Thursday, April 9, 2020
From the Lady Eve to Mrs. Miller
Mrs. Miller is a tough businesswoman who takes McCabe fledgling business and makes it prosper. Yet, at the same time she is whore and an opium addict who runs a brothel in which she sells other women's sexual pleasures. Is she the model for the "liberated" woman of the "70"s? How does she compare with previous images of femininity such as Jean Harrington/Lady Eve? How much has changed for woman (in the movies at least) from the '40's to the '70's?
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I think that many parallels can be drawn between Mrs. Miller and Jean Harrington in the ways that they often defy gender norms and are more independent than previous women portrayed on screen, but I think that the ways they are portrayed exhibit different models for independent women. Jean Harrington is portrayed as a very classy women who is also very smart and resourceful. Throughout the Lady Eve she is seen manipulating Pike and being the more intellectual one in the relationship. Jean, while being a step forward for feminist portrayal in film, still operates through the same rules of society as she comes off as polite and classy in her interactions throughout the film. Mrs. Miller, while maybe not having the extreme powers of intellect and manipulation that Jean has, shows a whole new level of female liberation. Mrs. Miller clearly operates in whatever way she deems fit, and does not look at anyone else for approval. One clear example of this is when she first meets McCabe in the inn and she is shown having a large platter of food and eating with her hands. However, this should not be mistaken as the film showing her as being a pig or derogating women on the whole. The film clearly shows that she is capable of running a business as she guides the somewhat clueless McCabe through the process. She is also shown to be completely in charge of her body as she not only charges a higher rate for her services, but she also charges McCabe who has taken a somewhat romantic interest in her. This completely breaks the mold for a typical movie romance, and it is all thanks to her unique mannerisms and outlook towards life. While she certainly has her problems and idiosyncrasies, her actions and outlook on life show someone who is truly free from whatever restrictions society places on women, making her a symbol for feminism within this film.
ReplyDeleteI believe that much like Jean Harrington, Mrs. Miller is in fact a model for the “liberated” women of the “70’s”. Although portrayed as a whore and an opium addict, it is about what Mrs. Miller accomplished that Mr. McCabe could not that causes her to be seen as a model. Mrs. Miller helped build a business that was not flourishing due to her connections and knowledge. Although being a whore, Mrs. Miller was depicted as a business women who knew how to manage a business better than the male characters. She knew what men liked and unlike Mr. McCabe, she knew the price the men would be willing to pay which created huge profit. Mrs. Millers smarts can also be seen as a parallel to Jean Harrington. Both women were portrayed as people that society would look down upon, but what they accomplish is far more than their male counter parts, and therefore society over looks their profession to acknowledge their winnings. Both these women knew how to scam men and turn that into profit and a business, they were smarter than these men and therefore, they are seen as models for the “liberated” women. They defied the norms of gender roles and they prove that no matter the decade, whether the 40’s or the 70’s women always knew how to outsmart men. Women now a days do not have to play two parts, where one pretends to be wealthy to scam men, while another may lure men in because of their profession to then scam them. Now women do not have to have two shells, they can be real and they can be smart without having to trick anyone.
ReplyDeleteI believe that Mrs. Miller is a future version of Jean Harrington as they both are “Liberated” women for their times. Even though Mrs. Miller was an opium addict and a whore, the character was about the accomplishments in what a man could not do. Mrs. Miller was a powerful woman because of her social network and knowledge. Although Mrs. Miller was a whore, she was also shown as a successful businessperson who beat all of her male peers. She knew the men in a different way than Mr. McCabe. She knew how much a man would be willing to pay for a girl. Her intellect matches Jean Harrington. The two are portrayed as people who would normally be shunned, however, they beat society and accomplish much more. These women were amazing at taking advantage of men and swindled them. This allowed them to create businesses around their sexuality. Whether in the 40’s or the 70’s women were always a man’s downfall.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Miller is a tough businesswoman who takes McCabe fledgling business and makes it prosper. Yet, at the same time she is whore and an opium addict who runs a brothel in which she sells other women's sexual pleasures. Is she the model for the "liberated" woman of the "70"s? How does she compare with previous images of femininity such as Jean Harrington/Lady Eve? How much has changed for woman (in the movies at least) from the '40's to the '70's?
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't consider Mrs. Miller the model for "liberated" women in the 70's but she does have a lot of strong aspects of that. For starters, the fact that she is able to take over a business from a man and make it thrive shows her superior leadership and business skills, something that many men think they are better at . And so, Mrs. Miller was able to prove that stereotype wrong. While being apart of a brothel and an opium addict are not solid traits of being the definition of a liberated woman, I think the important part ot look at here is the fact that she is the one making these decisions for herself. She is the one running the brothel and so she is in control, there is no man controlling her behavior in this situation which makes her much more liberated than many women during this time. I think she shares some similarities to The Lady Eve because they both are women in power and use their sexuality to their advantage. As for the change in how women are portrayed in the movies I think that from the 40s to the 70s women have gained more attention as people in leadership roles. Whereas in the 40s The Lady Eve was more of an abnormal switch in gender stereotypes, Mccabe and mrs. miller in the 70s was more in the norm of the time. However, there was clearly still much more progress to go from the 70s.
I see many similarities between Jean Harington and Mrs. Miller from both The Lady Eve and McCabe & Mrs. Miller. While I see them both as independent, powerful women, they both are unique in their own sense. Firstly, Mrs. Miller is a woman who does whatever she pleases. She does not care about the current societal norms; indeed, she is a businesswoman, but at the same time a whore and an opium addict (as the description entails). Her widespread abilities give her the confidence and the “don’t give a damn attitude” to do whatever she pleases. This liberty leads to interesting actions, including a scene that I found jarring, even in 70s lifestyle – where Mrs. Miller eats with her hands. Even nowadays eating with the hands in some cultures can be considered disrespectful and gross. Though whatever her reasoning; whether she wanted to be disrespectful or really just did not care, I see the principle of Mrs. Miller eating rudely applied to the rest of the film, where she did what she pleased and carved her own unique path.
ReplyDeleteJean Harrington is similar in her independence, but approaches from a different angle. The 40s were very different from the 70s, especially with the way women were portrayed in society. During the 40s, the women were the companion to their significant other – though the woman was often overlooked. To compensate for this, Jean Harrington used her sexual appeal, intelligence, and smooth words to seduce, often manipulate the men with whom she wanted to be.
Through these two different films, I see two different categories of feminism: one that conforms to society with a twist, and one that rejects its norms completely. Whichever one is more effective is anyone’s guess, but they both certainly make for interesting films whose female leads show the culture from a fresh perspective.