Monday, October 2, 2017
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 her 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 it tell us anything about "modern" women in 1940's America?
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In the film, I saw that Hildy was just like the guy’s, she fit into their ways of talking and knew how to joke around with them, showing that men and women (like Hildy) are equal. Hildy plays a big role in this movie for all women, she is confident, has a successful career, and a strong social life. However, she is not the only woman in this film, we also see the character Helen who portrays a classic woman who cries a lot and complains and talks too much. Hildy on the other hand never cries and does not complain. If she has a problem then she fixes it herself. Nevertheless, we do see a soft side to Hildy from beginning to end. Hildy wants to get married and become a housewife. Meaning she wants children, no job, no social life, and a house away from everything. Even at the very end, we see such a confident woman cry. But everyone at some point cries under a lot of stress whether they are a man or a woman. This film takes the role of women to the next level for the 1940’s era. Hildy represents what women should be like: confident, taking big roles in the work field, smart, and taking control of situations. Unlike Helen, that represents the “modern” 1940’s women. The “modern” 1940’s woman were housewives that tended to their children and husbands, had no social lives, cooked, and cleaned for a living and complained about their sucky/boring lives. Hildy is the superwoman in this scenario defeating all classic roles of a normal “modern” woman in that era. This film gives that era a look through a different conflicting lens in the role of women in the 1940’s. For a woman is actually useful in this movie compared to the “modern” 1940’s women then.
ReplyDeleteThe film, His Girl Friday, is a very progressive film in the world of feminism. When the movie begins Hildy Johnson, the main character, is pursuing a stereotypical life for a woman in the 1940’s. She talks of her fantasy of moving north to Albany, New York in hopes of becoming a housewife and starting a family with her fiancé, Bruce. However, she is pulled back into the world of journalism by her ex-husband Walter for one last interview for the exchange of money. The scene where Walter convinces her to come back in for this interview is very powerful. In 1940’s America, women were not widely respected in the work place. However, in this scene, Walter pulls her back in because she is the only one he believes can do this job well. He does not trust any of his other reporters, mostly men, to get the job done. This is the first of two scenes that makes His Girl Friday a feminist film. The second, is not so much a scene as it is the result of the movie. While in the beginning, Hildy claims she is only coming back to the journalism world for one report. She says, she plans on moving up to Albany and getting married when she is done. However, this is the furthest thing from what truly happens. The film ends with Hildy cancelling her marriage with her fiancé, Bruce, and becoming a full time journalist for her ex-husband, Walter.
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ReplyDeleteIn “His Girl Friday”, Hildy Johnson, the main character, is depicted as a strong and confident career driven women who not only can challenge men, but who also can outsmart them. Throughout the film, Hildy is confident in her decision to leave her ex-husband, Walter Burns, who is a manipulative journalist attempting to reclaim his ex-wife Hildy, and write a story regarding a criminal on death row. It is not until the end of the film in which Hildy displays typical feminine emotions, and crawls back to the man who not only manipulated her, but also her soon to be husband. Before the ending though, this film could be considered a pro-feminist film. Having an independent and intelligent women as one of the lead roles displays the progressiveness of the 1940’s film era. Hildy’s wardrobe is an example of the progressiveness. Her clothes are very professional and put together, creating a bold statement. Her outfits stand out from the other female characters such as Bruce’s mother, and Mollie Malloy, who were both shown wearing very feminine, if not drab outfits. This displays the dynamic that the film attempted to create between the women. Hildy is purposefully depicted with a cool composure to foil Mollie Malloy, and create a stronger image for herself. This film is very complex in the way it depicts the modern women because although Hildy is seen as self-reliant, it is evident that Walter Burns ultimately can connive his way back into a situation where he has control over her. He was the one to get her back into journalism, almost by force through his tricks. Overall, this film displays strong feminist sentiments, although there may be an underlying theme of patriarchal control.
The film His Girl Friday constantly undermines the ability and importance of women. First, it should be noted that this film is very strange with regards to gender roles. One of the main characters, Hildy Johnson, plays a progressive role in the film and embodies the sense of a powerful woman. Thus, it must be said that this film has many progressive qualities, but in the end the reputation of women is still tarnished. A great example of this is towards the end of the film in the news room when Walter convinces Hildy to write another piece about “murder”. Essentially Hildy gives in and becomes convinced that she wants to stay in the newspaper business. It could be interpreted as true love, and maybe she truly does want to stay in the newspaper business. Instead it is just Walter continuing to manipulate her. It shows that Hildy, who essentially represents women in general in this film, cannot think for herself. She can easily be controlled by men. This example also proves that in the film the men control and dictate the lives of the women. It is as though Hildy is a puppet and Walter is the puppeteer. This relationship completely undermines the importance of women. Also, this is not the only example of this. Mollie Malloy, for example, is distraught throughout the film, which in and of itself challenges the idea of women being portrayed as equal. In addition to this, Mollie is pushed around by the men in the news room, and her entire life revolves around her husband, Earl, yet she cannot seem to do anything to help him. Due to these inequalities between men and women in the film, it simply cannot be said that this film calls for equality between the sexes.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, this may seem like a very progressive film with a strong and unique female lead however, if you look at the plot, you can quickly see that this is a story about Walter burns scheming to convince Hildy not to marry Bruce. The fact that Hildy has dealt with him before and is more prepared for his schemes than Bruce does not make this film feminist. In fact, Hildy being strong and resistant to the schemes of Walter Burns only makes the task of convincing her more impressive when it is successfully done at the end of the film. Walter burns is unable to take no for an answer and thus instead he manipulates the feelings of Hildy until she wants to stay with him at the paper and be remarried to him. At the beginning of the film, Hildy shows up to the office of Mr. Burns to tell him that she is leaving to get married, Walter quickly begins trying to find a way to postpone her departure by inviting them to lunch. After that, he again delays their departure by insisting that Hildy write an article that would save a man’s life. After much protest, Hildy gives in and decides to write the article. From there he is able to separate the two and send time manipulating Hildy and convincing her that she loves writing for the newspaper. The conclusion Hildy comes to at the end of the movie to stay with Walter is not her own, it was carefully inserted into her mind by Walter. This is especially problematic because the message this sends across is that if you are cunning enough, you can convince someone to do what you want no matter how many times they say no.
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ReplyDeleteThough His Girl Friday may seem like a feminist film given that Hildy Johnson is a powerful and respected career-woman, it ultimately still conveys a message that the role of a woman in modern 1940’s America is still a stereotypical female who is dependent on the men in her life. While Hildy is introduced as the best reporter for her Newspaper company, she is also depicted as a woman who desires a traditionally female life, immediately conveying that even successful woman in their careers still seek domestic bliss, reinforcing the message that females in our society should not pursue strong careers, as even women who are successful in their careers still wish to become housewives. It could be argued that because the end of the film shows Hildy returning to her journalism career and her husband Walter, who also encourages her to pursue her career, that Hildy is in fact reversing this stereotype. However, a closer analysis of the end of the film reveals the opposite conclusion. Previously in the film, Molly Malloy is established as the classic “foil” character for Hildy Johnson; Molly Malloy is hysterical, overly-excited, and completely concerned about her lover, while Hildy Johnson is composed, calm, and focused on her work. However, at the end of the film, the audience sees Hildy Johnson break down, crying when she realizes her relationship with Bruce is even more frayed when he is imprisoned for having counterfeit money. Furthermore, while earlier in the film Hildy is able to realize when Walter is manipulating her and therefore retaliates in counter manipulation, for example ripping up her written article when she has realized that Walter double-crossed her, at the end of the film she seems to simply cave in to Walter’s manipulative actions and interprets the planting of counterfeit money as Walter’s final push to win her back into a relationship with him. At the end of the film, she gives up her goal of marrying Bruce and pursuing a more peaceful life and exchanges it for her career and Walter, who has made her unhappy in their past marriage. Although this may seem feminist because she is choosing her career over domestic bliss, in reality it is simply an example of Walter manipulating Hildy and convincing her that she should continue her journalism career, as Walter’s Newspaper company also benefits from her contributions. This is shown by the comparison between her dialogue with Walter at the start of the film and the end of the film. When she is telling Walter about her decision to marry Bruce at the start of the film, she is depicted as very logical, reasonable, and in control of her emotions. At the end of the film however, she is close to hysterics and is willing to go along with anything Walter says, as shown by her agreement to their new honeymoon plans that involve covering a newspaper story, though she clearly wanted a greater separation between work and romance at the start of the film. In other words, Hildy ultimately agrees to every aspect of Walter’s plan, portraying her as a woman who simply tags along next to her man and gives up her own goals for the goals of her lover, reverting Hildy back to a stereotypical weak female character and making it impossible for His Girl Friday to be a strong feminist film.
In the film His Girl Friday, Hildy Johnson is a proud and confident woman. The film depicts a feminist message, an uncommon choice for films of this era. The viewer learns this from the very beginning of the plot when she visits the office and all her former colleagues stop what they are doing to greet her. Many stand to their feet and stop what they are doing out of respect to Hildy. Hildy seems to walk with an aura of power, something that can be seen as unique in 1940s America. Regardless of the era’s gender roles, Hildy does not let that define her. She did not submit to anyone, divorced her spouse because she was unhappy regardless if her husband was her boss. When Hildy was telling Walter that she was going to marry another man, she showed her strength to resist Walter’s pleas. In a medium shot, Walter and Hildy had been face-to-face confronting each other on their marriage woes. Most importantly, the scene depicted Hildy as logical, intelligent, and respectful. Many could argue that the film was not feminist, because she wanted to leave her job and begin a family. This is an invalid argument, because starting a family does not mean one is submitting to the other gender or expressing inequality. At the end of the film, Hildy returns to her ex-husband, this could also be seen as weakness. Fortunately, this was not the case. Hildy loved Walter, but some of his antics drove her crazy. By divorcing him and planning to marry another man, Walter realized what he was losing. He began to compromise or give Hildy what she wanted. I see this as Hildy demanding a more powerful role in the marriage, which is quite the opposite of weakness. His Girl Friday does not support the stereotypical gender roles of 1940s America by promoting the power of women.
ReplyDeleteIn His Girl Friday, Hildy is presented as a strong woman with a mind of her own, but by the end of the film, she devolves into a stereotypical woman who is, ultimately, manipulated by her male counterpart. I found that throughout the film, Hildy’s personality changes based on who she is with. For example, if she is with Bruce, she is mild and gentle and talks about how she wants to settle down and be a mother. However, when she is with Walter, she gets caught up in his fast-paced living and is suddenly a career woman who doesn’t have time (nor the desire) for the quiet, motherly life she had planned with Bruce. From the start of the film, the audience gets the idea that Hildy is a strong and respected female lead. As she walks through the office in one of the first scenes, men take off their hats as she walks by and everyone greets her with excitement. She is a respected newspaperwoman who is really good at her job. As she tells Walter in this scene, she plans on giving up her career to settle down with Bruce. This plan starts to change as the film progresses. She allows herself to be manipulated by Walter. It had been Walter’s plan since the beginning to not only win back her love, but also get her back to work. In one of the last scenes of the movie, Hildy finally breaks down and starts weeping. This act would have been unimaginable for the Hildy we saw in the beginning of the movie. Walter realizes this sudden change in Hildy’s personality and even goes as far as to say that he had never seen her cry before. Ultimately, Hildy ends up back with the same man she got divorced from and completely forgets about Bruce. Some would argue that forgetting about her plan to settle down and have kids would be a step towards a more modern female role, however, I would argue that the film ultimately conveys the message that women can’t be a career-chaser without the right man in her life to help her when she has these womanly emotional breakdowns. For Hildy, that man is Walter.
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