Women in Films

For this semester, I am currently taking a film class and as our semester carries on our coursework has moved into films from the 1960s and the "counter culture" that questioned the so called "establishment". The films that were produced during this area have been nicked named "The Youth Pic" which usually had at its center a rebel anti-hero who doesn't play by assumed norms presented by society.

Yet, something else took shape during this time period that would alter the way women in films were created. This shift came after the rating system was put in place in Hollywood, this rating system basically allowed films of different types and genres to be made, unlike the 1940s for example, where films had to pass a certain code before they could be shown.

This change that occurred was the overt sexual contextualization of females in films. During the 1960s the second wave of feminism was given birth and as women gained rights in things like abortions and birth control, these rights were quickly switched into that of the Sexual Revolution and a masculine tone in films. This in my opinion is basically what started this objectification of women in modern films.

While I love the film, Barbarella would be a classic example of this:

The story is about a young female assigned by the President of the United States to retrieve Doctor Durand-Durand from the planet SoGo. Sadly, the rest of the film is basically loosely scripted so that the character can be placed in erotic situations and that's it. So while they are showing a strong woman they are also still putting her into this overly sexual context. The display of the body now became the tone of the woman's liberation movement.

This has happened to almost all women in film where the audience is treated to sneak peaks of their bodies, or they are shown as just a sexual object to the male protagonist and in his ability to access the power he is shown to naturally have with him (think comic books).

This still happens today with the genre of films known as "animal comedies" which include such titles as American Pie, Porky's, Fast times at Ridgemont High, and Bachelor Party to name a few.

Why do you think these films still exist today? I believe that objectifying women has become a common theme in our society because of our behavior towards women and the human body. By casting these things as 'dirty' and 'obscene' we only fuel the fire that centers around the need to be 'perfect' and 'attractive' that creates the emotional projects and discourse that we see now in today's culture.