Monday, December 12, 2016
Baby Face
Baby Face is often considered the most "pre code" of the pre code films. Discuss what this means in one paragraph and in your second paragraph discuss how the film's themes are presented cinematically through one cinematic element (choose one). Here is a link to the film: https://vimeo.com/channels/642746/131683919.
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Considered the most “pre code” of all the pre code Hollywood films, Barbara Stanwyck’s 1933 film “Baby Face is one of the most risque, sexually insinuated films of the time period. The time period of pre code films was in the early 1930s, and was due to the lack of censorship in Hollywood at the time. “Baby Face” was a film that forever changed the characterization of women. Stanwyck portrays a woman named Lily, who after being abused by her late father, decides to escape her former life with the ideals of Friedrich Nietzsche, and begins to have sex with men to get the positions she desires. She doesn’t only “fuck her way up to the top”, she often screws over the (sometimes married) men who land in her pathway. Even without the direct portrayal of sex, the insinuation is enough to make this movie extremely racy, but it wasn’t only considered pre code because of the sexual content. Because the film came out in 1933, women often weren’t in positions of power, and due to the way that Lily was gaining traction in the business world and that she, a woman, was in a position of power, made it an extraordinarily suggestive pre code film.
ReplyDeleteOne of the biggest overarching theme in this film is the conquest of men via women, and even the sexual predator esque behavior of women. Shot composition is the element that I feel depicts this theme best. Lily is often shown alone in the shot as she seduces men, looking directly at them (even if they are out of the frame), which makes the viewer think that they are being seduced by Lily’s charms. As she then follows through with her move, she kisses the victimized man, and she takes up more of the shot than they do, portraying that she is completely in control in the situation. Taking this into consideration, comparing all the shots of her kissing her bosses, all of the men look faceless, only Lily’s expressions are being shown. They aren’t people to her, just conquests, just rungs of the ladder she needs to climb to reach the top.
Pre code film began as sound was added to the equation of cinema. In the early 1930’s the “talkies” began to emerge in Hollywood, simultaneously America was suffering through the Great Depression which forced directors to push the social envelope and ‘give the people what they really want’, risqué material. The Code of Motion Picture Decency written by William Hayes was a guide to restrict certain elements of narrative in film that accurately represented the risqué movement of film known as pre-code cinema. Characteristics of this non-catholic era of film included “non-decent” narratives such as: heroic criminals, forgotten men, anything concerning politics (for the fear of uprising), and “bad girls” otherwise known as powerful women. This code was enforced in 1934, by the Catholic Legion of Decency and ended Precode film as a whole because the storylines of films such as Bisexual Queen and Baby Face were too indecent for eyes of Catholic Americans.
ReplyDeleteBaby Face starring the famous pre code actress, Barbara Stanwick, follows the storyline of a previous sex worker who works her way to the top by sleeping with a progression of powerful men. A recurring theme of this film is the possession and manipulation of power, specifically by the film's protagonist, Lily. This theme is shown through the element of shot composition and how Lily can manipulate how she is perceived by other characters in order to use them to obtain more power. For example, when she is in Carter's office discussing her involvements with Stevens, she puts herself so low in the frame in the right third at the bottom of the frame while Carter is in the top left third in order to manipulate Carter into thinking he is holding the power in this interaction and Lily is entirely helpless. By the placement of Lily being so low in the frame when through the narrative she is lying to and using Carter, the shot composition makes the viewer believe the lie set forth by Lily (that she is naive and inferior to Carter) therefore she is manipulating her appearance to appease Carter and get what she wants. Another example of Lily's manipulation of how she is perceived is shown in the scene where she is speaking to Stevens inside of her apartment where she states, “that isn't love, there's only one thing I want”. In this scene we see a balanced shot of Lily and Stevens when she says “that isn't love” but we cut to an identical shot to the office scene where Lily sits down in a long shot and is in the bottom right third of the frame and Stevens is in the top left third, when Lily says “there's only one thing I want”. The dialogue here displays her want for something while the shot composition looks to give Stephens more power, implying he has the power to give her what she wants and he will. In this shot it explicitly seems as if Stephens has more power, but implicitly Lily gains the most power by manipulating her image to then make Stephens give her what she wants. While there are many other overarching themes and patterns in this film such as, the comparison of Lily to other women and even other men, and the ever present entity of Lily and the lasting effect she has on characters (mostly male), I felt this theme of manipulation was so interesting because it brings the central characteristic of precode (powerful women) to an entirely different level.
The era of film that we now refer to as pre-code occurred during early 30’s in which directors began to create risque films in spite of the newly created, but not yet enforced, Hayes Code. Films in this era featured powerful female characters, men down on their luck, unfair justice systems, and criminal heroes. Directors began to show off the risque and wicked of life in america and the public loved it, for the most part. This era of changed film direction was unfortunately brought to a quick, arguably untimely end by the Catholic Legion of Decency calling for the enforcement of Hayes’s code believing that films like Baby Face were unfit for christian eyes.
ReplyDeleteThe Film’s main theme is the inversion of power that Lilly creates through an exploitation of sexuality. Throughout the film Lily sleeps with men of higher standing than her to increase her own she acts meek and exploitable despite the fact she is clearly in control from the viewers standpoint. However during these scenes since the camera acts as the point of view of the men that she is seducing Lilly appears low in the frame, filmed from a high angle, or in the background, because of this we can tell that her act is working and the men do in fact see see her as weaker and powerless.
The use of "pre-code" as an adjective denotes the presence of strong sexual overtones and controversial themes such as gender relations and the immorality of human nature. After the establishment of the film code in hollywood, discussions of sexuality and gender were delegated to far more implicit corners of the film industry and only conveyed through subtext. Inclusion of sexual themes in movies served a dual purpose by both playing into public demand for risqué content and engaging in a social commentary. The Plot of "Baby Face" is driven entirely by these sexual themes, as our main character Lily uses her looks and sexuality to advance her position in a company. Not only did this challenge the traditional notion of female innocent, but it presented us with a morally gray protagonist whose actions are not always justified.
ReplyDeleteEven in the pre-code era, much had to be implied, or at least not shown. The offscreen space is used to present elements that are too racy for the screen itself, but wouldn't be allowed at all post-code. For example, the suicide of one of Lily's "lovers" is denoted by an off-screen gunshot and later confirmed by a newspaper. Even though the suicide is not shown, we get the idea. In a post-code movie, the mere idea of suicide would be unsuitable to present to the masses. Additionally, all of the sexing that Lily does is offscreen, but it is still present in the film.
Baby Face (dir. Barbara Stanwick, 1933) was the most "pre-code" of the pre-code films because of the ideals it espoused about the role of women in the working class, about female sexuality, and about the class system in America. In 1934 a rigorous "moral code" was established, preventing films from speaking out against the justice system, portraying women as sexual beings, and portraying sex in general (among other things). It took away the freedom of speech that is necessary for good, insightful filmmaking. This movie went against almost every tenet of the "code" - there was drinking, smoking, a lot of sex, and most importantly a powerful woman in control of her own destiny. There’s a quote from a fascinating essay about the movie by Justine Smith - “The code, that was instated not that long after the release of this film… strikes me not only as an attack of violence, sex, or any other supposedly morally reprehensible action, but one on strong women. Powers is only dangerous and frightening because she’s a woman, and she’s using all that society has allowed her to get to the top.”. Baby Face blatantly showed a woman using sex to work her way through society, and I feel that this made it an extremely pre-code film.
ReplyDeleteOne interesting cinematic element used in this film is constant close up shots of Barbara Stanwick’s face and body. We see her face, lit softly, with her large eyes and very feminine features. These shots are interspersed with shots of her bare legs, which solidifies her stature as a sexual being in the universe of the film. However, to the viewer, these shots are a stark contrast to her hard behavior - she exhibits feminine features, but absolutely shuns feminine traits. Even her dialogue and way of speaking resembles a man of that time period more than a female. This juxtaposition is fascinating, and made the movie even better.
By referring to Baby Face as the most "pre code" of the pre code era, much is being said about the impact of the film. Pre code was a film movement and era centered around tackling tough and polarizing topics. Sex, drugs, and oft frowned upon social standings of female and non white characters. Filmmakers found their real power in this era, spreading the harsh truth about many realities faced yet not talked about. The government, however, saw the films as raunchy and unnecessary portrayals of the rough patches in society. The government claimed they saw films such as "Baby Face" as a "threat" to the security of Americans, but in reality they were just afraid of what citizens could think when watching such realistic portrayals of society. Lily's rise to power and strength as a woman character in the film had men confused, and because they did not understand the simple concepts of a woman wanting to be in power as men, they did not like it.
ReplyDeleteCinematography as a whole has a huge impact on the effect of Lily's portrayal and her rise to power within the company. Both shot type and shot angle go into the portrayal of Lily. For example, when she is seducing a man in order to move up in the world, extreme closeups of her face are shown, portraying her immense power over all. By having her take up a majority of the frame upon many occasions, viewers are able to get a sense of the meaning of this pre code film, and are able to agree more with the badassery that is her rise to power.
Babyface is considered the most “pre-code” of the pre-code films because of its blatant use of sex in the narrative. It left barely anything to the imagination, and it has at least five easily apparent sexual encounters between our main character and men throughout the film. Coming out in 1933, this was probably very shocking to viewers, seeing women and sex so casually presented on the screen. Pre-code Hollywood films were the ones that came out before the censorship guidelines were strictly enforced, so many of them include imagery of topics taboo to film because of the later codes, such as prostitution, drug use, abortion, violence, etc. Babyface fits in with those, showing the main character being pimped by her father at the beginning, and throughout the movie continuing to use her sexual appeal to move up the social ladder, often horribly damaging the men she encountered in the process.
ReplyDeleteOne of the main themes shown through the movie until the very last scene is how easily manipulable men are by an attractive woman. The film element that I think shows this best is the lighting: in all of the scenes we see the woman in, we see her face illuminated with a very very soft light. Besides giving a more flattering appearance to the actress on the screen, it also makes her character appear more innocent, which is how she used the men she did in the first place. She always tells them her innocent, helpless story, and they come to her rescue when she has sex with them by giving her a job or money. The lighting is also contrasting with the lighting used on the men. They do not appear as innocent and attractive as she does, leading the characters in the movie and the audience to sympathize with the girl and not the men she screws over.
Baby Face is a film that came before its time and before there were any legal restrictions on film. 1933 was the homestretch for strong women. Thought in 1920 they got the right to vote it was difficult for many people to understand and get up to speed with the equality given to many women. This movie came about when production companies were beginning the take a hold of sexualities popularity and use it on the big screen. This movie has a lot of modernist ideas. In the 1930s the society was still mostly conservative and seeing such sexuality on the big screen was a pho pa and especially coming from such a headstrong woman character. Movies were not usually about a strong woman especially not so in depth in their characters. We grow with Lily as she uses mans sexual drive to pull herself up in the work force slowly but surely. There are many blatant uses of sex on her part in order to get what she wants. Her character always has a sort of mist around her explaining the female mind as mysterious and always with ulterior motives, something we regularly see in men, but is very unlikely to see in women in film.
ReplyDeleteIn the beginning of the film we see her down on her luck, but still in control of the situation. There is a high angle shot of her in the bar and it is the first time that we see her at any angle. She is not powerful, but there is a hope. We see shots where she is hidden behind men, but eventually takes up space in the shot. The angle at which every shot is taken is used to make her seem larger than life. More times than one we see her from an unusual angle. Most time from the low angle to show that she is in power. In the frame the male may be larger in it than her, but because of the angle being low and focused at her, we can tell that she is secretly in power and she is trying to make the man think he is. She uses this to her advantage by playing the victim in more than one case. But, when she meets Trenholm she is looked at on the same angle. She is a surprise for him because of how strong she has gotten in his company. Woman don't normally participate in business and not as successfully as her. He was the one who knew she was slandering for money, and now he is seeing her strong character again, and he is attracted to that rather than her appearance like the many other men that have floated in and out of her life. In the last shot she is propped on a desk and smoking the angle is low and she is totally in power.