Sunday, February 17, 2019
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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The film The Lady Eve is feminist in how it shows the strengths and independence of women yet still sexist with how it portrays women and their morals. The main character, Jean, is a strong woman who knows how to get what she wants. She meets a man and sees just how she can take advantage of him to reach her goals of getting money. Uniquely to film, a female is the star of the show and is depicted to be dominant and successful. Throughout the film, Jean plays Charles and shows that she is more clever than the foolish men around her. This makes the film have feminist ideals as it goes against the stereotypical damsel in distress plot line. Despite the fact that Jean’s character is a smart and independent woman, she and the film have other aspects that fall towards sexism. It is not a coincidence that Jean is chosen to have men falling in love with her as her professional goal. This supports the idea that women still can’t be successful in business or more professional matters. They are just here to love and take care of men. The film also supports sexism when Charles decides to divorce Eve for sleeping with other men. He can deal with the fact that she has done many wrong things; however, it is not acceptable that she has “loose” morals. Women still hold the job of belonging to a singular man and playing a supporting role in their lives rather than living solely for themselves. The film does show a unique, stereotype breaking female lead, but it still holds many old fashioned ideas on women’s roles in society.
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ReplyDeleteWhile Jean is portrayed as a feisty, smart, independent woman, she is not entirely the feminist she appears to be. The Bechdel test is a simple way to measure the representation of women in fiction. The only requirements a movie must have to pass the test is that there must be at least two named women who talk to each other about something besides a man. In The Lady Eve, Jean is pretty much the only female character in the film. In the beginning of the movie there are several young girls who approach Charles trying to win his favor, but they are insignificant as none of them have names nor do they do anything other than focus their energy on a man. The entire plot of the film revolves around Jean trying to get something from Charles. At first, it is his money, then it is his love. Both of these ventures are centered around a man and thus lessen Jean’s independence. However, despite this Jean is still a vast improvement for feminist characters compared to the ones we’ve seen previously in films like The General or The Last Laugh. Between Jean and Charles, Jean is clearly the one with superior intellect. She is even able to trick her own father when he tries to cheat at cards by playing 4 aces. Jean also drives every conversation in the direction she wants it to go. It is very rare that she doesn’t have command of the room. And although her goals in the film aren’t exactly in tune with feminist ideals, she still essentially gets what she wants in the end, meaning she was able to directly influence a series of events that would lead to her success. Compared to Anabelle from The General, Lady Eve and Jean support a feminist agenda, but as progressive as this is for the time period, sexist cinema still prevails in the film.
"The Lady Eve" is in consonance with feminist ideals as the progressive film identifies with a genre that depicts men as the submissive sex. One way to identify a screwball comedy is to search the screen for weak, push-over or amoral male characters, men not quite in control of the film’s plot or storyline. Because of the genre’s unwillingness to conform to a male-dominated world, a trail is blazed for opportunity and power for not only the women of screwball comedy, but more broadly for the film’s female audience. Such is noticeable in "The Lady Eve," a screwball comedy, as the “aggressor-ess,” Jean, and later Eve, wears the pants in her relationship with Charles Pike, her weak and dopey suitor. Jean/Eve is in complete control of her and Charles’ relationship throughout the film. For example, while aboard the ship, Charles, the male, is the one constantly thinking about Jean, not vice versa like in traditional films of this time, and during the dinner party in Connecticut, Eve dominates the evening’s conversation and consumes all attention, not Charles. "The (feminist) Lady Eve," as well as the genre of screwball comedy, allows females some much overdue limelight, while concurrently proving that estrogen-ridden protagonists and aggressors can be just as entertaining, if not more entertaining, to watch as testosterone-ridden ones.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve is but another example of a sexist film under the guise of being progressive. The film presents a woman that is headstrong, independent, and motivated at the very beginning. Her intentions and. She is supposed to be a successful con artist, but the movie depicts her as being horrible at the one job that she has. She can’t keep business and pleasure separate, which shows her to be an amateur and someone who doesn’t consider the consequences of her actions. A prime example of this is when she doesn’t allow her father/partner to swindle Charles out of more money, even though he is a perfect mark- naïve and madly in love with her. She then was then caught and exposed, which causes Charles to dump her, ruining her one strategy that she uses to make money. Her passions are aimed towards the wrong goal. Rather than focusing on gaining wealth (some would argue that she did in fact achieve this through her relationship), she dedicates her talents to tricking Charles into taking her back rather than swindling him out of more money. She uses her talents for the wrong purpose, and this movie is not presenting audiences with the theme of feminism. At the end of the film, the female character is in love and reliant on a man just like all of the typical films of this time.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the The Lady Eve is a feminist film, despite the anti-woman stereotypes, because it shows Eve/Gene’s use of her female power, and the consequences caused by its use. First, Eve/Eugenia is a main character in the film, even arguably the main character. The plot revolves around and is sometimes even controlled directly by her. Contrary to the damsel in distress archetype, Charles is the helpless victim of Jean/Eve’s love conquest. For a film to have a woman arguable be the main character, and for her to be the predator in the love story makes the film The Lady Eve a feminist film. Now whether or not Eve/Jean herself is a feminist is up for debate. The reason depends on your definition on what makes a feminist a feminist. Eve possesses great power over all of the men at her debut party, especially Charles, so much so that he ruins three suits over the course of the evening. She has so much power over Charles in fact that Eve/Jean makes him fall for her twice effortlessly. On the other hand this film is not a feminist film because it portrays Eve/Jean as something only to be had. The only role she plays is a temptress and nothing really else. As for the stereotypes and loose morals piece, I do not really see any real stereotypes besides the temptress one. As for the morality of her actions, yes she did go into her relationship with Charles intending to grift him. She and her father were well known swindlers before she met Charles, and when Charles found out it literally ended their relationship. Jean then, as Eve, tries to trick Charles by posing as someone else in order to win over his heart again. This means she is very manipulative, and not very moral.
ReplyDeleteEve is certainly not a submissive character—she repeatedly toys with the comparatively mild-mannered Charles throughout the film. In this regard, she rejects the traditionally submissive role of women. However, Eve exerts her power through deception rather than honest means, therefore The Lady Eve cannot be considered a feminist film. The allusion to the Eve of the Bible suggests that Eve is a sinner—indeed, Eve makes her living by conning the foolish out of their money. Furthermore, Eve is displayed as a weak woman who is reliant on men despite being a con artist. She lets her affection for Charles interfere with her original goal to scam him. In the end, Eve only becomes relevant in terms of her relations with men. The scene of Eve getting uncomfortably flirty and close with Charles on the ship is an especially glaring example of her role as a promiscuous woman and empty character. Despite Eve’s confident nature, she is rarely portrayed with positive traits—she is no feminist character. Still, there are some hints of feminism within The Lady Eve. Eve is capable and intelligent when not obsessing over Charles, and she gets a great deal of screen time. The Lady Eve is certainly an improvement over films that barely give any personality to their female characters. Eve is an interesting character, if not a respectable one. Since The Lady Eve ultimately portrays femininity in a negative way, it is not a true feminist film, but it can be considered a step towards feminist cinema.
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