women in classic movies
This week I'm really into watching classic movies because I got interested in gender portrayals on film from the 50s era. I got into this after I randomly watched some Alfred Hitchcock Hour on hulu.com. I watched a few episodes and was amazed at how brazenly sexual and seemingly liberated the female characters were. I mean some of the things they're implying seems kinda racy for the 50s or we've just gotten even MORE conservative over time.
I think as modern day women we've all been brainwashed to think that women from that time period were severely repressed and sad housewives or something. Granted how women are presented in film is not necessarily reflected of how women truly are in that time period. If you tried to get some info on how women were in the 2000s from Hollywood films you'd think we're all insecure, man obsessed, wedding obsessed, fashion obsessed, shallow, dumb and weigh an average of 110lbs and are blond. But that is definitely not true for women in this time, but Hollywood's portrayal of women has gone down the shitter and the women we see are mostly the same stereotype repeated over and over.
Two movies I watched this week with amazing and interesting female characters were Elizabeth Taylor's Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Faye Dunaway's Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde. One theme that these two movies have in common is that fact that they both star amazing hot women who can't get the lead male characters in the film to have sex with them! I thought this was so weird for the time period you know, the woman initiating sex and getting rejected because the male had some issue of his own he couldn't get over.
In Maggie's case she's married to the really fucking HOT Paul Newman's character Brick. When he came on screen I was like HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT IS ONE FUCKING HOT MAN, GODDAMN WTF? No seriously I screamed that out loud, I've never seen any man so beautiful and tortured on screen *-* Brick deals with his internal problems the same way many modern day men deal with it, they have some problem that's eating away at them, but instead of talking about it they drown their sorrows in booze and self pity and are just kind of childish and annoying about the whole thing. Ugh I've been through this irl
My fav scene in this movie is when Brick's mother asks Maggie why they're childless if they've been married for 3 years and is she [Maggie] satisfying Brick, Maggie turns to her and says, "Why don't you ask me if he's satisfying me? It goes both ways you know!" I was like omg! Haha that's so awesome, the woman has needs and she's making it known and she *gasps* talks to her husband about it in another scene in the movie! You never see modern day movies do this, they never deal with the messy parts that come after the big marriage in a rom-com, they never deal with the sex issues and communication issues that can arise in a relationship, its just always about the girl wanting the fairytale ending and wedding.
In Bonnie and Clyde, When Bonnie first meets Clyde he tells her that he's a criminal and she dares him to rob someplace, after he does they get away together in a car and she gets really turned on by the whole thing. She throws herself onto Clyde and tries to do him in the car but he's like, "No stop! I ain't much of a lover boy, there ain't nothing wrong with me. I don't like boys or nothing ... " So of course she gets upset and is like wtf? While I'm watching I'm like ... so what's his problem exactly?
Later on she tries again to make love to him but he can't for whatever reason, in the end they do it like once before they both die and he asks her, "Do you feel ... do you feel how you're supposed to feel after ...", so I guess he was just a nervous virgin all along? Ahah idk!
Anyway this kind of dynamic stood out to me because I think in our modern day culture women are always being objectified and sexualized and men are seen as ALWAYS wanting sex, always wanting to get laid no matter what, and that its natural for them to be horny all the time. So if you as a woman are in the mood and you initiate sex and they deny you, you feel really humiliated, offended and think you're not attractive anymore and that something might be wrong with you and that he's not into you anymore. Like seriously the thought that a man might NOT want sex when you offer if is kind of baffling to me because culturally we're taught that men just wanna fuck all the time. We're not used to thinking of men has having emotions and concerns that hang them up and strangle them in the same way that we women get obsessed and stressed out with the problems in our life. And its hard to think that its really NOT you, its just him and his problems and worries consuming him. Which was the case of Brick, and he thought Maggie had cheated on him BUT when they finally talked it out and aired out everything that was bothering him they resolved their problems and went back to making love.
I liked the message of Cat on a Hot Thin Roof in the sense that as a couple you need to COMMUNICATE, I mean there was a whole show down with Brick's dad that prompted Brick to finally unleash his demons, but Maggie also tried to get him to talk about it over and over.
Anyway these kinds of relationship dynamics and such adult story lines I found to be really interesting and I think today you hardly see movies like COAHTF being made because they're so dialog heavy and deal with a lot of messy human emotions and studios think that people have no patience for that kind of stuff anymore. Most movies seem to be targeted to teenage boys with a short attention spans and the real adult movies get limited release in small art houses. Media portrayals of men and women have really gone down over the decades, now men are portrayed as perpetual adolescents who can't communicate and just want sex and women are portrayed in very shallow terms too or being marriage obsessed or sexually repressed married harpies D:
These two movies are excellent! I highly recommend them if you're in the mood for some classics and excellent female fashion. I want Bonnie's entire wardrobe! I love how she wore sensible shoes when robbing banks! Ballet flats ftw! XD
I think as modern day women we've all been brainwashed to think that women from that time period were severely repressed and sad housewives or something. Granted how women are presented in film is not necessarily reflected of how women truly are in that time period. If you tried to get some info on how women were in the 2000s from Hollywood films you'd think we're all insecure, man obsessed, wedding obsessed, fashion obsessed, shallow, dumb and weigh an average of 110lbs and are blond. But that is definitely not true for women in this time, but Hollywood's portrayal of women has gone down the shitter and the women we see are mostly the same stereotype repeated over and over.
Two movies I watched this week with amazing and interesting female characters were Elizabeth Taylor's Maggie in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof and Faye Dunaway's Bonnie in Bonnie and Clyde. One theme that these two movies have in common is that fact that they both star amazing hot women who can't get the lead male characters in the film to have sex with them! I thought this was so weird for the time period you know, the woman initiating sex and getting rejected because the male had some issue of his own he couldn't get over.
In Maggie's case she's married to the really fucking HOT Paul Newman's character Brick. When he came on screen I was like HOLY FUCKING SHIT THAT IS ONE FUCKING HOT MAN, GODDAMN WTF? No seriously I screamed that out loud, I've never seen any man so beautiful and tortured on screen *-* Brick deals with his internal problems the same way many modern day men deal with it, they have some problem that's eating away at them, but instead of talking about it they drown their sorrows in booze and self pity and are just kind of childish and annoying about the whole thing. Ugh I've been through this irl
My fav scene in this movie is when Brick's mother asks Maggie why they're childless if they've been married for 3 years and is she [Maggie] satisfying Brick, Maggie turns to her and says, "Why don't you ask me if he's satisfying me? It goes both ways you know!" I was like omg! Haha that's so awesome, the woman has needs and she's making it known and she *gasps* talks to her husband about it in another scene in the movie! You never see modern day movies do this, they never deal with the messy parts that come after the big marriage in a rom-com, they never deal with the sex issues and communication issues that can arise in a relationship, its just always about the girl wanting the fairytale ending and wedding.
In Bonnie and Clyde, When Bonnie first meets Clyde he tells her that he's a criminal and she dares him to rob someplace, after he does they get away together in a car and she gets really turned on by the whole thing. She throws herself onto Clyde and tries to do him in the car but he's like, "No stop! I ain't much of a lover boy, there ain't nothing wrong with me. I don't like boys or nothing ... " So of course she gets upset and is like wtf? While I'm watching I'm like ... so what's his problem exactly?
Later on she tries again to make love to him but he can't for whatever reason, in the end they do it like once before they both die and he asks her, "Do you feel ... do you feel how you're supposed to feel after ...", so I guess he was just a nervous virgin all along? Ahah idk!
Anyway this kind of dynamic stood out to me because I think in our modern day culture women are always being objectified and sexualized and men are seen as ALWAYS wanting sex, always wanting to get laid no matter what, and that its natural for them to be horny all the time. So if you as a woman are in the mood and you initiate sex and they deny you, you feel really humiliated, offended and think you're not attractive anymore and that something might be wrong with you and that he's not into you anymore. Like seriously the thought that a man might NOT want sex when you offer if is kind of baffling to me because culturally we're taught that men just wanna fuck all the time. We're not used to thinking of men has having emotions and concerns that hang them up and strangle them in the same way that we women get obsessed and stressed out with the problems in our life. And its hard to think that its really NOT you, its just him and his problems and worries consuming him. Which was the case of Brick, and he thought Maggie had cheated on him BUT when they finally talked it out and aired out everything that was bothering him they resolved their problems and went back to making love.
I liked the message of Cat on a Hot Thin Roof in the sense that as a couple you need to COMMUNICATE, I mean there was a whole show down with Brick's dad that prompted Brick to finally unleash his demons, but Maggie also tried to get him to talk about it over and over.
Anyway these kinds of relationship dynamics and such adult story lines I found to be really interesting and I think today you hardly see movies like COAHTF being made because they're so dialog heavy and deal with a lot of messy human emotions and studios think that people have no patience for that kind of stuff anymore. Most movies seem to be targeted to teenage boys with a short attention spans and the real adult movies get limited release in small art houses. Media portrayals of men and women have really gone down over the decades, now men are portrayed as perpetual adolescents who can't communicate and just want sex and women are portrayed in very shallow terms too or being marriage obsessed or sexually repressed married harpies D:
These two movies are excellent! I highly recommend them if you're in the mood for some classics and excellent female fashion. I want Bonnie's entire wardrobe! I love how she wore sensible shoes when robbing banks! Ballet flats ftw! XD
