Desperately Seeking Equality

Paper by Alanna Sommers. Viewed on DVD.

Freedom is a relative term. America is known as the Land of the Free, but for women is hasn’t always been like that. Women have faced oppression and unequal rights in America since the beginning of time. However, in the 1980s women began to take a stand and fight for their freedom through a movement called feminism. The film industry tends to reflect the acts and beliefs of society, so when feminism rose, it became a driving force that fueled several films of the time. Desperately Seeking Susan shows this shift from the typical housewife to a women with freedom that she never had before. This film, along with films from the past, such as Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and films from more recent times, such as Enough, use the power of the film industry to prove that gender politics, especially of women, are always ingrained in films. These films also show that the role and attitude of women in films change to reflect the view of society of the times.

The traditional role of a women goes as follows. She must cook for her family, watch after the house by cleaning it, and care for the children in any way they need. In the early 1900s in America, women did not have the freedom to choose what they did from day to day. Rather, they had routine was practically set for them that was developed from their traditional role as a women. They would go about their daily duties while their husband had the freedom to roam about the world and do as he pleased. For decades this traditional role was always passed down by years and years of practice. When a young girl was old enough to help out around the house, her mother would begin to teach her they daily household chores, slowly passing on the role of a women. The daughter would then continue to engage in these roles with her mother and actively assist her in tending to her younger siblings and father. This continued until she was old enough to wed and leave the house, passing under the authority of one man, her father, to another, her new husband. Her duty didn’t end once with her new but rather increased. She no longer had her mother helping her and had to handle her womanly roles all on her own.

Throughout history, the common practice for women to stay home and be the care giver continued. Wheather they were caring for the house, children, or their husband, their job is to do just that and only that. Wives were seen, in the media as well as in life, as having this typical gender role of staying home and caring for it along with the family, known as being a housewife. Eventually women did break out of the constraints of being a housewife and entered the workforce, but not with the same rights as men. By the mid 1980s women did hold about 33% of all doctoral degrees, however engineering, a “mans” job, was only occupied 7.5% women. Most women who were employed stuck to the common fields for women of the past including nursing, education, home economics, and social service as they were seldom hired for decision making jobs. In fact, even in 1988 women were paid around 32% less than men were paid. Thats a $68,000 paycheck compared to a $100,000 one (Diane).

Women seemed to have the same problem while working in the film industry. Their involvement behind the camera was very limited before the 1970s as they were not offered the same directing opportunities that men were. They usually took on the typical womanly jobs like make-up and costumes, and the directing and producing was left to men. However, beginning in the 1970s and 1980s things began to change. Women began to be able to have more of an opportunity to gain access to the more influential parts of filmmaking with the rise of independent cinema. Independent cinema gave women a chance to direct and produce movies without having to compete with a man for the spot of a big name production. It also provided women with better access to the equipment they needed to create a successful film. The rise of the independent film gave women an in to the film industry. Before this, it was almost impossible for a women to become a director in a big production company. The only way this would really happen was when an actress or as an assistant worked her way up the ranks. However it was now possible for women to direct in independent films and then be hired to bigger production company based on their work. This was the beginning of women being accepted as successful directors that continued into the 1990s and even to today (Williams, 299-302).

Women throughout history were not quick to gain rights. For example, they did not gain the right to vote through the 15th amendment until 1920, fifty years after African American males got the right to vote and seventy years after most all Caucasian males gained their right(Rowen). That is more then five decades where all men could vote and women could not, merely based off of their gender. Voting is not the only right that women failed to gain equality with as there has been a constant stream with catching up with the rights of men. Women have been fighting for their rights for as long as history goes back, however it is not until quite recently, in the grand scheme of things, that women got their voice. This voice is called feminism. Defined by Merriam-Webster dictionary, “feminism is the belief that men and women should have equal rights and opportunities”. Before this time, women had been oppressed and not treated equally to men. However through the work of feminists, there was a widespread change is the social attitudes that made rights, that were almost always available to men, possible for women. Some of these rights included the right to terminate unhappy marriages, the right to bring criminal charges against violent husbands, the right to borrow money without having to get a male relative to co-sign, the right to attend colleges and graduate schools on the same basis as men, and the right to practice “male” professions. Before this transformation brought on by the feminist movement, women lacked basic rights just because of their gender (Newman).

The feminist movement did not come easily, as groups like the Concerned Women for America fought to “re-align feminist messages with its own values [such as the] sanctity of life, [and a] women’s primary roles as wives and mothers,” (Newman). Groups like this opposed affirmative action programs that trained men and women together arguing that it was a waste of taxpayers’ money. However, the feminist movement fought back stating that women should hold the same rights as men, regardless of what people believe their primary roles should be. They believed that it was not right to be placed below men on the social latter and receive less funding for the things that they should be striving to accomplish. They fought for women’s health, social welfare, protection from rape, and full and equal employment among other things. They began to create commercial spaces like bars, coffeehouses, ball fields and bookstores where women could gather and socialize showing a movement from a wife always going out with her husband, to women gathering together on their own (Newman). Feminism fueled a mass movement of women who were no longer settling for being subservient to men and began to take on their own lives more than ever.

The portrayal of women in film often correlates closely to how women are viewed in society at the time the film is made. Three films of different time periods can be used to exemplify this, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Desperately Seeking Susan, and Enough. Breakfast at Tiffany’s, released in 1961, is a good example of the portrayal of women before the rise of feminism. Holly Golightly is a young women living in a Manhattan apartment in New York City. She obsesses over getting dressed up and gazing in the window of Tiffany’s, longing to own a piece of the dazzling jewelry. She has no job, but rather relies on men to provide her with her finances. She goes on dates with wealthily men who offer her fifty dollars for the powder room tip which she pockets and keeps for herself. She also gets payed $100 by ex-mobster Sally Tomato to go visit him in prison. In doing this, she is completely reliant on men for her own survival and never does anything herself for her own betterment. She also craves materiel things rather than longing for personal goals like a career or family. This shallow representation of a women goes along with the view of women before the 1980s. Before the rise of feminism, women were often practically thought of as lesser beings, reliant on men to thrive in life. If this movie was released after the 1980s I believe the ending would have been very different. However, since this film is a far cry from feminism, it ends with Holly falling in love with her neighbor and running to him, emphasizing society’s view that a women needs a man for survival. There is not one point in Breakfast at Tiffany’s where Holly is successful without a man helping her, nor does she try to be so. This film is a good example of the oppression of women and the pre-feminism society belief that they are incapable of thriving on their own (Breakfast at Tiffany’s).

The film Desperately Seeking Susan is a much different story. Released in 1985, this film was introduced after the rise of feminism and it shows. Both Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Desperately Seeking Susan are based in New York, but the portrayal of the women in each of these films could not be more different. Desperately Seeking Susan was written, directed, produced and addressed by females (Williams). This film revolves around a suburban housewife, Roberta, who fantasizes of living the life of a single woman. Specifically, she fantasizes about living the life of the independent woman Susan. Roberta is relatable to women characters of earlier times, a typical housewife who fits in with the American system. Her longing to be like the rebel Susan shows her desire to break out of the norms of being a housewife and pursue her own life. At the time this film was released, feminism was booming. Roberta exemplifies the housewife that is tired of her gender roles and wants to pursue all that the feminism movement has offered. In a twist of events, Roberta is struck with amnesia and convinces herself that she is the eccentric Susan, leading her on the wild ride that she’s always dreamed of. The plot of the story shows just how relieved she was to escape her life as a housewife, as she finds joy in the freedom being Susan has to offer even though there are people searching for her to murder her (Desperately Seeking Susan). Desperately Seeking Susan is a prime example of a feminist movie. Through her journey, Roberta realizes that she is so much more than just a housewife, an important message at the time of the release of the movie. For decades, the role of the housewife was drilled into women’s heads as being the right option for their life. However the feminist movement, exemplified through this film, showed women that the world has so much more to offer than just to follow the gender roles that were set for them.

Lastly, the film Enough was released in 2002, longer after the rise of feminism. Enough is all about the empowerment of women, telling of a women who uses her own power to take control of her own life. In Enough, Jennifer Lopez plays the character of a women named Slim who married the charming Mitch. They live in a big house, have beautiful child Gracie, and receive everything that they could ever want. Slim is happy living a wealthy life with the support of her husband. However, one day her perfect marriage goes bad when Mitch is caught cheating. Instead of apologizing and begging for forgiveness, Mitch beats Slim and claims that he is a man that always gets what he wants, changing into an evil and violent man. Slim decides to run away, learning how to fight and stand up for herself against Mitch who is constantly stalking and trying to harm her and her daughter. In the end, in the whirlwind of a dramatic fight, Slim kills Mitch trying to protect herself and her daughter (Enough). This movie is far from the helpless woman in the story Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Slim is a women full with self worth and drive to control her own life. This film show the strong empowerment of women after the feminism movement. The release of this film shows society’s acceptance of women supporting and standing up for herself. This attitude is way different from the attitude of society before feminism. This plot line would have never happened before the feminism movement. Slim would have simply stayed with her husband and obeyed his wishes as it would be shocking and disgusting to run away from her him. However, with feminism being part of society for a couple of decades now, the modern world sees this plot and this strong independent women as something that is acceptable and even applauded.

The film industry has a strong grip on what is happening in society. It incorporates the attitudes and believes of society into its films, which allows us to see the transition of society while enjoying some of our favorite films. From the oppression of women in Breakfast at Tiffany’s to the rise of feminism in Desperately Seeking Susan, and the empowerment of women in Enough, the film industry shows that gender politics, specifically feminism, is a driving force that has created some of the first films and will continue to influence the films of the future.

Works Cited
Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Dir. Blake Edwards. Perf. Audrey Hepburn. Jurow-Shepherd, 1961.
Desperately Seeking Susan. Dir. Susan Seidelman. Perf. Rosanna Arquette. Orion Pictures, 1985.
Diane, Deborah. “American History of Women in the 1980s.” InfoBarrel. Hinze Media Inc., 11 May 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Enough. Dir. Michel Apted. Perf. Jennifer Lopez. Columbia Pictures, 2002.
Rowen, Beth. “US Voting Rights.” Infoplease. N.p., n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Newman, Louise. “Talking About a Revolution: New Approaches to Writing the History of Second-Wave Feminism.” Journal of Women’s History23.2 (2011): 219-228. Project MUSE. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.
Williams, Linda Ruth., and Michael Hammond. “Women in Recent US Cinema.” Contemporary American Cinema. London: Open UP, 2006. 299-306. Print.

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Published:
06.01.15 / 5pm
Category:
Academic Papers, DVD, Films