The movie showed us two different marriages under stress:
1) a working-class couple dealing with infidelity and a reversal of the typical "jealous husband murders wife's lover" story discussed in Hartog's eighth chapter.
2) a upper-class couple facing the challenges of the 1930s "new woman" (following suffrage in 1920) and sexual equality in the workplace as well as the home.
What scenes from the movie developed the personalities and conflicts of these two married couples?
How is the film addressing and working out larger social problems of this period of transition?
Also, related to a gendered analysis, if not to marriage: the Bonner's neighbor, Kip, is a classic example of how gay men were common to romantic comedies of the era, even though their sexuality is obviously hidden. Yet Kip (with his avant-garde and primitive art collections and work as a show business pianist/composer) clearly signals to the audience that he is not a real threat to the marriage of Adam and Amanda. Such "codes" also allowed gay and lesbian audience members to recognize these characters as gay, even if straight viewers did not always see them as such.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The courtroom scenes best exemplified both of these conflicts. Here we saw the argument being made that, contrary to what was discussed in Hartog where a man could kill his wife's lover but not vice versa, women were being portrayed as equally entitled under the law. thus if a man could kill his adulterous wife's lover, then she too could lash out in rage and cause injury. Amanda's views of a woman's right to equal protection in all aspects of society lead to conflict in her own marraige as well. Although Adam accepts her empowerment in his personal and even public life (Amanda is a high powered lawyer, drives them to work daily etc.)he feels threatened by her direct challenge to him on behalf of all women. He says that she is trying to overcome the law but it also has an underlying attitude that women are not regarded as equal under the law and the law should not be challenged. Amanda's power in the private and semi-public world is quite different from Amanda's power in a heavily publicized trial in which Adam feels he is bing made a mockery of. The strains of the "new woman" in both relationships is quite evident as they become less deferential and try to find their voices resulting in a trial and a nearly destroyed marraige. Challenges to gender roles are always a jarring idea to members of society as the couples beautifully illustrate.
Another gender renegade is Kip. Although he often makes sexual advances towards Amanda, his flirtations seem purely platonic. He is seen as sexually non-threatening and therefore Adam's annoyance with him is never exceptionally serious as a competitor. Amanda is his friend and companion, but he is not seen a a threat to her marraige. In this way Kip can be a gay character in a non-threatening way. He is not outwardly homosexual, though perhaps a bit flamboyant, yet he is not then gender norm. This allows him to be non-threatening but also to give a new perspective on a identity that is beginning to emerge in a covert manner.
I am cautious to call kip a "gender renegade." Though it is seems clear to us now that the intention of Kip is a character is to fill some type of stereotypical void in which the "masculine power woman" needs her best gay friend. It seems obvious that this relationship is platonic based on this convention.
However at the production of this film, we just don't really know what type of conventions of homosexuality in Hollywood were(in 1950 this is a complex issue). It's important therefore to see exactly what makes Kip platonic without reading in our own conventions. I personally point to the utter lack of masculinity of the character. He is a the jester of the dinner party and the projectionist of his nieghbors films more an "assistant" than an equal man. He seems immature in some senses and he does "light" pop music not serious art. The actor also beardless and slight with a youthful face.
When we contrast his masculinity with that of Adam Bonner, a civic servant an supposedly a man in power, it seems clear that Kip is no match for "real" masculinity. These conventions at this point in film don't automatically mean gay, but do rouse sympathy for the "true man" like Adam who must struggle Against his wifes aggressions and affections for non conventional gender norms.
Post a Comment