The characters fall into traditional concepts of masculinity and femininity: Peter is cocky, stubborn, charismatic and enigmatic to the women in his life, and Wendy Darling, a young girl whose father wants to remove her from the nursery she shares with her brothers. The two characters embody and perpetuate gender stereotypes, and mirror the stereotypes embodied by the adult characters in the story, Mr. and Mrs. Darling.
Intro: Cinderella’s childhood reflected her step-sisters’ treatment towards her. Due to her being left out of most activities and being neglected by her step mother, father, and step sisters, she was alone and unable to live her life how she wanted. In Pretty Woman, Julia Roberts portrayed a character who treated herself lowly as a hooker. The portrayal of Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman and Cinderella in the “glass slipper” shows them neglecting their self worth which eventually results in them self confidence.
Social factors have always encouraged the idea that men embody masculinity and women embody femininity and, thus, certain gender-norms are expected accordingly. In the past, such expectations were traditional and to go against them was frowned upon by the general public. Contemporarily speaking, there is more freedom to avail oneself of today than there was once upon a time. Jeanne-Marie LePrince de Beaumont’s fairytale adaptation of ‘Beauty and The Beast’ was published in 1740. During this time, men and women were compelled by the social conventions associated with their gender. When analyzing the literary work, the reader can grasp what gender roles are eminent in the characters identity and motives. By exploring the choice of language being
of the Cinderella story are psychologically harmful to women.” (p648). The fact that Cinderella is a limited character may give the girl an impression that she should be happy with what she has and not have any or aspirations in her life. That is, until her Prince comes to rescue her. Since these comments were made, the Cinderella story has been modified and changed. In order to see how gender roles have changed in fairy tales from the old to the new, let’s compare the classic version of Cinderella by Charles Perrault to a recent version which is a movie that was released in 1998 called “Ever After”which was directed by Andy Tennant.
Pretty Woman is a modern take on the classic Cinderella story where a poor misguided girl meets her prince and her life is dramatically changed. This film has fairy tale elements, but the biggest element in the movie is the use of sex; Vivian, the main character, is a prostitute. She meets her “prince” and is swept off of her feet, but what this really means is that she is bought for an entire week by a handsome, wealthy business man. One would assume that he was buying her for sex, but this is not your average prostitute transaction. This movie has a lot of third wave feminism ideals. Third wave feminism deals with using the female gender and sexuality to further the cause and portray their views. The ultimate goal of this paper is to show that Vivian Ward (portrayed by Julia Roberts), is the poster girl for third wave feminism.
The Hollywood movie Pretty Woman (1990) is about a prostitute in Hollywood, marrying an extremely rich businessman, in spite of her mutual distrust and prejudice. The movie contains the basic narrative of the Cinderella tale: through the love and help of a man of a higher social position, a girl of a lower social status moves up to join the man at his level.
When the ball had already begun, the king told the duke that he expected his son, the prince, to fall in love with a suitable woman during the ball because he can no longer wait to have grandchildren. The king had no regards as to who the prince married, all he cared about was that whoever the prince married was able to bare children. Gender has played an important role in establishing the various characters in Cinderella. The main character in Cinderella are all played by females. Firstly, Cinderella herself, Cinderella's step- mother who treats her poorly and attempts to destroy her self- esteem, Cinderella's step- sisters, who are involved in sabotaging her, and the Fairy Godmother, who grants Cinderella her wishes. It can clearly be seen that women played an important role in Cinderella’s life. These are also three traits which children can easily relate to. This allows children to put themselves into the shoes of the leading characters, and associate the various people around them to these different characters. While the female gender takes over the main role in Cinderella, the female gender has also been portrayed negatively in the case of Cinderella's step- mother and step- sisters. They are portrayed as evil. While Cinderella was forced by her step- mother to clean
In fairy tales, morals are conveyed in order for the reader to understand what the author is trying to explain. This idea is seen through Brothers Grimm’s, fairy tale, “Cinderella.” Brothers Grimm implements characters that help the reader conclude the moral of the story. “Cinderella’s” moral is that you have work for what you want and you always have a choice. The fairy tale explains this thoroughly through the characters: Cinderella, Stepmother, Stepsisters, Prince, and Father. Each character has its own distinct role in the story. The main character, Cinderella, helps the reader learn the moral that you have to work for what you want because she is being forced to work by her stepsisters and stepmother. She is being forced since her stepmother and stepsisters feel superior to Cinderella. By working under unfair conditions, she then makes an effort to do what she wants, makes a choice and goes to the ball after being told that she is not worthy. Cinderella’s unfair condition is seen as oppression and she is being abused by the Prince, her father, stepmother, and stepsisters. Cinderella’s father does know that his new wife and her children are treating her poorly; however, does not help his daughter, which shows another example of men mistreating women. The Prince also exploited her when he does not even know her but thinks she will be the ideal bride. Cinderella was oppressed in this fairy tale and women need to realize they have a choice in everything they do.
As displayed in many fairytales, the Marxist theory is significant in today's society. An example of this would be the fairytale "Cinderella" as it displays examples of a fairytale that can be look at from a Marxist perspective. Cinderella can be looked at from a Marxist perspective due to the noticeable class ranking throughout the film.
As children most of our life lessons were acquired through the simplicity of fairy tales. Subliminal messages taught us to always believe in true love and that good wins out over evil. Young and naïve, as children, all we desired was a good story and a nap, but the lessons we learned lasted a lifetime. Growing up my beloved fairy tale was Cinderella, not only does true love win but good wins over evil and eventually the world is set right.
For many years, fairy tales have been shared with children; whether as teachable, pleasureful or bedtime readings. We are all familiar with the classic’s like: Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty and Snow White. These stories hold easy recognizability for the patterns created within them. Patterns that induce, repeated reminders of the gender binary system and social class hierarchies, as well as determinants of the western society. Children’s books are not excluded from the mass portrayal of the role that your sex should play to children, but rather to create different schemas at a young age that carry throughout the lives of the children. There also tends to be a social restriction on writers creativity, especially when examining role reversal/diversity.
Cinderella and Feminism written by Kheyfet is a criticism to traditional Cinderella’s story. It points out many thinking that I have never thought about. In Kheyfet’s opinion, Cinderella sets an improper model for little girls. It is a tool used by men to stipulate a female gender. Male chauvinism is hidden behind the story and is successfully impressed to little girl who can’t think critically. I agree with Kheyfet’s viewpoint. I would like to expand on 3 points that expressed me most. They are the early education to children, what characters woman could be, and woman’s wrong attitude to marriage.
It is unquestionable that the prince prefers selecting a princess with beauty and virtue. Attractive appearance of a girl always plays a quite important role in a prince’s selection of a wife. With no exception, the prince looks for feminine virtues in his wife. Women, as a result, place much emphasis on beauty as an essential factor in pleasing a man. Cinderella Complex intensifies the interactions between men and women’s expectations in society.
...nagers who comment on A Cinderella Story said, “This movie was a Great movie! If you have a knack for watching teen love stories this would be your movie. When I first watched this movie I was dying to have it. This movie shows that even though life can be bad you always have the chance to stand up for yourself and become something great and achieve your dreams” ( Ebert)