Feminist films

DLaurent

Well-known member
I'm particularly interested, well I say interested but only a few films have really piqued my interest, in early feminist films. I think you might be able to pick out earlier films and I'd be interested in hearing about that, but I think that something changed post WW2 when it came to slapping women in films etc. But even deeper than that, the psychological undertones, shown in this film by Max Ophuls called Caught. I think he was a pioneer of a new style of feminism.



I don't think it was much of a coincidence that films like this started to appear after the two great wars as it links in to a different style of government.

The antithesis to this would be the Heimatfilms in West Germany as part of the Denazification process. A clear example of which is below (the German version of Sound of Music) with a strong father figure who sorts out the family.



I still reckon depth psychology is used upon us today, and not for egalitarian reasons, but more to do with the amount of control a state has over a population. It is seen in countries with stronger familial structures that it's more difficult to wield control.

Tell me I'm being old school or barking up the wrong tree but this is something I've been thinking about and wonder if anyone thinks film is as important as me?
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
Perhaps not as feminist in terms of content, but the films of Alice Guy-Blache are, by virtue of their existence, something you might be interested in.

Pre-1900 films. She is considered by some to be the first narrative film director, seeing as the films of that time were largely observational and lacking story.

There is an excellent documentary about her available on Kanopy, but I'm not sure about the regional availability of the title.
 

Clinamenic

Binary & Tweed
I understand that, before Hollywood turned film into an industry, women were more prominently situated in positions of creative power. I believe the documentary touches on this.
 

DLaurent

Well-known member
Interesting. I'll have to watch more very early films like those by Alice Guy-Blache. It is interesting that she was French from a period of Parisian decadence, the swinging era in France. Most of the films I've been drawn to recently are those with strong femme fatales, the woman is the cause of trouble in these films. It is only when films like the Max Ophuls film above starts appearing after WW2 I have noticed a psychological reversal of this role, it's very clear in this film with the miscarriage.
 

DLaurent

Well-known member
I've seen The Reckless Moment by Ophuls which didn't strike me as profound as Caught, more James Mason doing an Irish accent. I think a few other of his films are about Opulence rather than being Noirs, verging on melodramas but don't quote me on that.
 
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