The movie The Godfather constantly undercuts the value of women as actual human beings, instead they are merely depicted as homemakers and mothers, though sometimes they are allowed the high status of being a distraction to the men. This last fact is especially evident when Calo says to Michael, “in Sicily, women are more dangerous than shotguns,” in reference to his infatuation with Apollonia distracting him from staying safe. Moreover, there are three important female characters in the movie, and one gets ignored, one gets beaten, and one gets murdered (climax), which goes to further illustrate the negative idea of women in this movie.
The mafia in The Godfather is a boys club, and the women are routinely kicked out when they talk business as is most evident in one of the closing scenes when Michael allows his wife, Kay, to ask him one question about his business before making her leave the room to talk shop with the other guys. They audience feels this isolation along with Kay as the camera pans back out of the room with her, and the door closes, effectively cutting off the audience from what is being said inside the room. Since the movie has followed the interworking of the mafia up until this point, this is the first time the audience so clearly feels this divide.
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The representation of women in this movie, is to some degree a larger representation of women’s roles in 1950s society.
Post-war society was deeply divided by notions of strict gender roles, and the idea that men and women had their places and were not to deviate from them. Women were shut out of many business industries and were instead relegated to the home. They were to some extent treated as second class citizens and thereby not given the same opportunities as
men. Furthermore, this movie highlights extreme masculinity as a positive characteristic, or at the very least does very little to showcase the negative side of “boys will be boys.” For example, Sonny cheats on his wife with very few consequences, regardless of its relevance to the plot. Moreover, Sonny is the emotional and sometime erratic one, and he’s the one that ends up dead, whereas Michael is the calculating, emotionless one and thereby ends up as the head of the family. The Godfather does not show the complexities of life, emotions, and human nature and thereby becomes a very one sided conversation. It devalues women, and instead praises men for being, to one degree or another, unemotional and cold-hearted, allowing this narrative to take precedence over all else.
Before World War I, equality for woman and men were very unfair. Woman weren’t even legally “persons”; they weren’t allowed to join parliament or the senate because they weren’t legally “persons”, therefore these jobs were occupied by men only. During World War I and World War II, many men had left for war, thus meaning there were many job openings that needed to be occupied as soon as possible, women then began to take on stereotypical male jobs which men thought women couldn’t do or couldn’t do as well. Women showed their capabilities and realized they shouldn’t be considered less than men. In retaliation of not being considered “persons”, women decided to take action.
...owards more love stories. Essentially more forms of propaganda ensued to let women know what they should be doing. More domestic jobs became available such as being a maid, restaurant work, dishwashing and cleaning. However women who worked war jobs wanted their own maids now so they could pursue their own dreams. They felt inspired and accomplished. Lola Wiexl mentioned that although skills within the workforce were easily learned, within the household traditions still persisted. Lola herself said she'd go home cook, clean and do the laundry while her brother laid on the couch. She didn't question it before but she was angry about it for years after her war time experience. Thus patriarchal hegemonies still existed after the war and were perpetuated by the government and media as much as possible to solicit women who participated in activities outside of the home.
AIn the movie, The Grudge (2004), a woman is used to play the four big roles, which are the main character, supporting character, victim who dies early, and the evil creature, which is the dead mother who is now a ghost. The main character, Karen Davis, is an exchange student who works at the same place as one of the supporting characters as a care-worker. Throughout the movie, she learns about the events that brought the ghost into existence, while simultaneously being followed by the ghost. In the end, she attempts to kill the ghost, but it survives and continues to follow her. One of the gender stereotypical characteristics of the main character was her job as a care-worker. Care-workers are people who care for others such as children,
If there is one overlapping theme that connects Gloria Steinem’s 1978 essay, “If Men Could Menstruate”, and Martin Scorsese’s 1990 film, Goodfellas, it is that society is a patriarchy where men and women are not looked at equally, as men are seen as the superior gender. Men were made to be the superior gender not by God or through Evolution, but by the cultural construction of society. Although there is no physical evidence pointing to men being better than women, males have somehow convinced females to play second-fiddle in the orchestra that is society. The film exposes the patriarchal structure of organized crime—“the family” as mafia members call it. Goodfellas indulges in and critiques this world by showing both the actions and the natures
The social perception of women has drastically changed since the 1950’s. The social role of women during the 1950’s was restrictive and repressed in many ways. Society during that time placed high importance on expectations of behavior in the way women conducted themselves in home life as well as in public. At home the wife was tasked with the role of being an obedient wife, caring mother, and homemaker. Women publicly were expected to form groups and bond over tea with a slice of cake. All the while government was pushing this idealize roll for women in a society “dominated” by men. However, during this time a percentage of women were finding their way into the work force of men. “Women were searching their places in a society led by men;
In today 's society, gender stereotyping of men and women has influenced the society’s actions and how it has reflected in recent years. Everyday stereotype is being used whether if it’s on movies, workplaces, playgrounds, homes, or even magazines. There is gender diversity in the movie Grease which took place in 1978. This movie focuses on several different types of stereotyping throughout the movie. Two specific characters in which we are able to use as an example of gender stereotyping are Sandy and Danny. There has always been a specific boundary between a male and a female gender. The femininity side that is shown in the movie Grease of how it is described by the character Sandy of how women were once portrayed back in the day has changed
However, when the war was over, and the men returned to their lives, society reverted back to as it had been not before the 1940s, but well before the 1900s. Women were expected to do nothing but please their husband. Women were not meant to have jobs or worry about anything that was occurring outside of their own household.... ... middle of paper ...
Women were not only separated by class, but also by their gender. No woman was equal to a man and didn’t matter how rich or poor they were. They were not equal to men. Women couldn’t vote own business or property and were not allowed to have custody of their children unless they had permission from their husband first. Women’s roles changed instantly because of the war. They had to pick up all the jobs that the men had no choice but to leave behind. They were expected to work and take care of their homes and children as well. Working outside the home was a challenge for these women even though the women probably appreciated being able to provide for their families. “They faced shortages of basic goods, lack of childcare and medical care, little training, and resistance from men who felt they should stay home.” (p 434)
During the Great War and the huge amount of men that were deployed created the need to employ women in hospitals, factories, and offices. When the war ended the women would return home or do more traditional jobs such as teaching or shop work. “Also in the 1920s the number of women working raised by fifty percent.” They usually didn’t work if they were married because they were still sticking to the role of being stay at home moms while the husband worked and took care of the family financially. But among the single women there was a huge increase in employment. “Women were still not getting payed near as equally as men and were expected to quit their jobs if they married or pregnant.” Although women were still not getting payed as equally it was still a huge change for the women's
The definition of Renaissance women is fundamentally important in William Shakespeare's play Othello. One of the major causes of Othello's tragedy is his belief that Desdemona is not chaste. According to the men of the Renaissance, chastity, silence, and obedience are three attributes that define Renaissance women. Although Othello takes place during the Renaissance, the women in the play, Bianca, Desdemona and Emilia, defy traditional norms by lacking at least one of the major attributes defining women; Bianca's lack of chastity is clearly displayed when she unlawfully sleeps with Cassio; Desdemona's lack of silence is clearly displayed when she constantly urges Othello to give Cassio's position back. However, in the last two acts, Emilia displays the strongest challenge to the definition of Renaissance women as silent, chaste, and obedient, mainly to defend Desdemona.
Women were not seen as breadwinners in the household but instead as a supporting role to their husbands. A woman’s job was to clean, cook, nurture, and entertain. Very few universities accepted female students. The few that did were segregated for women only and not highly regarded at all. Parents raised their daughters, preparing them to be good housewives and mothers with no support towards furthering their education. Women were not though to be as smart, strong, or capable as men and when seeking jobs, had a very difficult time obtaining the position. The few women able to acquire jobs were not regarded as highly as a “good” stay at home mother and wife would have been. A woman’s role was not to be a student or a professional, but to be a
society. Women’s rights and feminism did not exist. In the 1800s divorces were frowned upon and everything was given to the males.
Gender stereotypes are ideas simplified, but strongly assumed, on the characteristics of men and women, that translates into a series of tasks and activities that are assign in each culture. Along life, family, school, and environment, Society thought us what is right and what is not in being men or women. Starting with the form we dress, talk, express, behave, to what we can play or what sport to participate. The margin of the biological endowment differences males and females; the fact of being women or men implies a long process of learning and adaptation to the rules established starting with work, personality, love and desires. In the movie "The Ugly Truth." you can see different situations that reflect what society is teaching us for
Post war America was struggling with the addition of so many women to the labor force. Men coming back from war were entering a societal structure much different from the one they left at the beginning of the war. Women were experiencing a newfound independency and liberation and were
A lot of families had to leave from becoming a traditional family to a single parent family because their love one has died in the war. I was also around the time when women fought for rights. In addition, the great movement for African Americans from the south to the north to work in the factories because a lot of men were killed at war and they needed people to replace the white factory workers. People had to adjust to work environments due to women working due to the lack of men that did not return from the war. And those that did returned from the war wanted their jobs back and that there were women working in their workplace. Women where so use to making factory money now versus making $15 dollars a week being a maid and a housekeeper compared to making $40 a week working in the factory. Women had to leave the factories, but they did not leave happy so they started a women’s right movement.