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Representations of women in magazines in the 40’s and 50’s (see Friedan)
These representations seem extremely limiting, restrictive and laughably stereotypical to a modern audience relying heavily on the ideological implication that women should find contentment and self worth through being entirely and devotedly domesticated or through pleasing men. The titles of these magazine all connote the woman’s ideal role as mother or wife and carry further associations about gender (Home Chat/ Woman and Home/ My Home) These magazines also presented woman as the less dominant and more submissive gender serving to maintain the status quo in a rigidly patriarchal society. The covers feature women smiling into camera while holding cakes or diligently caring for husband and family serving to reinforce the aspirations they are encouraged to follow. The cover lines follow the same template featuring endless articles on cooking and caring for the home and family. The language is equally full of gender stereotyping, “Full of furnishing secrets and pretty ideas”. This cover line firstly making the domestic role explicit and secondly “pretty” suggesting that women are interested in decoration. The suggestion here is that women are superficial and appearance obsessed, not interested or suited in the more practical world of work, finance or politics, these being ‘masculine’ areas of interest in society. In making this suggestion, or reinforcing this stereotype it could be argued that female aspirations are subtly reduced meaning they are discouraged from posing any threat to males maintaining control of the economic, political and business sectors. In this sense they could be seen as reinforcing cultural hegemony. Other covers reinforce the representation of women being superficial and concerned with their appearance. One features the male irritably checking his watch while his wife continues polishing her nails while others show an endless parade of women working happily in kitchens who have somehow found time to apply layers of make up.
If women passively accepted these figures as role models the dangers are clear, with the dominant discourse suggesting that women should serve men and never ask for equality on any level. Critics of these magazines could attack them for featuring women as attractive trophies appreciated for their beauty or as domestic servants. It could also be argued, if we adapted Foucault’s theory that these rigid representations serve to create resistance and as such may be partly attributable to the 2nd wave feminist movement of following decades, thereby productively promoting change.
It may be argued that these magazines acted as a form of escapism (Diversion - Uses and Gratification Theory), a fantasy ideal lifestyle and as such are healthy, helping to relieve day to day pressures (the same argument used by ideologically questionable men’s magazines today) but since another use for the media of the Uses and Gratification Theory is to reinforce values the dangers are evident.
Angela McRobbie ( a feminist theorist) has argued that these magazines ‘define and shape the woman’s world’ a world we are likely to review as highly limited in any aspirational sense beyond that of submissive wife, mother and homemaker. There is certainly a strong Marxist influenced argument against the repressive and oppressive messages transmitted by these texts.
These representations seem extremely limiting, restrictive and laughably stereotypical to a modern audience relying heavily on the ideological implication that women should find contentment and self worth through being entirely and devotedly domesticated or through pleasing men. The titles of these magazine all connote the woman’s ideal role as mother or wife and carry further associations about gender (Home Chat/ Woman and Home/ My Home) These magazines also presented woman as the less dominant and more submissive gender serving to maintain the status quo in a rigidly patriarchal society. The covers feature women smiling into camera while holding cakes or diligently caring for husband and family serving to reinforce the aspirations they are encouraged to follow. The cover lines follow the same template featuring endless articles on cooking and caring for the home and family. The language is equally full of gender stereotyping, “Full of furnishing secrets and pretty ideas”. This cover line firstly making the domestic role explicit and secondly “pretty” suggesting that women are interested in decoration. The suggestion here is that women are superficial and appearance obsessed, not interested or suited in the more practical world of work, finance or politics, these being ‘masculine’ areas of interest in society. In making this suggestion, or reinforcing this stereotype it could be argued that female aspirations are subtly reduced meaning they are discouraged from posing any threat to males maintaining control of the economic, political and business sectors. In this sense they could be seen as reinforcing cultural hegemony. Other covers reinforce the representation of women being superficial and concerned with their appearance. One features the male irritably checking his watch while his wife continues polishing her nails while others show an endless parade of women working happily in kitchens who have somehow found time to apply layers of make up.
If women passively accepted these figures as role models the dangers are clear, with the dominant discourse suggesting that women should serve men and never ask for equality on any level. Critics of these magazines could attack them for featuring women as attractive trophies appreciated for their beauty or as domestic servants. It could also be argued, if we adapted Foucault’s theory that these rigid representations serve to create resistance and as such may be partly attributable to the 2nd wave feminist movement of following decades, thereby productively promoting change.
It may be argued that these magazines acted as a form of escapism (Diversion - Uses and Gratification Theory), a fantasy ideal lifestyle and as such are healthy, helping to relieve day to day pressures (the same argument used by ideologically questionable men’s magazines today) but since another use for the media of the Uses and Gratification Theory is to reinforce values the dangers are evident.
Angela McRobbie ( a feminist theorist) has argued that these magazines ‘define and shape the woman’s world’ a world we are likely to review as highly limited in any aspirational sense beyond that of submissive wife, mother and homemaker. There is certainly a strong Marxist influenced argument against the repressive and oppressive messages transmitted by these texts.
Representations of Women in 40s /50s/60s British Cinema
School for scoundrels (1959)
As a romantic comedy the genre allows for the subversion of gender stereotypes. Women’s roles in this genre are frequently strong and they are often the more active and dynamic agents within the narrative which is why so many female stars find their strongest roles in rom-coms. However, the film serves to reinforce a passive and heavily reductive representation of women.
April Smith initially bumps into Henry Paulfrey while going ‘to work’ and is irritated by his clumsiness which may suggest her character will subvert the domesticated and inoffensive/unchallenging figure featured in magazines of the period. This hope is soon dashed.
School for scoundrels (1959)
As a romantic comedy the genre allows for the subversion of gender stereotypes. Women’s roles in this genre are frequently strong and they are often the more active and dynamic agents within the narrative which is why so many female stars find their strongest roles in rom-coms. However, the film serves to reinforce a passive and heavily reductive representation of women.
April Smith initially bumps into Henry Paulfrey while going ‘to work’ and is irritated by his clumsiness which may suggest her character will subvert the domesticated and inoffensive/unchallenging figure featured in magazines of the period. This hope is soon dashed.
In the following dinner scene April transforms from a potentially independent, assertive career woman into a submissive trophy seeking a provider. The scene involves her being fought over (aggressive masculine connotations) by Paulfrey and his rival Delauney bragging about their sporting prowess and worldliness. Delauney orders for her and showers her with patronising compliments ‘lovely creature’ based solely on her appearance. April remains passive throughout, rarely allowed screentime or dialogue, being mostly evident in close ups gazing admiringly at the commanding and forceful (although in point of fact rather boorish and patronising) Delauney. After the men pay for the meal we see April again in admiring awestruck close up impressed by Delauney’s sportscar, further reinforcing roles for men and women in society. Suggesting that women are seeking wealthy providers and not partners, equals or indeed anything beyond submitting happily to the wealthiest alpha male in their social group.
In the final scene, April is seduced by Paulfrey. Here again, the film’s narrative reasserts men as active agents and women as submissive, naive, shallow and easily manipulated, aspiring towards lives of domesticated and marital ‘bliss.’ Paulfrey even goes so far as to have her ask him to be given the opportunity to mend his socks. In another telling moment, after telling her that she makes him feel , ‘paternal’ and instructing her to call him ‘Uncle Henry’, suggesting his patriarchal control, she is reduced to an anxious and insecure figure. We might expect a strong and confident woman to firstly refuse the domestic overtures and secondly to be emotionally secure enough to withstand the prospect of a man who is not interested in her sexually, as being down to chemistry rather than a personal failing . April’s reaction reasserts ideological difficulties the modern viewer may have with the film. It suggests that a woman that cannot make herself attractive to a man is of less worth, or in other words that women should seek male approval based on their appearance, hardly an empowering aspiration.
Bond / Goldfinger
These films offer a series of negative representations of women. Their names alone suggest their sexual objectification (Pussy Galore/ Plenty O’Toole) while their role as passive agents in the narrative serving Bond reinforce this. It is impossible to watch certain scenes, as in Goldfinger (1965) where Bond is being massaged by a scantily clad young woman, until his colleague arrives, at which point Bond pats her on the bottom and sends her off saying ‘mantalk’ to indicate her presence is no longer welcome. While these films clearly indicate the assertion of male dominance in a patriarchal society they also can be understood as the kind of texts which prompted Laura Mulvey's complaints about a lack of a female viewpoint and the objectification of women.
These films offer a series of negative representations of women. Their names alone suggest their sexual objectification (Pussy Galore/ Plenty O’Toole) while their role as passive agents in the narrative serving Bond reinforce this. It is impossible to watch certain scenes, as in Goldfinger (1965) where Bond is being massaged by a scantily clad young woman, until his colleague arrives, at which point Bond pats her on the bottom and sends her off saying ‘mantalk’ to indicate her presence is no longer welcome. While these films clearly indicate the assertion of male dominance in a patriarchal society they also can be understood as the kind of texts which prompted Laura Mulvey's complaints about a lack of a female viewpoint and the objectification of women.
ALTERNATIVE INTERPRETATIONS
To suggest that 40s/50s British cinema simply offered restrictive and negative representations of gender would be too simplistic, while these representations dominated, there were other films which challenged stereotypical gender assumptions to varying degrees. Women can be seen in more independent and empowered roles in other genre such as the melodrama and even the war film.
To suggest that 40s/50s British cinema simply offered restrictive and negative representations of gender would be too simplistic, while these representations dominated, there were other films which challenged stereotypical gender assumptions to varying degrees. Women can be seen in more independent and empowered roles in other genre such as the melodrama and even the war film.
Ice Cold in Alex
Ice Cold in Alex (1958)
Only a year before School for Scoundrels this war film may be seen as subversive in terms of its characters. No longer the stereotypically stiff upper lip, masculine world of war, in this film we see a strong female character (Sylvia Sim) play a leading role in the arduous journey of a small group of army personnel cross the desert and alongside the countertypical female role there is even a sympathetic Nazi and a commanding office cracking under the strain.
Only a year before School for Scoundrels this war film may be seen as subversive in terms of its characters. No longer the stereotypically stiff upper lip, masculine world of war, in this film we see a strong female character (Sylvia Sim) play a leading role in the arduous journey of a small group of army personnel cross the desert and alongside the countertypical female role there is even a sympathetic Nazi and a commanding office cracking under the strain.
The Wicked Lady
This was an extremely popular melodrama of 1945.
Lady Barbara Skelton is frustrated by the stifling conventions of seventeenth-century England and asserts her independence through stealing her best friend's husband, turning to gambling and becoming a highwaywoman
Lady Barbara Skelton is clearly offering a far less submissive and more controversial behaviour model as she steals her best friend's fiancé, marries him, and, after belatedly discovering married life to be somewhat dull, she turns to gambling, highway robbery, murder and every social transgression possible ; a world away from the non-threatening trophy, April Smith.
Totally rejecting any conventional image of "femininity", she spends much of the film challenging stereotypes head-on, bettering male counterparts throughout.
This character may well have had mass appeal for female audiences for precisely these reasons, being liberated from the limiting expectations frequently imposed on women in popular media. However, it is crucial to understand that ultimately she is condemned both literally and ideologically, exposed as villainous, possibly sending the subtextual message that assertive and powerful women who refuse limiting domestic roles are somehow unnatural and immoral and within the narrative as she dies miserable and alone. Fiske’s ‘overspill’ of meanings seems useful in considering this ‘polysemic’ text as does Hall’s audience reception theory involving the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings possible of particular texts.
Lady Barbara Skelton is frustrated by the stifling conventions of seventeenth-century England and asserts her independence through stealing her best friend's husband, turning to gambling and becoming a highwaywoman
Lady Barbara Skelton is clearly offering a far less submissive and more controversial behaviour model as she steals her best friend's fiancé, marries him, and, after belatedly discovering married life to be somewhat dull, she turns to gambling, highway robbery, murder and every social transgression possible ; a world away from the non-threatening trophy, April Smith.
Totally rejecting any conventional image of "femininity", she spends much of the film challenging stereotypes head-on, bettering male counterparts throughout.
This character may well have had mass appeal for female audiences for precisely these reasons, being liberated from the limiting expectations frequently imposed on women in popular media. However, it is crucial to understand that ultimately she is condemned both literally and ideologically, exposed as villainous, possibly sending the subtextual message that assertive and powerful women who refuse limiting domestic roles are somehow unnatural and immoral and within the narrative as she dies miserable and alone. Fiske’s ‘overspill’ of meanings seems useful in considering this ‘polysemic’ text as does Hall’s audience reception theory involving the preferred, negotiated and oppositional readings possible of particular texts.