Femininity In Hollywood Cinema

Since the 1300’s women rode sidesaddles just because society considered it unladylike to ride astride a horse and categorized them to be unruly, unfeminine and overly sexual while ignoring that it restricted women’s movement. It also did not allow women to be in control of their horse reinforcing the societal belief system that women need to be controlled, protected and restricted. The ideal femininity in the western society has been split between the ‘woman as sexual’ as the prostitute and the ‘woman as nurturing’ as the mother, instead of seeing both these traits a possible aspect of the same woman. This ‘fantasmatic’ or orgasmically fantastic dueling myths of femininity hugely impact the social expectations of women. These contradictions,

They wanted to be represented and considered as equals to men. Their fight for liberation gave birth to feminist film theories about the representation of female sexuality in the field of art, literature and media. Feminists found the sexism in cinema to be a cultural practice that represented myths about women and femininity, as well as about men and masculinity. With issues of representation in Hollywood cinema, feminist critics objected to the stereotypes of women, which claimed have a negative impact on the female

My goal would be to create a female character who is not a mere object of fetishistic and voyeuristic desire for the male audience. Contemporary femme fatales allow instances of male castration where the men admit to being submissive to their female characters. In the film ‘Gone Girl’, male castration is a central theme as Amy frames her husband Nick as the aggressor who also comments on how society associates men with domestic violence and wrongdoings towards their wives. The depiction of Femme Fatales has evolved over decades due to creation of complex female character and