Women in Film

Christy Nailling
Cinema 123
Professor Peterson
29 May 2013
Women in American Cinema

Women have made an incredible impact on American Cinema with their talents and roles making worldwide history. Women have been central to the film industry since its inception in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Female stardom was an essential component of the rise of the industry, though many of these women were celebrated more for their appearances than for their acting ability. While the popularity of certain female stars offered them legendary status, the kinds of roles they were asked to play often reinforced traditional gender roles. Women actually played a powerful role in shaping the early film industry. As both consumers of film and professionals in the field, both in front of and behind the camera, women dramatically affected the development of American film. Just as women helped shape early Hollywood from behind the scenes, actresses played a crucial role in the development of early film and the Hollywood star and studio systems. More popular than their male counterparts, early female stars helped make Hollywood a booming commercial venture thanks to their intense popularity with audiences. Female actresses parlayed this popularity into greater control of their acting roles, as well as what happened behind the scenes. As a result, early Hollywood had a dynamic where actresses had room to explore the many different ways women might be depicted on film. Throughout this semester, each film watched portrayed women in different ways; many roles were common within each ethnicity. The films, Hollywood Chinese, Crash, Better Luck Tomorrow, Saving Face, Blacks in Cinema, The Help, Do the Right Thing, Into the Heat of the Night, Jungle Fever, The Bronze Screen, Stand and Deliever, El Norte, The Headless Woman, and Mi Familia, all contributed to women’s success as actresses in American Cinema. To begin with, Asian American women have had a major contribution to their cultural film success. From the exaggerated depictions of exotic, sex-hungry Asian women to the gangster-involved, sexually abusive characteristics of Asian men, movie producers perpetuate the gender, race and class inequalities of Asian Americans by allowing these demonizing Asian characteristics to appear over and over. Asian women in film are usually the weak, passive roles and allow themselves to be sexually and emotionally abused by men. Hollywood Chinese gives this overview of Asian American women in film and their leading roles like such. Crash was the one film watched that contributed to many races, with actors of all different races throughout the film. However, in contrast to the momentous stories of the white, black, Latino and Middle Eastern characters, the Asian characters remain hidden in the shadows. Crash actually “conceals” the Asian character by grossly stunting character growth and, ultimately, aids in perpetuating Asian stereotypes. The initial encounter the audience makes with an Asian-American character occurs in the first scene, when this Asian woman collides into a White American couple while driving. Immediately, racial slurs begin spewing as both women hiss insults at each other, and they really emphasize the heavy Asian accent in comparison. The scene starts with this Asian woman playing an engaging character; however, it essentially limits her role into the stereotyped “bad Asian driver” with poor English language. On the contrary, Better Luck Tomorrow briefly touches on the Asian American film role-playing because much of the film was based around Asian men. It could be a sign of the Asian female empowerment and lack of importance to their acting abilities. Lastly, the film Saving Face centered on Asian American women and their thriving talents as actors and successors. The film is about a young Chinese-American surgeon named Wil, discovering who she is as a woman. It is a harshly realistic view of violence against women in South Asia within family dynamics and traditions. This film shows Chinese-American women practicing a very strict and behavioral culture. They seem to focus more on living up to the standards of their elders and/or leaders rather than live a life for themselves. Thus Asian American women may tend to lack self-confidence or have a low self-esteem because they may feel in a constant battle with discovering self-identity. These stereotypes of Asian women in the American media have been socially constructed by the powerful institution we call Hollywood. Hollywood movies have long been promoting white dominance in its films. Although findings overwhelmingly display Asian Americans as negative characters in movies, it must be emphasized that these findings were a result of viewing popular movies over the last two decades. In the early days of film, African Americans were usually barred from performing in films. Among the stereotypes of black women that were brought to the screen was that of the mammy—an overweight, asexual, dowdy and dark black woman who often appeared as a mother figure or nanny, and the mulatto, an oversexed woman in anguish because of her mixed-raced status who spitefully works to undermine whites around her in order to gain power. The documentary film, Blacks in Cinema, showed the common challenges and reoccurring setbacks within African American women in American Cinema. It showed that during the 1930s, African Americans increasingly found roles playing servants. The stereotype of the mammy became increasingly popular during this time. The second film watched, The Help, was a personal favorite that played a wonderful factor in showing the importance of women. In this movie, black women are oppressed and fight back in a passive-aggressive way. The role of the Black women is somewhat offensive because despite her wisdom and, often, supernatural power, the black character is subordinate to weakened whites. They are there only to help whites. However, that was the way of life during that era in history and the importance of this film is to show how African American women do not settle as they will fight for what they believe in to have their voices heard. It is a powerful movie that sways its audience into believing African American women deserved much more than what they were given in that historical time period. The next movie, Do the Right Thing, is a tragedy film of racism; the women worn out and embittered with powerless men. Women play a role in shaping the racial dynamics of one another and contribute to their race uniting as one in such a separated period. African American women in this film use entertainment and media to convey their importance. The film, Into the Heat of the Night, focuses on African American men and their racial conflict. Women in this film are not necessarily leading roles and have little impact. Next, Jungle Fever is a film that centers on a relationship between an African American man and a White woman. It is a reality-based film about the racial, gender, class, and social tensions in Urban America. Jungle Fever reveals the underlying common belief that America used to full of stereotypes where no racial group, can or ever will, be able to accept interracial relationships in a rational, peaceful way. The leading actress in this film does an incredible job of explaining that love should not be based on race and skin color but the inevitable connection between two people. Constant racial and ethnic conflict and the prevalence of negative stereotypes should actually be expected in film being that Hollywood is the product, not the cause, of racist American society. Mexican American actresses experienced more complexities when attempting to cross racial boundaries than did other minority actresses in early Hollywood. It was shown to be somewhat easier it was for Mexican American actresses to cross-racial boundaries on screen than it was for Asian Americans and African Americans. The Bronze Screen is a documentary film that acknowledges Latinos in American Cinema. Latin American women often had little value to film and it was common for many women to play similar roles while wearing similar cultural dressings. The film explained Latin actresses to often play the role of a “Jive” which it the name for a bad woman. Stereotypes and a poor image of the Mexican culture were reinforced through the film images viewed by the American Public. In the next film, Stand and Deliver, Latin American stereotypes were the main focus in this movie. Both men and women played important acting roles to really exemplify Latin American hardships of stereotypes. It is an amazingly successful Latino American film that proves that both Latino men and women are fully capable of success and should have great pride in their hardworking abilities. El Norte is another Latino film that shows the hardships of immigration and what is it like to really want success and happiness. The woman in the film shows the caring and driven personality, like many women today. The Headless Woman was a personal film choice to watch. In many ways, this is a unique and subtle horror film, about a woman who has become a kind of ghostly presence in her own home, whose descent into madness is no more frightening than the inevitable reemergence of a "sanity" that remains largely blind to the tragedy and destitution of the many around her who serve the whims of the wealthy. It conveys women’s value of dignity and charisma in such distinct ways. Lastly, Mi Familia, is an exampled film of Latin American women and their everlasting love and care for friends and family. The women in this film played roles that showed their strengths and passions for family. Latin women are driven and will not let anything hold them back from their goals. In the article, “Women in Film History”, women are contributed to the success of American film history. It dates back to the silent films of the early 1900s up to the current films of today to acknowledge prized actresses. By the early 1930s, American culture and the film industry were inextricably linked. “Women would continue to be at the center of this story; new stars, like Katharine Hepburn, would emerge to once again change the feminine ideal, and women of color would continue to overcome racial stereotypes and the limited roles available to them. Just like today, the film industry during the first part of the 20th century was responsible for reinforcing patriarchal norms; with men occupying most of the positions as directors and producers, female actresses were often cast in roles and publicized in ways that led them to become the objects of the male gaze.” In conclusion, women in film could easily rule American cinema today. It was not an easy battle to gain fame and acknowledge but women’s strong drive and talents pushed them along. Prior to success, actresses in the racial minority faced difficulty finding dynamic or even leading roles. Minority women persevered, however, and managed to gain fame and notoriety as talented actresses even within the limitations of Hollywood’s racism. Progress is gradual, and while Hollywood still faces many injustices—leading men are still paid more than leading women, actresses continue to be judged and revered on the basis of their looks, and there are still more men than women behind the camera—women have been and continue to be involved in all aspects of the American film industry.

Bibliography

Hollywood Chinese. Arthur Doug. San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, 2007. Documentary film.

Crash. Paul Haggis. Lionsgate, 2004. American drama film.

Better Luck Tomorrow. Justin Lin. Paramount, 2003. Crime-drama film.
Saving Face. Alice Wu. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2004. American film. Cheng, Joy. "Asian American Males in Media". Sitemaker.umich.edu. Psychology
Perspectives on Chinese Language and Thought. Web. June 2008.

Whitney. "That 's Not WhoIAm: Calling Out and Challenging Stereotypes of Asian Americans". Autostraddle.com. Web. January 2013.

"Asian-American Actors Tum to Chinese Film Market". Chinesefilms.cn. Live Journal, Inc. Web. April 1999.

Blacks in Cinema. Douglass Sirk. The National Film and Distributing Foundation.

2003. Documentary film.

Do the Right Thing. Spike Lee. 40 Acres & a Mule Filmworks. 1989. Film.

Into the Heat of the Night. Fernando Meirelles. Mirisch Corporation. 1967. Flim.

Jungle Fever. Spike Lee. Universal Productions. 1991. Film.

The Help. Tate Taylors. DreamWorks Studios. 2011. Film.

Bogle, Donald. "Black Stereotypes in American Film". "From the Birth of a Nation to Blaxploitation: Film History of the Brutal Black Buck". Live, Journal, Inc. Web. April 1999.
El Norte. Bertha Navarro, Trevor Black, Anna Thomas. American Family
Productions. 1983. Film.

Mi Familia. Gregory Nava. American Playhouse. 1995. Film.

Stand and Deliver. Ramón Menéndez. Warners Bros. Entertainment. 1988.
Film.

The Bronze Screen. Nancy De Los Santos. Distributed by Questar, Inc., [2002-
10-09]. Documentary film.

The Headless Woman. Lucrecia Martel. American Family Productions.
2008. Film.

Bibliography: Hollywood Chinese. Arthur Doug. San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, 2007. Documentary film. Crash. Paul Haggis. Lionsgate, 2004. American drama film. Better Luck Tomorrow. Justin Lin. Paramount, 2003. Crime-drama film. Saving Face. Alice Wu. Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, 2004. American film. Cheng, Joy. "Asian American Males in Media". Sitemaker.umich.edu. Psychology Perspectives on Chinese Language and Thought Do the Right Thing. Spike Lee. 40 Acres & a Mule Filmworks. 1989. Film. Into the Heat of the Night. Fernando Meirelles. Mirisch Corporation. 1967. Flim. Jungle Fever. Spike Lee. Universal Productions. 1991. Film. The Help. Tate Taylors. DreamWorks Studios. 2011. Film. Mi Familia. Gregory Nava. American Playhouse. 1995. Film. Stand and Deliver The Headless Woman. Lucrecia Martel. American Family Productions. 2008