The Women - Film Viewing

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We viewed the 2008 film The Women in class which is a modern adaption of the 1930s play in the same name. I focused on many aspects on the film as I want to focus on women's representation and gender in my project.

- Most women in the film were very classic ideas of what it means to be female eg. likes shopping, gossip etc.

 - Idea throughout that you can't be with a man if your more successful than him?

 - The young girl worries she's fat, idea must be inspired by the role models and women she has around her?

 - women from lots of different job roles - high fliers, charitable ladies, nannies, cleaners etc.

 - Awareness of the trappings of women's magazine. They put a perfect image of women that impossible to achieve in them and although we know this we keep reading and buying them.

 - Story line hinges on women's tendency to gossip - what does this say about women even if they're meant to be 'good'

 -  Different ideas of motherhood - the hectic mother with many children (loves them a lot but very tired from them all) main character whose own problems cause her to ignore her child's problems

 - Men are there in spirit throughout the film but they are never actually present. We as an audience build an idea of their characters based on stereotypes we know without ever meeting them. These women's lives hinge on men that are never present - how much influence men have whether they're in our lives or not.

 - Idea of reinventing yourself is strong - finding self-love, changing hair = embodies identity change, finding a true passion when free from man.

 - Although the women all work different jobs they are all still stereotypical 'womens' jobs. the high flier works in fashion which is a female industry, the mother then goes onto work in fashion designing, housekeeper, beautician, sales assistant etc.

 - The reinvention of the main character means she comes out more feminine. Does dressing more sexually mean more empowering? Message is to succeed we need to act more feminine?

- The high powered career character in the end gives up her job to find love - message that women can't find love when they're more successful than men? That women can't succeed at the top? There is never a man present and yet the male is the reason she leaves her job.

Initial Ideas

This is the presentation I made of my initial ideas and workings for this project. I chose to study feminism and women's representation as it's a topic which greatly interests me outside of my studies and one which has a huge repercussions on the media making it applicable to makeup studies.



Following the seminars we had where I presented these ideas, my makeup ideas have altered slightly. Instead of focusing my 3 makeups on the three waves of feminism I will focus all my makeups into the third category post-modernist feminism as this will give me more room to to explore and experiment with ideas rather than sticking to three set makeups. I will just explore gender transformation as the theory of gender is the main focus of post-modernist feminism and this will hopefully give me more scope in my makeups. I would like to look at:

- drag makeup

- natural boy to girl transformation

- stubble and beards

- prosthetics woman to man (adams apple, brow piece etc)

 - bald caps and eyebrows

- androgynous / non-gendered makeup

 - mixed gender

Equality In Performance

Gender, Race, Age

- In the 19th and early 12th century it was acceptable to put on black makeup to sing, dance and perform in music halls. These performers were known as minstrels.

 - Vesta Tilley would dress and act as a man to enable her to perform her comedy and singing act in the Edwardian era.

 - All performers on the stage in this time were white and British - travel was very expensive in this time so people wouldn't normally travel to other countries to perform.

 - In the USA racial segregation as enforced. Jazz clubs used black artists to perform but they were not allowed to used the same entrance or facilities as their white colleges.

 - The Stanford White Murder was caused by an early actress in the silent film ( a fight between two jealous men) it confirmed the idea that an actress wasn't the sort of job a girl should do. The roles women did have in films strongly enforced the gender roles.

 - The Golden Age of Hollywood was between 1930-1960. during this period there were very few roles for black actors, other than playing servants. Women were mostly wives and girlfriends playing very vulnerable roles and were rarely the lead in the films. Characters with physical activities were usually played by able bodied actors.

 - Loretta Young won best actress in 1948 for her role in a rom-com where she played a servant that became a figure in politics. However the films comedy came not from the dialogue but from the fact a servant girl was attempting to get into politics.

 - Soon the television became a popular feature in many British people's homes. In 1960 Nan Winton tried out as a newsreader but was soon axed.  She later complained about her treatment and said there was obvious discrimination.

- The USA didn't have its first female newsreader until 1976

 - In the 1960s and 70s most programmes used sexist and racist humor as normal. eg. mother in law jokes, Irish jokes etc.

 - There has also been discrimination in the fashion and editorial sphere.

 - A lot of major fashion houses didn't or didn't have many black/non-Caucasian models on the runway for a long time and this can still be a problem in the present day.

 - Niomi Campbell was the first black model to appear on the cover of British Vouge - this wasn't until 1987

 - The size 0 debate still looms in the present day as the size isn't a representation of real women's sizes - are women discriminated against in society because of the very skinny models.

 - There aren't many portrayals of larger women in films unless they are in lesser, comedy roles.

 - Even in commercials there are very few companies that use black models, Even less use Asian models and there are non with disabilities.

 - Products that help with a problem are usually not advertised with people who suffer from that problem

 - In Hollywood today women have a lot more roles and often have the lead part in a film. People of different ethnic origins now appear more regularly.

 - However, men can play a romantic lead in a film until their quite old, women however do not have the same opportunity and there seems to be a shelf life on women's acting career in main roles. The roles that are available for older women are often played by a small handful of women.

 - Characters with disabilities are now more often played by actors with disabilities

 - Still too often the villain in a film is black and the hero is white, women are housewives or secretaries, men are CEO's or bosses, homeless people are criminals, gay men are camp and effeminate.