Feminist Criticism and 1970s American Film
True in many cultures across the world and especially true in our own; men have been seen as nearly wholly different creatures to women. Stereotypically more competitive and violent are men than the commonly perceived nurturing and loyal females. These stereotypes are so timeless that some evolutionary biologists claim these differences are both fact and caused by biological differences between males and females, despite their sharing the same ninety nine percent DNA. With this ideology in mind, women are seen as inferior to men. In the United States, women weren’t permitted to vote until 1918, women earn nearly seventy percent the income of their male counterparts, and until 1991 women weren’t permitted to take part in combat service. Now whether combat service is good or bad is irrelevant. What’s important is that having the choice to take part in it certainly is better than not.
Social scientists offer another theory on the differences between men and women. Some argue that socialization processes impose these stereotypes onto their respective genders. Women aren’t naturally nurturing and men aren’t naturally violent, they’re just taught to take on those traits because they’re posited onto them by society. This seems more permissible since there are counter examples to every stereotype. There are men more nurturing to their children than their wives and there are women more violent than their male friends. Basically, there are men more feminine and women more masculine than is commonly expected. This socialization theory would explain these outlying character types as people whom didn’t learn to take on the typical gender role bestowed onto them from society or perhaps would say society didn’t assert enough influence to socialize these outliers to become the typical role of gender expected.
Yet another view on the sexes is that they’re irrelevant and the humanity shared by men and women outweighs any other superficial differences. Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be the case with the American film industry in the past. Instead of this idea based on equality, the film industry tends to have the more dated view that women are inferior to men. In fact, the early 1970s films A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Straw Dogs (1972) preferred to have women raped than adored as in earlier decades.
Of the more than a hundred women who directed during the 1910s and 1920s, only two, Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino, remained during the Hollywood studio era. As of 2004, Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion, and Sofia Coppola were the only female directors whom had been nominated for the Best Director Academy Award, and none had won the Oscar award for directing. This is most likely due to the sexist ideologies commonly accepted throughout time that men are superior to women. Thankfully, feminist criticism, an approach that examines the differences in representation of the sexes in films, challenged this old ideology.
In the 1960s and 1970s, leading feminist film theorists such as Molly Haskell, author of “From Reverence to Rape,” and Laura Mulvey directed a critique at Hollywood films, “arguing that they present an active male hero, with whom audiences are encouraged to identify, and cast women as objects, passive spectacles on display for male characters and audience members,” according to the Film: A Critical Introduction textbook. An example of this from class would be from All the President’s Men (1976) when Hoffman and Redford ask their female reporter friend to use her past relationship with someone to obtain information they needed. Hoffman’s character presses her to do it even though she expresses that she’s uncomfortable with it. Redford’s character is more cordial in easing the pressure on her which does the trick and she ends up getting the names they requested anyways. This could be viewed as a male manipulating a female or a female just trying to appease her male colleagues, either way the male comes out superior.
Laura Mulvey hypothesized that women’s sexuality threatened men and men, as a consequence, try to eliminate that threat. In line with this theory, from her book on representations of motherhood as being monstrous, is Barbara Creed’s argument that Alien (1979) represents male anxieties over women’s power over reproduction. In Alien, the powerful mother-ship whose life support system is a computer named “Mother” wakes seven astronauts from their sleep pods. According to Creed, this technological re-birthing scene is an act of birth eliminating the need for a human mother. The astronauts are birthed into a sanitized and technological environment where even copulation is seemingly redundant. This would appear to be a message designed to strip influence from the human mother so to preserve the empowerment of the patriarchal ideologies in effect at the time.
With the patriarchal advantage established, the seventies were seen as a time that laid the foundation for women to rise to the top in the eighties. To understand the seventies, however, we must briefly explore the sixties for comparison’s sake. Dawn Sova, whom teaches writing and literature courses at Montclair State University in New Jersey, states that “although the diversity of women’s roles on screen increased [in the 1960s], their influence was less pervasive than it had been in the early years of the industry.” In the 1960s, significantly fewer films based on scripts that were written by women were produced. Existing female screen writers were leaving the scene only for fewer female writers to take their places. Only six Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay went to women, which none won. Female film editors earned less Academy Award nominations than in previous years. The number of women working in set direction increased during the 1960s while the greatest influential increase for women was in costume design.
Every year of the decade brought several Academy Award nominations for women. Women also gained more influence by portraying slightly more diverse roles on screen. The actresses to stand out amongst the crowd were Sandra Dee, Joanne Woodward, Natalie Wood, Sophia Loren, the “sex kitten” Ann-Margret, Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Faye Dunaway from Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and Barbra Streisand. Both Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway would move on to further success in the 1970s. Hollywood in the 1960s was a preamble for the struggle of women to assert control over the American film industry. The 1970s were characterized by a slow but steady growth in the number of women entering into roles in the American film industry. The number of women screenwriters acknowledged by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences increased along with the amount of female film editors. Even some female directors would emerge near the end of the decade though their influence wouldn’t be noticed until several years later.
The most exciting thing about this decade is that women were earning nominations as producers for Best Picture for the first time in Academy Award history. Better yet, in 1973 Julia Phillips, for The Sting (1973), was the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1976 she was once again nominated for the award for Taxi Driver (1976). Norma Rae (1979) got Tamara Asseyev and Alex Rose a shared nomination for Best Picture. This may seem insignificant but it’s actually a big deal because before these nominations no woman had ever been nominated for Best Picture. An even bigger deal still when you consider that for the next decade and a half only three women were able to obtain this acknowledgement.
The seventies proved to be a monumental time for the progress of women into management areas and higher into the studio executive hierarchy of the film industry. Nessa Hyams and Rosilyn Heller became vice presidents of production at the prominent studio Columbia whilst Marcia Nasatir became a vice president of production at United Artists. So high a level as production executive was last achieved in the forties by Virginia Van Upp. Production executives hold significant power over what appears on screen, affecting every facet of the film making industry. Actresses, directors, writers, set designers, costume designers, and all the rest of the film industry owe their job to the fact that a production executive chose to make one type of film over another. Another significant influence was that of Dede Allen being one of the first editors to negotiate a cut of film profits. This illustrates how immense the power they wielded truly was and what an achievement for women these roles signified.
Women empowerment in the 1970s also came from the fact that they were taking after their predecessors of fifty years earlier and turning to writing, directing, and producing as a means of capturing more control and creative power over final films. An example of this would be Jane Fonda starting her own production company to produce the film Coming Home (1978) in which she starred. Anne Bancroft’s 1979 film Fatso made her one of the first actress/writer/directors. Bancroft hired Brianne Murphy to shoot the film, making her the first woman director of photography in the American film industry.
Many women writers produced screen plays during this decade as well. Jay Presson Allen wrote screen plays for Cabaret (1972), Travels With My Aunt (1972), Funny Lady (1975), and later moved on to producing over five other films. At first an actress, Carole Eastman specifically wrote Five Easy Pieces (1970) at former colleague Jack Nicholson’s request before writing The Fortune (1975). One of the most influential screenwriters was Nancy Dowd. Her screenplay for Snap Shot (1977) struck men of the film industry as too vulgar and realistically violent a portrayal of hockey for a woman to write. This brought about a positive reaction in that it made men rethink their perceptions of which movies women could write. This is particularly awesome because Dowd expanded the opportunity for women to write about various subjects previously thought not appropriate for a woman. This brings us back to the social idea that masculinity and femininity are learned traits that aren’t exclusive to men or women. Also, this brings us a step closer to the ideology that the sexual differences between men and women are so miniscule that they should consider themselves humanly equal, which strikes me as ideal and most fair for everyone.
As for Academy Award nominations, there were increased amounts from the sixties to be earned. Renee Taylor, Joseph Bologna, and David Goodman shared an Academy Award nomination for Lovers and Other Strangers (1970). Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971) earned Penelop Gilliat a nomination and Suzanne de Passe shared nomination honors for Lady Sings the Blues (1972) with Terrance McCloy and Chris Clark. One of the writers nominated for American Graffiti (1973) was Gloria Katz and Gladys Hill shared a nomination for The Man Who Would Be King (1975). Nancy Dowd earned a nomination for writing the original story of Coming Home (1978). Best screenplay nominations were dealt to Valerie Curtin for …And Justice for All (1979) and Harriet Frank Jr. for Norma Rae (1979). Nine women even earned Oscar nominations for editing with two winning Academy Awards for their editing prowess. Lina Wertmuller, in 1975 for Seven Beauties, became the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director.
Continuing the progress made in the sixties, female costume designers, unlike their less successful female set designers, made their successes well known. Edith Head, leading costume designer, earned Academy Award nominations for Airport (1970), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and Airport ’77 (1977). Even more impressive and making her the most frequently honored Oscar winner, man or woman, was her winning of her eighth Academy Award for costume design in The Sting (1973). Among the rest of the female costume designers was Ann Roth, who designed costumes in eighteen different films, most popularly in Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978), during the decade of the seventies. She became well known and continued her influence into the eighties and nineties.
Notable actresses of the seventies would definitely include Faye Dunaway. She received an Academy Award nomination for Chinatown (1974) and an Oscar for Best Actress in Network (1976). Poor choices canceled out her previous successes by the end of the decade though she did impress late in the eighties with her role in Barfly (1987). Diane Keaton was a prominent actress in Hollywood for being adaptable and consistent with good performances in both comedy and drama. Most significantly impressive to me were her performances in Woody Allen films such as Play It Again, Sam (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977) in which she won the Academy Award for best actress, and Manhattan (1979). She was also dynamic enough to be able to play the wife of future mafia don in The Godfather (1972), The Godfather 2 (1974), as well as a promiscuous teacher that plays people at single bars in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).
Other important actresses were Barbra Streisand who retained her influence throughout the eighties and nineties, Jane Fonda who attracted negative attention for sympathizing with the Viet Cong but later making peace with the system, Jodie Foster who used her influence from the seventies to continue on through the eighties and early nineties, and Meryl Streep for her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the feminist friendly film Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).
Kramer vs. Kramer stars Dustin Hoffman’s Ted, husband to Meryl Streep’s Joanna, with their son Billy. At first, Streep plays a stay-at-home-mother while Hoffman is dedicated to his career in New York advertisement. Streep becomes discontented with her life and having to raise Billy but the surprising thing is Hoffman changes Ted’s character from a clever and intense careerist, to a sensitive and nurturing father. His character becomes so loving that he sacrifices his career for Billy when the choice needs to be made. Though Kramer vs. Kramer is mostly sympathetic to Ted, revolving primarily around his plight, it also illustrates the frustrations of a woman through Streep. Streep convincingly changes through the emotions of rage, discontent, fear, remorse, and reconciliation. In this film both characters have to decide between their careers or rearing their child. This is an influential step forward for women roles in Hollywood because Hoffman’s willingness to nurture his son means Streep isn’t forced to be left caring for Billy all day while Hoffman achieves his goals at work. Streep is given the choice between a career and raising her son and in this film she picks her career. Whether that’s moral or not, she at least had the freedom to choose.
Another influential film forging progressively ahead was Annie Hall (1977). Marsha McCreadie, a professor at Rutgers University and Film Critic for the Arizona Republic, describes the social importance of what the “new morality” portrayed in Annie Hall did for relationships. “Meeting, loving, hassling, and splitting up are all undertaken with the same fervor, and in the name of growth and self-fulfillment.” This is a much healthier outlook at relationships than other films from this decade, such as Straw Dogs or A Clockwork Orange (1971), presented.
Keaton portrayed Hall as a charming and liberating icon for American women. She had the unique unisex style of menswear and nostalgia items and made them somehow feminine and individual. To women of the time, Keaton’s individuality appealed to them extraordinarily. Keaton’s demeanor and bizarre look encouraged women to be freely different without giving up their attractiveness or their place in society. Though she was a new age character, Hall was still nice and so a terrific role model for women of America.
While the decade of the 1970s didn’t bring total equality between men and women in Hollywood cinema, it certainly laid the foundation for the future to bring a fairer role for the woman. It’s curious to find that women went from influential roles in film as pre-Hollywood pioneers but were then disempowered with weaker gender roles. As unfair, sexist, and down right immoral as this may seem, it’s encouraging to study the gains in influence women seized during the 1970s. Even more inspiring is to see how far they took their roles today, casting off the subservient yoke of male oppression in Hollywood to deliver good role models for the betterment of society for men and women alike, as fellow human beings
Social scientists offer another theory on the differences between men and women. Some argue that socialization processes impose these stereotypes onto their respective genders. Women aren’t naturally nurturing and men aren’t naturally violent, they’re just taught to take on those traits because they’re posited onto them by society. This seems more permissible since there are counter examples to every stereotype. There are men more nurturing to their children than their wives and there are women more violent than their male friends. Basically, there are men more feminine and women more masculine than is commonly expected. This socialization theory would explain these outlying character types as people whom didn’t learn to take on the typical gender role bestowed onto them from society or perhaps would say society didn’t assert enough influence to socialize these outliers to become the typical role of gender expected.
Yet another view on the sexes is that they’re irrelevant and the humanity shared by men and women outweighs any other superficial differences. Sadly, this doesn’t seem to be the case with the American film industry in the past. Instead of this idea based on equality, the film industry tends to have the more dated view that women are inferior to men. In fact, the early 1970s films A Clockwork Orange (1971) and Straw Dogs (1972) preferred to have women raped than adored as in earlier decades.
Of the more than a hundred women who directed during the 1910s and 1920s, only two, Dorothy Arzner and Ida Lupino, remained during the Hollywood studio era. As of 2004, Lina Wertmuller, Jane Campion, and Sofia Coppola were the only female directors whom had been nominated for the Best Director Academy Award, and none had won the Oscar award for directing. This is most likely due to the sexist ideologies commonly accepted throughout time that men are superior to women. Thankfully, feminist criticism, an approach that examines the differences in representation of the sexes in films, challenged this old ideology.
In the 1960s and 1970s, leading feminist film theorists such as Molly Haskell, author of “From Reverence to Rape,” and Laura Mulvey directed a critique at Hollywood films, “arguing that they present an active male hero, with whom audiences are encouraged to identify, and cast women as objects, passive spectacles on display for male characters and audience members,” according to the Film: A Critical Introduction textbook. An example of this from class would be from All the President’s Men (1976) when Hoffman and Redford ask their female reporter friend to use her past relationship with someone to obtain information they needed. Hoffman’s character presses her to do it even though she expresses that she’s uncomfortable with it. Redford’s character is more cordial in easing the pressure on her which does the trick and she ends up getting the names they requested anyways. This could be viewed as a male manipulating a female or a female just trying to appease her male colleagues, either way the male comes out superior.
Laura Mulvey hypothesized that women’s sexuality threatened men and men, as a consequence, try to eliminate that threat. In line with this theory, from her book on representations of motherhood as being monstrous, is Barbara Creed’s argument that Alien (1979) represents male anxieties over women’s power over reproduction. In Alien, the powerful mother-ship whose life support system is a computer named “Mother” wakes seven astronauts from their sleep pods. According to Creed, this technological re-birthing scene is an act of birth eliminating the need for a human mother. The astronauts are birthed into a sanitized and technological environment where even copulation is seemingly redundant. This would appear to be a message designed to strip influence from the human mother so to preserve the empowerment of the patriarchal ideologies in effect at the time.
With the patriarchal advantage established, the seventies were seen as a time that laid the foundation for women to rise to the top in the eighties. To understand the seventies, however, we must briefly explore the sixties for comparison’s sake. Dawn Sova, whom teaches writing and literature courses at Montclair State University in New Jersey, states that “although the diversity of women’s roles on screen increased [in the 1960s], their influence was less pervasive than it had been in the early years of the industry.” In the 1960s, significantly fewer films based on scripts that were written by women were produced. Existing female screen writers were leaving the scene only for fewer female writers to take their places. Only six Academy Award nominations for Best Screenplay went to women, which none won. Female film editors earned less Academy Award nominations than in previous years. The number of women working in set direction increased during the 1960s while the greatest influential increase for women was in costume design.
Every year of the decade brought several Academy Award nominations for women. Women also gained more influence by portraying slightly more diverse roles on screen. The actresses to stand out amongst the crowd were Sandra Dee, Joanne Woodward, Natalie Wood, Sophia Loren, the “sex kitten” Ann-Margret, Julie Andrews, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Fonda, Faye Dunaway from Bonnie and Clyde (1967) and The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), and Barbra Streisand. Both Jane Fonda and Faye Dunaway would move on to further success in the 1970s. Hollywood in the 1960s was a preamble for the struggle of women to assert control over the American film industry. The 1970s were characterized by a slow but steady growth in the number of women entering into roles in the American film industry. The number of women screenwriters acknowledged by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences increased along with the amount of female film editors. Even some female directors would emerge near the end of the decade though their influence wouldn’t be noticed until several years later.
The most exciting thing about this decade is that women were earning nominations as producers for Best Picture for the first time in Academy Award history. Better yet, in 1973 Julia Phillips, for The Sting (1973), was the first woman to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. In 1976 she was once again nominated for the award for Taxi Driver (1976). Norma Rae (1979) got Tamara Asseyev and Alex Rose a shared nomination for Best Picture. This may seem insignificant but it’s actually a big deal because before these nominations no woman had ever been nominated for Best Picture. An even bigger deal still when you consider that for the next decade and a half only three women were able to obtain this acknowledgement.
The seventies proved to be a monumental time for the progress of women into management areas and higher into the studio executive hierarchy of the film industry. Nessa Hyams and Rosilyn Heller became vice presidents of production at the prominent studio Columbia whilst Marcia Nasatir became a vice president of production at United Artists. So high a level as production executive was last achieved in the forties by Virginia Van Upp. Production executives hold significant power over what appears on screen, affecting every facet of the film making industry. Actresses, directors, writers, set designers, costume designers, and all the rest of the film industry owe their job to the fact that a production executive chose to make one type of film over another. Another significant influence was that of Dede Allen being one of the first editors to negotiate a cut of film profits. This illustrates how immense the power they wielded truly was and what an achievement for women these roles signified.
Women empowerment in the 1970s also came from the fact that they were taking after their predecessors of fifty years earlier and turning to writing, directing, and producing as a means of capturing more control and creative power over final films. An example of this would be Jane Fonda starting her own production company to produce the film Coming Home (1978) in which she starred. Anne Bancroft’s 1979 film Fatso made her one of the first actress/writer/directors. Bancroft hired Brianne Murphy to shoot the film, making her the first woman director of photography in the American film industry.
Many women writers produced screen plays during this decade as well. Jay Presson Allen wrote screen plays for Cabaret (1972), Travels With My Aunt (1972), Funny Lady (1975), and later moved on to producing over five other films. At first an actress, Carole Eastman specifically wrote Five Easy Pieces (1970) at former colleague Jack Nicholson’s request before writing The Fortune (1975). One of the most influential screenwriters was Nancy Dowd. Her screenplay for Snap Shot (1977) struck men of the film industry as too vulgar and realistically violent a portrayal of hockey for a woman to write. This brought about a positive reaction in that it made men rethink their perceptions of which movies women could write. This is particularly awesome because Dowd expanded the opportunity for women to write about various subjects previously thought not appropriate for a woman. This brings us back to the social idea that masculinity and femininity are learned traits that aren’t exclusive to men or women. Also, this brings us a step closer to the ideology that the sexual differences between men and women are so miniscule that they should consider themselves humanly equal, which strikes me as ideal and most fair for everyone.
As for Academy Award nominations, there were increased amounts from the sixties to be earned. Renee Taylor, Joseph Bologna, and David Goodman shared an Academy Award nomination for Lovers and Other Strangers (1970). Sunday, Bloody Sunday (1971) earned Penelop Gilliat a nomination and Suzanne de Passe shared nomination honors for Lady Sings the Blues (1972) with Terrance McCloy and Chris Clark. One of the writers nominated for American Graffiti (1973) was Gloria Katz and Gladys Hill shared a nomination for The Man Who Would Be King (1975). Nancy Dowd earned a nomination for writing the original story of Coming Home (1978). Best screenplay nominations were dealt to Valerie Curtin for …And Justice for All (1979) and Harriet Frank Jr. for Norma Rae (1979). Nine women even earned Oscar nominations for editing with two winning Academy Awards for their editing prowess. Lina Wertmuller, in 1975 for Seven Beauties, became the first woman nominated for the Academy Award for Best Director.
Continuing the progress made in the sixties, female costume designers, unlike their less successful female set designers, made their successes well known. Edith Head, leading costume designer, earned Academy Award nominations for Airport (1970), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), and Airport ’77 (1977). Even more impressive and making her the most frequently honored Oscar winner, man or woman, was her winning of her eighth Academy Award for costume design in The Sting (1973). Among the rest of the female costume designers was Ann Roth, who designed costumes in eighteen different films, most popularly in Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978), during the decade of the seventies. She became well known and continued her influence into the eighties and nineties.
Notable actresses of the seventies would definitely include Faye Dunaway. She received an Academy Award nomination for Chinatown (1974) and an Oscar for Best Actress in Network (1976). Poor choices canceled out her previous successes by the end of the decade though she did impress late in the eighties with her role in Barfly (1987). Diane Keaton was a prominent actress in Hollywood for being adaptable and consistent with good performances in both comedy and drama. Most significantly impressive to me were her performances in Woody Allen films such as Play It Again, Sam (1972), Sleeper (1973), Love and Death (1975), Annie Hall (1977) in which she won the Academy Award for best actress, and Manhattan (1979). She was also dynamic enough to be able to play the wife of future mafia don in The Godfather (1972), The Godfather 2 (1974), as well as a promiscuous teacher that plays people at single bars in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977).
Other important actresses were Barbra Streisand who retained her influence throughout the eighties and nineties, Jane Fonda who attracted negative attention for sympathizing with the Viet Cong but later making peace with the system, Jodie Foster who used her influence from the seventies to continue on through the eighties and early nineties, and Meryl Streep for her Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the feminist friendly film Kramer vs. Kramer (1979).
Kramer vs. Kramer stars Dustin Hoffman’s Ted, husband to Meryl Streep’s Joanna, with their son Billy. At first, Streep plays a stay-at-home-mother while Hoffman is dedicated to his career in New York advertisement. Streep becomes discontented with her life and having to raise Billy but the surprising thing is Hoffman changes Ted’s character from a clever and intense careerist, to a sensitive and nurturing father. His character becomes so loving that he sacrifices his career for Billy when the choice needs to be made. Though Kramer vs. Kramer is mostly sympathetic to Ted, revolving primarily around his plight, it also illustrates the frustrations of a woman through Streep. Streep convincingly changes through the emotions of rage, discontent, fear, remorse, and reconciliation. In this film both characters have to decide between their careers or rearing their child. This is an influential step forward for women roles in Hollywood because Hoffman’s willingness to nurture his son means Streep isn’t forced to be left caring for Billy all day while Hoffman achieves his goals at work. Streep is given the choice between a career and raising her son and in this film she picks her career. Whether that’s moral or not, she at least had the freedom to choose.
Another influential film forging progressively ahead was Annie Hall (1977). Marsha McCreadie, a professor at Rutgers University and Film Critic for the Arizona Republic, describes the social importance of what the “new morality” portrayed in Annie Hall did for relationships. “Meeting, loving, hassling, and splitting up are all undertaken with the same fervor, and in the name of growth and self-fulfillment.” This is a much healthier outlook at relationships than other films from this decade, such as Straw Dogs or A Clockwork Orange (1971), presented.
Keaton portrayed Hall as a charming and liberating icon for American women. She had the unique unisex style of menswear and nostalgia items and made them somehow feminine and individual. To women of the time, Keaton’s individuality appealed to them extraordinarily. Keaton’s demeanor and bizarre look encouraged women to be freely different without giving up their attractiveness or their place in society. Though she was a new age character, Hall was still nice and so a terrific role model for women of America.
While the decade of the 1970s didn’t bring total equality between men and women in Hollywood cinema, it certainly laid the foundation for the future to bring a fairer role for the woman. It’s curious to find that women went from influential roles in film as pre-Hollywood pioneers but were then disempowered with weaker gender roles. As unfair, sexist, and down right immoral as this may seem, it’s encouraging to study the gains in influence women seized during the 1970s. Even more inspiring is to see how far they took their roles today, casting off the subservient yoke of male oppression in Hollywood to deliver good role models for the betterment of society for men and women alike, as fellow human beings
Early seventies films cast the poor female roles of rape victims as opposed to glamorizing them as in pre-Hollywood film.
Ted sacrifices his career to nurture his son, giving Joanna the freedom to pursue her own interests.
Annie Hall’s unique attire and demeanor inspired women of America to live freer.
BibliographyHaskell, Molly. From Reverence to Rape: the Treatment of Women in the Movies. 2nd ed. Chicago: The University of Chicago P, 1987.
Haskell, Molly. Holding My Own in No Man's Land. New York: Oxford UP, 1997.
Keough, Peter, ed. Flesh and Blood: the National Society of Film Critics on Sex, Violence, and Censorship. San Francisco: Mercury House, 1995.
McCreadie, Marsha. The Casting Couch and Other Front Row Seats: Women in Films of the 1970s and 1980s. New York: Praeger, 1990.
Mellen, Joan. Women and Their Sexuality in the New Film. New York: Horizon P, 1973.
Pramaggiore, Maria, and Tom Wallis. Film: a Critical Introduction. Ed. Richard Mason. London: Laurence King, 2005.
Sova, Dawn B. Women in Hollywood. First Fromm International Edition ed. New York: Fromm International Corporation, 1998.
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