Monday, February 10, 2020
Is Eve a Feminist -- Or Adam's Rib?
The film The Lady Eve has a powerful female protagonist who dominates the action to get what she wants. She is a successful professional who is good at her job. She is sharp as a knife, tough as nails, and does not suffer fools gladly. Some might argue these all point to a feminist viewpoint in the film. Yet, at the same time, Jean/Eve's career is as a grifter whose "professional" skill is to get men to fall in love with her. She also lets her emotional life get entangled with (and undermine) her professional ambitions (she succeeds, after all, by marrying). And the film plays with sexist stereotypes about "loose" women with "loose" morals. Is this film feminist -- or at least sympathetic to feminist ideals -- or is it yet another example of sexist cinema? Or something in between?
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In the film The Lady Eve, the female protagonist Jean/Eve is yet another female character that reflects sexist stereotypes through symbolism in the character, and her actions. To start, in the introduction of the movie where there is an animation of credits with a cartoon snake, it is made clear that the characters in this movie represent the biblical characters Adam, Eve, and the devil/snake. So, in the setting of the film, we see Eve, becoming tempted and attached to the man with snakes (or representing temptation). Her attraction to temptation represented by the man with snakes shows promotes "loose" woman stereotypes. Additionally, we see that in the beginning of the film Jean as well as all the other women who fawn over the male protagonist seem to be the classic female movie character. For example, when Jean/Eve she sees a snake, she immediately must take protection from a man giving dominance and power to the male character. However, as the film progresses, Jean/Eve becomes more dominant. Yet this increase in dominance allows her to take on a role of manipulation. From that point on in the movie, her actions reflect a woman's "loose" moral stereotype to caution the audience that if a woman gains power, she will use it to manipulate and for evil. For example, after the male protagonist find out that Jean had originally engaged with him only to con him, their engagement is broken off. After this happens, Jean immediately wants to seek revenge, and when the opportunity arises, she pretends to be someone else, manipulate him to fall in love with her again, just to end it in heart break and anger. And throughout the entire film, the Adam character is ditzy, but always innocent and does no wrong. This makes Jean's actions toward him feel undeserved and villainizes her. In summary, through symbolic reinforcement and the actions of the character Jean/Eve, her character portrays yet another sexist female role in the film The Lady Eve.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve is not a feminist film because although it draws attention to sexist values that are commonplace in the 1940s, it does not work to delegitimize those values. Contrary to typical gender roles, Jean is not subordinate to Charles; she instead often has the upper hand in their relationship and interactions. However, she often plays the role of the stereotypical woman and uses double standards in order to get what she wants. For example, when the two go to Charles’ room on the ship, Jean reacts dramatically to Charles’ realization that his snake has gotten out of its cage. This is a stereotypical reaction for a woman to have: fearful and in need of a man to save her. Jean then runs back to her room as Charles follows her; he ends up calming her as they sit cheek-to-cheek in her room. This causes Charles to fall deeper in love with Jean, making him an easy target for her and her father’s card tricks. Later on in the movie, Jean uses similar tactics to take revenge on Charles. After Charles believes he has married a high-class woman by the name of Eve, when in reality it is Jean, Jean decides to confess to Charles that she has slept with a large number of men. Charles greatly disapproves of his wife’s promiscuous past, and as a result, they break up. With sexist ideology in mind, Jean is able to take revenge on Charles by causing him emotional distress. Through these highlighted examples, The Lady Eve exposes stereotypical perceptions of women, but it does not make an effort to rebuke them. Therefore, it is not a feminist film.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the film, The Lady Eve, is not a feminist film. Although it does portray The Lady Eve/Jean as a smart, calculating, and central character especially in comparison to the dim witted and aloof Charles, she is shown to be using her intelligence for the wrong reasons. The character Jean uses her set of skills and intelligence to dupe men who are of a higher social standing to her, make them fall in love with her, and steal from them. While some may argue that her ability to exert her superiority in mind over men makes the film and character feminist, I believe that the exact opposite is true. Jean, although she could be seen as the films protagonist, is shown to be a bad person. She is dishonest, she cheats, and she steals with little compassion to her unwitting victims. I believe that the director/producer/studio made the conscientious choice to exemplify that any women who is more intelligent than a man is only up to no good. While a man would use his mind and resources to provide for himself, his family, and his love interest, while an intelligent woman will lie, cheat, and steal with only herself in mind. Additionally, the films creators attached to the character Jean/The Lady Eve the sort of “loose” morals that would be seen as undesirable at the time of this film’s release. The Lady Eve is far from a feminist film as it portrays intelligent women as antagonists with little to no morals.
ReplyDeleteJean from the film The Lady Eve falls into a strange grey area when it comes to being a feminist icon. She dominates the entire movie as the lead, having a clear motive of wanting to get money that changes to wanting love with her character development as the story goes on. She’s the smart and witty one who makes fast paced quips that fly over the head of other characters. She’s slick and is able to scam her own father in an attempt to save Charles’ cash in one of the most dynamic scenes as the camera cuts between showing Charles’ cards to her father’s cards to her fixing the game as she deals. She’s an active force in the story, driving the plot to get what she wants rather than sitting on the sidelines and watching or simply reacting to the events happening. She does this all while still keeping a femmine flair to her style. Considering how even modern movies fall into only having women as love interests to be eye candy and saved by the hero or having them be much more reactionary protagonists rather than proactive, Jean is already pushing ahead of her time. However, what challenges her role as a complete queen is how she is a con artist who seduces men to fall in love with her, putting her in the role of a temptress. Her mixing of what her heart wants, being Charles, and what her head wants, being his cash, also causes the entire conflict of the first and second act. While she does get what she wants, her changing motivation can make it unclear of what she wants at any given moment. Some actions seem unclear a bit more like a male writing trying to put himself in the mindset of the “unpredictable and emotional female” rather than writing a character with a clear motive. If the movie was longer, I feel that some of these issues could have been better addressed, especially the unclear changes in motivation. Until the inevitable Disney or musical remake, we will forever be left with a character who is so close to being perfect that just misses the mark.
ReplyDeleteThe film, The Lady Eve, depicts of the journey of a female con artist, Jean as she falls in love with and manipulates a rich snake enthusiast from Connecticut. I believe this film in its portrayal of the lead woman, lends itself to feminist themes as much as it could at the time and certainly portrays itself as a feminist film. Throughout the whole movie, Jean is in complete control of Pike's heart as she toys with him and assumes different identities just to display control in the relationship, showing the film's clear attempts at a feminist message. There are a few scenes in particular that show her cunning and independence befitting a strong-willed female. The first is when everyone is fawning over Pike but failing to capture his attention and Jean devises a perfectly clever chance encounter through which she eventually wins his heart. This demonstrates her clear ability to plan and exhibit her intellect and shows that the movie is attempting to get across that Jean is intelligent and in control. Another scene that shows her craftiness and at the same time demeans Pike is the scene when she first transforms into the Lady Eve for him. The audience is able to see her evident charisma and smarts for pulling such an elaborate ruse off, but it also shows Pike as completely ignorant and unintelligent. The way Pike literally trips over a sofa and drapes because he is so entranced with Jean/Eve, demonstrates a spin on classic tales of romance and shows the woman with full control of the situation over the helpless man, a clear piece of evidence suggesting that this film has a feminist message. Yet another scene that demonstrates her control over Pike, a man, is the train scene when she recounts all of the fake boyfriends she has had. The amusement on her face as she feigns apologetic behavior demonstrates the ease of control that she has in this relationship and how ultimately she holds all the power in this relationship. Not only does this scene demonstrate her control over Pike but it also shows the utter disgust Pike has when learning of all these relations. The way Pike becomes so indignant and upset is clearly making fun of the double standard between men and women at the time, saying that men can have as many relationships as they want but when women do it, it is unbecoming. The director's view of Pike's disgust is shown when he has Pike flop out of the train into the mud, representing how Pike falls flat on his opinions of this matter, demonstrating a clear feminist view. While some may argue that aspects of the film contribute to the views at the time and not to feminism, I believe these thoughts to be misguided. One example that people bring up to contradict the feminist themes of this movie is the scene where all the women are fawning over Pike and trying to get his attention, depicting women in a poor light. However, it seems to me that the extreme measures these women are going to in order to impress Pike, like dropping objects to get his attention, are only intended to show the obliviousness of the Pike in this situation and accentuate the idea that Jean, our female protagonist, is clever and intelligent. Another example people seem to bring up against the feminist perspective in this movie is that Jean changes her mind and goes back to Pike in the end and that this would demonstrate the director believing that women are indecisive, detracting from the feminist message. I disagree, however, and I would say that the way she wins him back again is the same as before, tripping him on the boat. This callback to when she first won him over demonstrates not only her power over him still in this relationship but also a control over her desires, showing this is really what she wants, still demonstrating the a feminist take in this film. Overall, the way in which this female protagonist takes control of the whole movie and shows herself to be the smartest one in the room at every moment proves the movie progressive and feminist.
ReplyDeleteI believe that The Lady Eve cannot be classified as a feminist film. Rather the opposite - the morally-wrong but nonetheless quick-witted character of Jane is the director's derogatory interpretation of a "poster-boy" for all intelligent women. Some may classify Jane's use of her cunning, personality, and sexual appeal as a use of "first-wave feminism", but I disagree. Feminism is the belief that men and women should be equal, and I do not see how Jane manipulating men to fall in love with them so that she can steal falls into this definition. She does eventually fail, as the tables turn and she goes against her own will - herself falling in love with a man. I do not think that this director's movie does not fall under feminism, as it should not involve trickery and manipulation in order to have equality. For example, Jane has Pike in the palm of her hand the whole movie, essentially being able to control him. There is a possibility that the director chose to depict Jane like this so that women would stray away from being "intelligent" - perhaps trying to stray away from the idea of feminism. These "intelligent women" would be considered unappealing because of their superficial charm, and would therefore be ignored.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the director's attempt to label intelligent women as frauds who cheat those to get what they want, I cannot consider The Lady Eve a feminist film, but rather a film that disguises those with a lust for power under a pretty ribbon.
I don't think this film can be labeled as a feminist film or a sexist one. I believe there is a mix of both in there. While it does portray some great feminist ideals with Eve being in the dominant role and showing her intelligence, it also only represents her power in the form of seduction. I think in order for this to be perceived as a feminist film she would need to be shown as a woman in power without the need to seduce men. And so, I do believe it is at least sympathetic to feminist ideals because it is a big difference from a lot of the films during those times where the woman was in a submissive position and was portrayed as weak and emotional. Also, while many people believe that feminism is the idea of woman being better than men it is really about equality. A true feminist version of this film would have to include a plot where neither person is taking advantage of the other or using seduction in any way to scam the other. This film is a step in the right direction for that time but it is still far from a feminist film. Also, I think it isn't necessary to always have a love story in these kind of films. I think it would have been better and shown more of a feminist side if there was no love involved and just showed Eve as an intelligent and independent woman.
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ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve is a film about a woman who cons a rich man and eventually falls in love with him. There are many reasons why I believe this is not a feminist film, but to understand why you have to be able to separate attention to women from actual women empowerment. In the age this movie was released, women were held to high standards. The strict stereotype consisted of maternal duties, and being the perfect housewife to their superior male counterpart. Some examples being cleaning, cooking, acting bubbly and innocent, and dressing for men. A modern example of this is how some women are referred to as a trophy wife to a successful male, an example of blatant objectification. With the Lady Eve, the main character is a woman who conforms to the stereotypes to scam men. This may seem feminist because the movie is focusing on a female lead rather than the normal male, however her characterization was built to specifically highlight her stereotypes. It sends a message that women need to act a certain way to get a man, which is what she does throughout the movie to make them fall in love with her in the first place. By her scamming the men, it also the message to the public not to trust women, as they can seem so innocent but are secretly snaky. This puts the matriarchy at a loss because of the poor image a woman gets when she is the center of attention. This is a classic one step forward, two steps back. A woman is the main character (step forward), but is portrayed as untrustworthy and establishes what men truly desire in a woman (two steps back).
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