Saturday, February 26, 2011
Is Friday Feminist or Feeble-Minded?
Hildy Johnson is a confident career woman who can compete with men (and defeat them) in the dog-eat-dog world of journalism. She is even willing to divorce her man if he doesn't treat he right. Yet, at the same time, she seeks the domestic joys of children and caring for her man -- and in the end returns to the rascal whom she left in the first place. What is the role of women in this film? Does is tell us anything about "modern" women in 1940's America?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
In His Girl Friday, the role of women is to show that while in this period they are very well educated and can be just as career-minded as men, they are incapable of putting that in front of thier emotions. Hildy, enters the film as if she owns the place. She is recognized by everyone in the news station. The witty conversations between her and her ex-husband, as well as him asking her to take her job back, shows that she is a very dominant figure in this atomasphere. Throughout the film this dominance shows, until she becomes wrapped up in the story of a supposed murderer on the run. She then becomes so wrapped up in her career that she loses sight of why she was intending on leaving and running away from Bruce. Her intrest in the story and her inability to stop being involved leads her to reunite with her ex-husband. She let herself get cought up in her career, yet this was not the cause of her getting back together with him. She started out being a very dominant role in the story but with the invovement in the story lets her emotional guard down and is vulnerable to the man she left.
ReplyDeleteWomen in this film are portrayed as easily influenced by the stronger, career-focused man. By way of trickery, the male figure ultimately manipulates the female character into a weaker position for his benefit. Although it may seem as if she is in control of her own life, we see that Walter is able to bring her back under his wing by using the newspaper. Knowing that she is passionate about journalism, Hildy is shown as not having the will power to withstand Walter's sly plans to get her back. Some may choose to argue that she shows a lot of independence throughout the film in the way that she dresses and uses body language, but we see her true colors appear when she is back in her element of the newspaper. Continuously consulting Walter on his opinion on her next move, we see she is nothing more than a puppet in his scheme. Unable to stay away from the action and unpredictability of journalism, she is stuck in his trap and even though she was handed several opportunities to retract herself from the situation, she stayed with Walter and denied a relationship and life that would have given her more freedom and independence as a person.
ReplyDeleteIn His Girl Friday, even the most confident and career-focused women are portrayed seeking a life as a housewife and are ultimately subservient to men. Hildy is a confident reporter who has enjoyed a lot of success in the newspaper industry. Yet, her ultimate goals are not related to personal achievement in her career. She wants to go on a honeymoon and have kids. Hildy is even willing to sacrifice her job and happiness to be a domestic housewife. Walter, her ex-wife, continually orders her around and almost always convinces her to do what he wants, such as writing the newspaper article on the murderer. Walter is able to control almost every aspect of Hildy's life, including her emotions towards Bruce, her decision to stay away from Walter, and her choice to end her career working at the newspaper. Hildy is content with and even enjoys Walter's dominance over her. At the end of the movie, when Hildy realizes Walter had tricked her, she thought it was a sign that he loved her. Even though Hildy is portrayed as a confident women, she is ultimately subservient to the men around her.
ReplyDeleteIn “His Girl Friday”, the relationship between women and the American culture in the 1940’s is displayed. Although the film begins by showing Hildy as a independent and professional woman, the end depicts her as being unable to separate her emotions from her profession. Also, her fellow reporters (who were all male) didn’t listen to her authority throughout the whole film and they constantly complained about her presence. In the begin of the picture, Hildy was on par with Walter’s wit and cleverness, proving to the audience that she was not going to fall for he ex-husband. Also, her promise to herself that she would be moving away and becoming a mother showed of her insistence to fulfill the stereotypes of the times. But as the film dragged on, it became clear that she, again, would fall for his charm and empty promises of the past. This also displayed the ability for her to not fallow the initial dream to run away with her fiance because of the charm of Walter.
ReplyDelete“His Girl Friday” is, at first, unlike many other films when it comes to gender portrayal. One of the main characters is a woman named Hildy Johnson, who plays an atypical role for a female. Hildy, an aggressive and powerful woman, defies the common representation of females as a submissive damsel in distress in film. Rather than reacting passively to the actions and words of the male characters in the film, most notably of her ex-husband, Walter Burns, Hildy vocally challenges her male counterparts in the newspaper business, demonstrating her confidence and success as a reporter. Though Hildy is originally portrayed as a motivated and independent female who seems to surpass typical stereotypes of women in film, she is eventually faced with the prototypal decision of women in the 1940s, and, in some cases, still of women today: to work or to be a domestic housewife. The film depicts the possibility of a woman being both successful in her career and as a wife and mother, as absurd and impossible. So, Hildy decides to quit her job as a thriving journalist to marry an insurance agent, Bruce Baldwin, and to settle down as a housewife in Albany, New York. However, Walter, jealous of Bruce, controls and manipulates Hildy throughout the entire film, until he finally influences her to desert Bruce and their wedding plans. Even though Hildy is initially represented as independent and steadfast, she is ultimately influenced by her suave, but morally flawed ex-husband, who eventually decides her future for her. Through the character and development of Hildy Johnson, Howard Hawks, the director of “His Girl Friday”, represents women of the 1940s, including those who were determined and powerful in the workforce, as inherently compliant to the opposite sex.
ReplyDeleteIn "His Girl Friday," it seems that women are portrayed as being capable of being buisness women who are career oriented and strong but that still yield to the demands of working men. i found Hildy to be hailarious and although she put a lot of the men in their place she still was unable to seperate her inner emotions from her work life. Deep down she wants to have kids and a nice family which is what the "typical woman" wants. I find it interesting that this film presents women in this way because I find it to be so realistic. I have seen lots of buisness women who are very well respected in their field but that still want to have a family and get married and things of that nature. However, i don't feel that women always let that want get involved with their work life as Hildy clearly does in the film so that makes in a little bit unrealistic but still realistic for the most part in my opinion. I just think that this film tells us that women in the 1940s were easily persuaded even if they had the brains to keep up with men.
ReplyDelete