Foxy Brown Essay

The Foxy Feminist

During the thick of the second wave feminism movement many films did not have an accurate depiction of what life was like for a woman America. With a feminist centered narrative, Jack Hill’s Foxy Brown (1974), is more of a melodrama than Blaxploitation. Reversed gender role and characterization of women, and a female empowered plot and story that challenged the status-quo role of women. An ambiguous genre to define in film with many variations of characteristics that define it Jane Gaines says, “[melodramas] translate ideological dilemmas into private predicaments” (10), as the story of Foxy Brown is centered around a woman avenging the death of her murdered boyfriend in United States 1970’s.
An example of a reversed gender role in the movie is signified by the occupation of Katherine Wall, Foxy’s white counterpart. Her character is the founder of an escort service masked as a modeling agency where Foxy goes undercover as a prostitute. Katherine
She was sent to ‘the ranch where two men drugged her with heroine, as they raped her. When she retaliated against them, she was tied up and drugged again. Forced submission of her body, not by choice, as they had to drug and tie her up. The drug possibly represented the notions and ideologies of anti-feminism, supporting the inferiority and control of women. During the feminist movement there was a lot of opposition to the movement particularly from men who felt that women should have no rights and are put here to cook, clean, reproduce and nurture. The ropes, signified the history, oppression women have experienced since the beginning of time, as roping was one of the oldest methods of restraint. Using her mouth as she cuts herself out of the rope signified the voice of the movement and finally liberation. As a side note, another interesting point is the choice of heroine as the drug and Foxy Brown being the heroine at the end of the