Female, directed by Michael Curtiz, is especially noted for the woman in power and the development of the characterization of women in Hollywood films, but that’s not exactly how I saw it. This film, although presenting a woman in power, had a pretty disappointing ending in my opinion, as the main character, Alison, puts away all of her personal beliefs for some guy. Plot points aside, what I really enjoyed was the use of set design, which was extremely engaging because of the larger than life props. In many scenes in the office, the doorways were so tall they would go out of the frame, and the windows would take up almost the entire backdrop of the set. Another interesting thing about the set design was that many of the exterior shots of Alison’s house were actually of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, which is located in the Hollywood Hills in California. A scene I really appreciated aesthetically was the one in which Alison is in her office at the beginning, commanding all the subservient men around her. Even though she seems smaller in the frame, she is still obviously in charge due to the fact that she is constantly in the center of the shots. In pre code cinema it was often known to make women into different roles than they would usually play, with a more multifaceted sense, and opening the movie with this instantaneous female power definitely contributes to the genre. This is my favorite scene because it is before Alison betrays all of her original ideas about how men are weak and she is strong, and it’s before she decides she should conform.
I enjoyed this film exclusively for its representation of a strong female character through the narrative as a whole and as far as cinematic elements go, I particularly noticed and enjoyed the set design. From a cinematic standpoint I was extremely intrigued with the set design in this film and at times astonished. With sets similar to those seen in German expressionism films such as Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari it was interesting to see an aspect of set design, over the top large sets, used in such a casual manner rather than a horrifying one. Aside from the ingenious and incredibly memorable set design of this film I enjoyed the costume choice which allowed for the same manipulation aspect that Baby Face did with shot composition. For example, in a business setting in order to obtain the respect she rightfully deserves she wears darker colors to appear more stern, we see this in the famous scene where she is directing her workers while standing in front of an enormous window. Another example of her deceiving costumes is when she is in the pool swimming with the man who loves her, she uses the color white to seem polished, pure, and desirable and using this to get what she wants romantically.
My favorite scene is closer to the beginning of the film where we see Alison directing the workers for the first time. What I most particularly enjoy about this scene is the enormous, extravagant window that is behind Alison when she is speaking. Through this window we see factories with smoke blowing out of them and everything that embodies the word production. This window characterizes Alison for the viewer and shows us that she is a strong leader with a working background because the window is directly behind her; it serves as a visual to the work ethic Alison holds and the respect she obtains because of it. This window also has horizontal bars across it which further insinuate her power because they should that even though she is much smaller than the window she breaks through those lines and remains a atomic figure. Not to mention the snarky comments she makes towards falsely entitled men which leaves the audience completely engaged. This set design, that is arguably the most important cinematic element of this film, is so innovational for this time period of pre-Citizen Kane film's is literally larger than life which transports the viewer to a new dimension or fantasy detached from the social norms of the 1930’s where women are more powerful than men and the feminist theory of castration and male comfortability is almost completely irrelevant.
This film was truly an artwork to admire for its use of color, costume design, set design, and shot composition which I believe makes up for the unexpected and virtually unjustified denouement where Alison abandons all of her morals and opinions. I vastly enjoyed viewing this movie although I would have liked to see a much different ending that we saw in both Baby Face (1933) and Female.
I actually immensely enjoyed Female (dir. Michael Curtiz) because of its depiction of women, characters, and boldness with script. For most of the film, Alison was a smart woman with snappy comebacks, creating a persona of independence and aloofness. She seemed to not care what men thought - she was a woman, and she was very good at her job, and those things were not correlated at all. I would say that this was one of my favorite films (that we have viewed, at least) if not for the ending. It seemed to me that Alison gave up all of her independence and her strict rules for herself just to be with a man that she barely knew. She abandoned her company, which is shown to be her entire life, to pursue a guy who treated her awfully on 4 different occasions. It was extremely out of character and extremely disappointing to watch. One of my favorite scenes is the scene with the party, where we see Alison flirting with men so they'll offer her the partnerships and benefits that she wants. I believe that this captures her actual personality clearly - she uses the people around her to benefit herself, and sees no wrong in turning down marriage proposals on a whim. This is a stark contrast to her behavior later in the film, however, but I do believe that it captures the essence of Alison in 5 minutes.
"Female" was an interesting insight into 1930s gender roles and provided a rare example of a powerful female character in cinema... up until the jarring paradigm shift at the end of the film. Alison is an ambitious, independent woman who maintains a clear distinction between her emotional life and her career. For the majority of the film, her character arc seems as though it is taking her from a state of emotional inhibition to allowing herself to feel. This arc would be just as suitable for a man as it is for a woman. However, the story takes a sharp turn near the end where, instead of just allowing someone into her life, she abandons all of her morals just to be with a man. This takes a potentially revolutionary film and converts it into a traditional manufactured Hollywood ending where the happy ending for a woman is limited to marriage. My favorite scene is near the beginning where she invites one of her workers for dinner at her apartment. This perfectly illustrates the effectiveness of her character for the majority of the movie, as it displays her exploitation of men's emotions for business gains. The pillows strewn around the room and the vodka give the man expectations for romance with Alison, but he is ultimately frustrated and gains nothing. Here Alison demonstrates a non-traditional but effective way to use a character's gender: she is seductive, but still powerful. Instead of being exploited by the camera and audience, she uses her sex appeal to influence people and maintain power. This kind of sequence (dinner, vodka, business discussion) is repeated several times throughout the movie to emphasize her methodical procedure for exploitation.
For the most part I did enjoy female. The shots were lovely, the sets well designed and for the most part the characters were incredibly well written. I particularly liked how powerful Ruth Chatterton's character was throughout the film however I feel that she was stripped of her character that was presented throughout the film the way the ending stands. From the start of the film up until the climax Allison is presented as a ruthless, no funny business woman and yet in the end she hands her entire manufacturing company to a grossly unqualified man (sounds an awful lot like current events) who she marries. It feels like a betrayal of her character in my opinion but I digress. My favorite scene is the one in which we get to see Allison manipulate someone. she invites a young engineer to her mansion under the pretense of business and then with a bit of vodka for his courage seduces him. I like this scene because it demonstrates Allison's immense influence over a world that is much larger than life quite literally. Despite every piece of the set being over-sized she still manages to fill a large portion of the frame and the kenesis of the scene even makes her appear to draw everything else towards her. simply put its an artfully subtle demonstration of the character's power and influence.
Female was probably one of my favorite films all year, I absolutely loved everything about it. I loved how blatant everything in the film was and how we go into the female psyche more than any films of its time. It is also one of the only films showing a woman in power. It was a start to a thread of woman protagonist films. I think this film dealt with usually serious themes like feminism and sex and made it imaginative. The set design was extravagant just like her lifestyle. The costume design had an underset meaning more than a lot of the films that I have ever seen. My favorite scene is when she meets Thorne and she is out on the town with him. We have seen her many many times in sharp outfits, blazers and even soft dresses when she is at home, but she goes out in an outfit specifically meant that she would fit in with any other girl on the town. It is a whole different light from the rest of the movie. She allows Thorne to be in charge of the situation and we feel like she wants Thorne to be in charge of the situation, she may be tough and in charge, but she wants a man finally, maybe not to settle down with at first consciously. The set is very busy and everything is moving around her unlike when she is at the office and everything is very spacious. The lighting is very soft on her face and his to emphasis the moment as ephemeral; something that she thought she would never experience. The city is low lit but their faces are seen clearly to emphasize the character development. Sometimes Alison is obscured by other people walking or something placed in front of the frame and we understand that she is placing herself there. Hiding from her real identity. People treat her differently because she is the boss and now she wants to hide her personality so she can find a man honestly. They are seen at the same level through the rest of the movie except this scene. She is smaller in frame and smaller compared to him when they stand next to each other. Which compared to how she looks later as she sits at her desk is a big contrast. The items outside compared to the items in her office are smaller and more realistic. This gives us a feeling of freedom from that whole different world; atmosphere. This movie has a lot of underset meaning which characterizes Allison. This is a new front for women protagonists.
Female was a film that I wanted to enjoy, and I did for the most part, until the very end. Michael Curtiz's portrayal of the strong and independent woman Alison is flawless until of course she throws the type away to be with a man (and a pig). This by no means however discounts the supremely "pre-code" style of this film, and its ability to question societal standards of 1930s America. By dealing with themes of sexuality, flipping gender roles, and including drugs and violence, 1933's "Female" is a great example of a director having fun with the medium and delivering a provocative and fun film to the masses. It is great to see such an early example of a film being genuinely enjoyable to masses, while still being groundbreaking; that is the power of watching these pre-code films. The scene I will be analyzing is when Alison meets Jim at the shooting game, more specifically the lead up and follow up to this encounter. During the film up to this point, Alison has been portrayed as powerful, strong, and dominant in the frame. This scene turns around this portrayal, and in fact is the start of her decline into Jim's trap. She arrives on town in very plain clothes, or that is, plain compared to what she has worn from the beginning of the film to now. Her outfit matches many around her as she strolls past the hamburger stand, but we see the true effect when shots of her and Jim are cut next to each other in succession. Their outfits are very similar, and the way they are shot is nearly identical. This is what I saw as an initial power shift from Alison to Jim. It is also important to note that leading up to their encounter, Alison is often lower in the frame than she is during scenes that take place in her office, very representative to the fact that though she's holds power over many within the workplace, peoples' opinions of her are skewed in the public based solely off of her gender. She feel strapped by these assumptions, and eventually they consume her and transform her from the powerful figure heading her own company to running away with Jim. She does not run away with Jim because she loves him, no. She runs away because she is lowing control and does not know how to stop it. So I guess that's why in the end I didn't enjoy the movie, because in the end our strong female lead is proved not as strong with her easy escape route from society pressures.
Female, directed by Michael Curtiz, is especially noted for the woman in power and the development of the characterization of women in Hollywood films, but that’s not exactly how I saw it. This film, although presenting a woman in power, had a pretty disappointing ending in my opinion, as the main character, Alison, puts away all of her personal beliefs for some guy. Plot points aside, what I really enjoyed was the use of set design, which was extremely engaging because of the larger than life props. In many scenes in the office, the doorways were so tall they would go out of the frame, and the windows would take up almost the entire backdrop of the set. Another interesting thing about the set design was that many of the exterior shots of Alison’s house were actually of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House, which is located in the Hollywood Hills in California.
ReplyDeleteA scene I really appreciated aesthetically was the one in which Alison is in her office at the beginning, commanding all the subservient men around her. Even though she seems smaller in the frame, she is still obviously in charge due to the fact that she is constantly in the center of the shots. In pre code cinema it was often known to make women into different roles than they would usually play, with a more multifaceted sense, and opening the movie with this instantaneous female power definitely contributes to the genre. This is my favorite scene because it is before Alison betrays all of her original ideas about how men are weak and she is strong, and it’s before she decides she should conform.
I enjoyed this film exclusively for its representation of a strong female character through the narrative as a whole and as far as cinematic elements go, I particularly noticed and enjoyed the set design. From a cinematic standpoint I was extremely intrigued with the set design in this film and at times astonished. With sets similar to those seen in German expressionism films such as Nosferatu and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari it was interesting to see an aspect of set design, over the top large sets, used in such a casual manner rather than a horrifying one. Aside from the ingenious and incredibly memorable set design of this film I enjoyed the costume choice which allowed for the same manipulation aspect that Baby Face did with shot composition. For example, in a business setting in order to obtain the respect she rightfully deserves she wears darker colors to appear more stern, we see this in the famous scene where she is directing her workers while standing in front of an enormous window. Another example of her deceiving costumes is when she is in the pool swimming with the man who loves her, she uses the color white to seem polished, pure, and desirable and using this to get what she wants romantically.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite scene is closer to the beginning of the film where we see Alison directing the workers for the first time. What I most particularly enjoy about this scene is the enormous, extravagant window that is behind Alison when she is speaking. Through this window we see factories with smoke blowing out of them and everything that embodies the word production. This window characterizes Alison for the viewer and shows us that she is a strong leader with a working background because the window is directly behind her; it serves as a visual to the work ethic Alison holds and the respect she obtains because of it. This window also has horizontal bars across it which further insinuate her power because they should that even though she is much smaller than the window she breaks through those lines and remains a atomic figure. Not to mention the snarky comments she makes towards falsely entitled men which leaves the audience completely engaged. This set design, that is arguably the most important cinematic element of this film, is so innovational for this time period of pre-Citizen Kane film's is literally larger than life which transports the viewer to a new dimension or fantasy detached from the social norms of the 1930’s where women are more powerful than men and the feminist theory of castration and male comfortability is almost completely irrelevant.
This film was truly an artwork to admire for its use of color, costume design, set design, and shot composition which I believe makes up for the unexpected and virtually unjustified denouement where Alison abandons all of her morals and opinions. I vastly enjoyed viewing this movie although I would have liked to see a much different ending that we saw in both Baby Face (1933) and Female.
I actually immensely enjoyed Female (dir. Michael Curtiz) because of its depiction of women, characters, and boldness with script. For most of the film, Alison was a smart woman with snappy comebacks, creating a persona of independence and aloofness. She seemed to not care what men thought - she was a woman, and she was very good at her job, and those things were not correlated at all. I would say that this was one of my favorite films (that we have viewed, at least) if not for the ending. It seemed to me that Alison gave up all of her independence and her strict rules for herself just to be with a man that she barely knew. She abandoned her company, which is shown to be her entire life, to pursue a guy who treated her awfully on 4 different occasions. It was extremely out of character and extremely disappointing to watch.
ReplyDeleteOne of my favorite scenes is the scene with the party, where we see Alison flirting with men so they'll offer her the partnerships and benefits that she wants. I believe that this captures her actual personality clearly - she uses the people around her to benefit herself, and sees no wrong in turning down marriage proposals on a whim. This is a stark contrast to her behavior later in the film, however, but I do believe that it captures the essence of Alison in 5 minutes.
"Female" was an interesting insight into 1930s gender roles and provided a rare example of a powerful female character in cinema... up until the jarring paradigm shift at the end of the film. Alison is an ambitious, independent woman who maintains a clear distinction between her emotional life and her career. For the majority of the film, her character arc seems as though it is taking her from a state of emotional inhibition to allowing herself to feel. This arc would be just as suitable for a man as it is for a woman. However, the story takes a sharp turn near the end where, instead of just allowing someone into her life, she abandons all of her morals just to be with a man. This takes a potentially revolutionary film and converts it into a traditional manufactured Hollywood ending where the happy ending for a woman is limited to marriage.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite scene is near the beginning where she invites one of her workers for dinner at her apartment. This perfectly illustrates the effectiveness of her character for the majority of the movie, as it displays her exploitation of men's emotions for business gains. The pillows strewn around the room and the vodka give the man expectations for romance with Alison, but he is ultimately frustrated and gains nothing. Here Alison demonstrates a non-traditional but effective way to use a character's gender: she is seductive, but still powerful. Instead of being exploited by the camera and audience, she uses her sex appeal to influence people and maintain power. This kind of sequence (dinner, vodka, business discussion) is repeated several times throughout the movie to emphasize her methodical procedure for exploitation.
For the most part I did enjoy female. The shots were lovely, the sets well designed and for the most part the characters were incredibly well written. I particularly liked how powerful Ruth Chatterton's character was throughout the film however I feel that she was stripped of her character that was presented throughout the film the way the ending stands. From the start of the film up until the climax Allison is presented as a ruthless, no funny business woman and yet in the end she hands her entire manufacturing company to a grossly unqualified man (sounds an awful lot like current events) who she marries. It feels like a betrayal of her character in my opinion but I digress.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite scene is the one in which we get to see Allison manipulate someone. she invites a young engineer to her mansion under the pretense of business and then with a bit of vodka for his courage seduces him. I like this scene because it demonstrates Allison's immense influence over a world that is much larger than life quite literally. Despite every piece of the set being over-sized she still manages to fill a large portion of the frame and the kenesis of the scene even makes her appear to draw everything else towards her. simply put its an artfully subtle demonstration of the character's power and influence.
Female was probably one of my favorite films all year, I absolutely loved everything about it. I loved how blatant everything in the film was and how we go into the female psyche more than any films of its time. It is also one of the only films showing a woman in power. It was a start to a thread of woman protagonist films. I think this film dealt with usually serious themes like feminism and sex and made it imaginative. The set design was extravagant just like her lifestyle. The costume design had an underset meaning more than a lot of the films that I have ever seen.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite scene is when she meets Thorne and she is out on the town with him. We have seen her many many times in sharp outfits, blazers and even soft dresses when she is at home, but she goes out in an outfit specifically meant that she would fit in with any other girl on the town. It is a whole different light from the rest of the movie. She allows Thorne to be in charge of the situation and we feel like she wants Thorne to be in charge of the situation, she may be tough and in charge, but she wants a man finally, maybe not to settle down with at first consciously. The set is very busy and everything is moving around her unlike when she is at the office and everything is very spacious. The lighting is very soft on her face and his to emphasis the moment as ephemeral; something that she thought she would never experience. The city is low lit but their faces are seen clearly to emphasize the character development. Sometimes Alison is obscured by other people walking or something placed in front of the frame and we understand that she is placing herself there. Hiding from her real identity. People treat her differently because she is the boss and now she wants to hide her personality so she can find a man honestly. They are seen at the same level through the rest of the movie except this scene. She is smaller in frame and smaller compared to him when they stand next to each other. Which compared to how she looks later as she sits at her desk is a big contrast. The items outside compared to the items in her office are smaller and more realistic. This gives us a feeling of freedom from that whole different world; atmosphere. This movie has a lot of underset meaning which characterizes Allison. This is a new front for women protagonists.
Female was a film that I wanted to enjoy, and I did for the most part, until the very end. Michael Curtiz's portrayal of the strong and independent woman Alison is flawless until of course she throws the type away to be with a man (and a pig). This by no means however discounts the supremely "pre-code" style of this film, and its ability to question societal standards of 1930s America. By dealing with themes of sexuality, flipping gender roles, and including drugs and violence, 1933's "Female" is a great example of a director having fun with the medium and delivering a provocative and fun film to the masses. It is great to see such an early example of a film being genuinely enjoyable to masses, while still being groundbreaking; that is the power of watching these pre-code films.
ReplyDeleteThe scene I will be analyzing is when Alison meets Jim at the shooting game, more specifically the lead up and follow up to this encounter. During the film up to this point, Alison has been portrayed as powerful, strong, and dominant in the frame. This scene turns around this portrayal, and in fact is the start of her decline into Jim's trap. She arrives on town in very plain clothes, or that is, plain compared to what she has worn from the beginning of the film to now. Her outfit matches many around her as she strolls past the hamburger stand, but we see the true effect when shots of her and Jim are cut next to each other in succession. Their outfits are very similar, and the way they are shot is nearly identical. This is what I saw as an initial power shift from Alison to Jim. It is also important to note that leading up to their encounter, Alison is often lower in the frame than she is during scenes that take place in her office, very representative to the fact that though she's holds power over many within the workplace, peoples' opinions of her are skewed in the public based solely off of her gender. She feel strapped by these assumptions, and eventually they consume her and transform her from the powerful figure heading her own company to running away with Jim. She does not run away with Jim because she loves him, no. She runs away because she is lowing control and does not know how to stop it. So I guess that's why in the end I didn't enjoy the movie, because in the end our strong female lead is proved not as strong with her easy escape route from society pressures.
This film is noted as being one of the more risqué pre-code films, with its powerful representation of the main female character. It’s not a movie I’d go out of my way to watch in the future, but it was enjoyable. I thought the cinematography was very attractive, and the editing was top-notch. One of my favorite things about the movie was the unusual representation of women for the time, but the ending crushed that. When she hands over her business to the incompetent boob she marries it was a total shift in character that seemingly came out of nowhere.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite five minute scene is the one where she’s out on the town and sort of pursues the man. She goes to the little shooting gallery and surprises everyone by doing very well at it, then follows him to get a drink. This scene is a good example of representing women with power in the movie. We start off seeing her driving a car by herself, shooting a gun, and pursuing a man - all very strong, assertive actions, clearly characterizing her as a strong person. The composition is very balanced and aesthetically pleasing. The pacing created by the editing during the gun-shooting section is very rhythmic and captivating. We feel the bullets, see their reactions, feel the bullets again, see their reactions again, and then the bullets build up until she misses her shot, where the power shifts to the man.