Session Two Women-in-Danger Films Department of Film and Audiovisual Culture Dr. Richard Nowell ¨14:15 – 15:50 ¨Eyes of Laura Mars (1978) ¨ ¨15:50 – 16:05 ¨Break ¨ ¨16:05 – 17:25 ¨Hollywood Women-in-danger Films dressed-to-kill-movie-poster12.jpg eyes_of_laura_mars.jpg eyes_of_a_stranger.jpg lipstick.jpg he_knows_youre_alone.jpg visiting_hours.jpg fan.jpg windows.jpg when_a_stranger_calls.jpg seduction.jpg night_school.jpg dressed-to-kill-movie-poster12.jpg ¨The critical reception of women-in-danger films ¨ ¨Socio-political discourses underpinning their reception and production ¨ ¨Women-in-danger films Reconsidered as topical “Women’s Cinema” ¨ eyes_of_laura_mars.jpg dressed-to-kill-movie-poster12.jpg ¨How are women portrayed in this film? ¨ ¨How are men portrayed in this film? ¨ ¨What does this film suggest is the relationship between the media industries and violence against women? ¨ ¨What steps do the makers of this film take to insulate it from cries of misogyny? ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ eyes_of_laura_mars.jpg ¨The critical reception of women-in-danger films ¨ ¨Socio-political discourses underpinning their reception and production ¨ ¨Women-in-danger films Reconsidered as topical “Women’s Cinema” ¨ eyes_of_laura_mars.jpg dressed-to-kill-movie-poster12.jpg ¨What does Lyons’ suggest were the main concerns of the feminist groups that protested against Dressed to Kill and other films? ¨ ¨What are some of the assumptions that underpin the feminists denunciation of Dressed to Kill? ¨ dressed to kill flier violence not sexy.jpg ¨Films like DTK trivialize, sexualize violence against women ¨ ¨In so doing, they encourage real-life male-on-female violence ¨ ¨Assumptions ¨ ¨1. Target audience and viewers are exclusively male ¨ ¨2. The male audience does not identify with female characters ¨ ¨3. Viewers root for the killer and sympathize with his motives ¨ ¨4. Filmmakers advocate (rather than condemn) violence ¨ ¨Three discourses underpinning hostility ¨ ¨1. Sociological ¨Phillip Jenkins: shows that FBI was casting serial murder as systemic “femicide” ¨ ¨2. Spectatorial ¨Linda Williams: violent content recast as a pornographic pleasure for male viewers ¨ ¨3. Institutional ¨Hollywood attacked for its supposed sexism; for objectifying women on-screen ¨ ted-bundy-pic.jpg fay wrey.jpg Second Wave Feminism.jpg ¨Arguments crystallized in Backlash ¨ ¨Founding Myths ¨1. Gender equality already reached ¨2. Feminism therefore obsolete 1. ¨Backlash Culture Promotes ¨1. Glorification of male power ¨2. Societal damage caused by feminists & independent women ¨3. Traditional gender roles ¨ ¨ magnum_force_ver2.jpg Faludi Backlash.jpg Bcklash.jpg kramer_vs_kramer.jpg ¨1976: discourses converge around two films ¨ ¨1. Snuff is promoted as featuring filmmakers actually murdering an actress on the screen ¨ ¨2. Lipstick is promoted on the rape and revenge of a model by a photographer ¨ ¨Both films framed as implicating the culture industries in the brutalization of women ¨ ¨Links culture industries to a misogynistic maniac, and therefore not the victims ¨ ¨ 1. lipstick.jpg snuff.jpg ¨What positions on violence against women does Wood suggest are taken in Eyes of a Stranger? ¨ ¨What elements of the film does Wood invoke in support of this argument? ¨ ¨How does Wood suggest Eyes of A Stranger compares to other films of its type? ¨ eyes_of_a_stranger.jpg ¨Same subject matter treated differently: the film critiques male-on-female violence ¨ ¨Film encourages victim identification ¨ ¨Presents sympathetic female characters ¨ ¨Condemns pervasive sexism of which a rapist-killer is an extreme manifestation ¨ ¨Claims this film is the exception that makes the rule … but is it just an exception? ¨ eyes_stranger2.jpg eyes-of-a-stranger-1981-awesome-killing-a-slash-above_std_original.jpg eyes4sq7.jpg ¨How did you respond to the violence in this movie? ¨ ¨Which characters did you find likable and which less so? ¨ ¨Does this film hate women? ¨ ¨ dressed-to-kill-movie-poster12.jpg ¨Focuses on women’s emotions, fears, and frustrations ¨ ¨Presents men as selfish, bullish, or violent ¨ ¨Suggest hope might exist in the next generation ¨ ¨Also presented misogyny as a society-wide problem (albeit in deeply racist terms) ¨ ¨Pictures movie-making as a way of countering violence against women Dressed-to-Kill-1980-UK-BD_03.png dressed-to-kill-1980-dennis-franz-keith-gordon-pic-3.jpg dtk.png dtk 2.jpg ¨How are women portrayed in this film? ¨ ¨How are men portrayed in this film? ¨ ¨What does this film suggest is the relationship between the media industries and violence against women? ¨ ¨What steps do the makers of this film take to insulate it from cries of misogyny? ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ eyes_of_laura_mars.jpg ¨Portrays independent women as innocent victims of male psychological and social ills ¨ ¨Portrays (straight) men as threatening, violent, and deeply hateful of female autonomy ¨ ¨Links victimization and the media (photography and Hollywood) as feminine ¨ ¨Links critics of the movie and the killer via their shared hatred of “Laura Mars”/“Eyes” Eyes Of Laura Mars.jpg eyes of laura mars 01.jpg Eyes%20Eyes%20laura%20Det%20mirrors.jpg ¨Hollywood courts females in 1970s ¨ ¨Focuses on women’s interpersonal, psychic, and professional lives ¨ ¨Pictured men as a potential hazard ¨ ¨Heroines in media jobs linked culture industries to women ¨ ¨Topicalized the standard practice of angling horror and thrillers to women ¨ ¨ ¨ ¨ way_we_were.jpg china_syndrome_ver2.jpg nine_to_five.jpg julia.jpg rosemarys_baby.jpg omen_ver4.jpg ring_ver3.jpg silence_of_the_lambs_ver2.jpg alien_ver2.jpg exorcist_ver2.jpg shining_ver1.jpg paranormal_activity_three.jpg dracula_ver3.jpg sixth_sense_ver1.jpg ¨“A thrilling vision of romance and terror,” ¨ ¨“A romantic thriller,” ¨ ¨“A powerful love story,” ¨ ¨“A subliminal mystery, a tragic love story, and a revelation about the nature of the movie medium itself.” ¨Marketing materials primed viewers to interpret these films as: ¨ ¨Female-friendly critiques of misogyny 1. ¨1. Addressed women directly ¨ ¨2. Spotlighted connections to female-oriented trends ¨ ¨3. Posited the figure of the female cultural practitioner to imply female authorship ¨ ¨ ¨http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOR8hNJOOr0 (1.40) ¨ ¨http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=am3edy5HH7E ¨ ¨http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skhTOes0vn0 ¨ ¨http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=669e2gtkUBw ¨Feminists argued the films celebrated violence against women, arguing they represented a backlash against female empowerment ¨ ¨Where Wood suggests EOAS was an exceptional critique, Hollywood releases can be read as attempts to critique misogyny ¨ ¨Films tended to picture men as a threat, and women as unjustly threatened, in order to protect the idea of female autonomy ¨ ¨The films often flagged up this material by including media in the films – usually having heroines working in the culture industries ¨ ¨These strategies were intended to attract female audiences