Thursday, February 23, 2012
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 he 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 is tell us anything about "modern" women in 1940's America?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
His Girl Friday sends many mixed messages on the subject of feminism. In the first scene of the movie Hildy Johnson is portrayed as a very strong female who takes control of the newsroom just by walking in. After seeing this scene, His Girl Friday may seem like a pro-feminism movie, but this idea is completely contradicted in the next scene where she goes in to Walter Burns’ office to tell him about her marriage plans. In this scene she said she doesn’t want the “journalist lifestyle” and would rather settle down and become a housewife with her fiancé Bruce. This scene shows Hildy in an anti-feminist light and even though she is a strong female, she wants a different kind of life. His Girl Friday continues to flip-flop its feminist views throughout the rest of the movie, showing many different sides of Hildy. Some examples of this happening are when Hildy enters the press office next to the prison and once again takes control of the all-male room and then contradicts her behavior by saying once again that she wants out of the journalist business so she can have a more normal life. The last time this happens is at the very end of the movie; however this time it happens in the opposite order. In the final scene Hildy is talking to Walter about ending her career in journalism when she finds out Bruce has been thrown in jail once again and decides to stay as a journalist and remarry Walter instead of Bruce. Even though this movie sends many mixed messages about feminism, I believe that His Girl Friday is a feminist movie and shows women of the time as equals to the male characters because even though Hildy says she doesn’t want the life of journalism, she decides to go back to it anyway where she rivals her male counterparts. If Hildy can be considered a representation of the average woman in the 1940’s this film would show the women of the time as strong people who may or may not want a domestic life and like Hildy, will continue to be strong characters whether or not they are career oriented.
ReplyDeletePhenomenal/ Phenominal Screwball.
ReplyDeleteThis film depicts Hilde as a powerful woman who is competent enough to rub her shoulders against men of high status in the newspaper business. The film is indeed feminist but her role as an independent and strong woman seems to diminish as she continues to interact with Walter. From a passive point of view, she looks and fits the picture of a phenomenal woman, but she later crawls back to Walter when she realizes that her plans with Bruce are not as sweet as she had thought them to be. Is this what people do when faced with challenges, or is Hildy a phenomenal lady in name only (phenominal)?
Initially, we see her as this really exuberant lady who commands quite a great deal of power at the start of the film. For example, a testament to this is the famous scene where she walks through the open office with her coworkers hollering in excitement. At this point, she is at her all time high but she does not maintain and exceed this powerful image that she has handed to the audience, and this is where I see the screwball: Phenomenal…no, Phenominal…yes.
By the way she dresses, walks and speaks, we can tell that she is meant to represent progressive women in a new a new light: equals of their male counterparts. On the surface she is, but she is not quite cunning and street smart as Walter. As a result, she falls back into his arms. I am not saying this what women do today but this is film implies that Hildy was indeed a confident career woman but was not ready to play hard and dirty like her cunning former husband, Walter. This could potentially echo the plight of many women in the 1940’s. They were all capable but men had a slight leverage in some other respects that w
Before we began this movie, we talked as a class about the meaning of the film’s title, His Girl Friday. We learned that this title alludes to the tale of Robinson Crusoe, and the main character’s sidekick – Friday. One can then interpret the title to mean that Hildy is not an independent and self-reliant woman, but rather nothing more than a ‘side kick’. No matter what she does, she will always be affiliated and attached to a male counterpart, incapable of blazing a trail for herself. In this movie, no matter what women do, they always play second fiddle to men and are seen as nothing more than sidekicks. Her relationship with Walter is a perfect example of her dependence on men. At the beginning of the movie, she prides herself on being independent and capable of having a career of her own without the guidance and help of men. However, as the film progresses, Hildy gravitates back towards Walter and the life that she once tried to escape. However, Walter is depicted as controlling, so much so that over the short period of 8 hours, he is able to convince Hildy to come back to him and abandon her dream of a domestic life with Bruce. This exemplifies the notion that men are the dominant sex in this movie; capable of manipulating and controlling the women into doing whatever it may be that the men want.
ReplyDeleteThe 1940s must have been an awful time to be a woman in America. That’s because on the surface women were given the chance to be progressive and equal to men, but below that they were continuing to be relegated to supporting roles in their own lives. This is on view in His Girl Friday. Hildy starts out in control, incredibly intelligent and competent. She’s kind and principled and, most importantly of all, she’s moral. While other (male) reporters feel no shame in ruining the life of the convict’s supposed girlfriend, Hildy abstains from such behavior. When Walter spends the first ten minutes of the film doing nothing but attempting to lure Hildy back into the newsroom, she sticks to her well-reasoned decision and says no. Of course, that’s just what’s on the surface. As the film progresses, we get a true sense of what 1940s film studios and writers and directors – and therefore probably the masses – thought of women. For starters, Hildy can’t stay out of the game for long and soon succumbs to Walter’s promises, agreeing to write a news story. After that, her strength and moral fortitude only crumble faster. Her fiancé Bruce clearly loves her, but, influenced by Walter, she puts him out of mind and even leaves him to rot in jail. This completely contradicts the affection Hildy showed for Bruce at the start of the film. What’s more, the ultimate demonstration of Hildy’s lack of resolve comes at the end of the film, when she decides to leave Bruce for Walter. Not only is this irresponsible, it’s idiotic; Hildy left Walter for very good reasons, including the fact that he’s a total jerk. How can a movie establish a smart, brave character and then undermine that very characterization, all in an hour and a half? The answer is because it’s a woman, and women in the 1940s couldn’t get away with appearing superior to their ex-husbands.
ReplyDeleteHildy Johnson is one of a small number of characters in His Girl Friday who can be accurately classified as a competent human being (many characters in His Girl Friday, both male and female, are shown as being completely inept and incapable of rational decision making or thought). From this, one can conclude that His Girl Friday is at least slightly feminist. However, Hildy allows herself to be manipulated by her ex-husband, Walter Burns, in a relatively easy manner. In one night alone Walter manages to convince her to leave her current fiancee and her dreams of living as a housewife to return to Walter and reclaim her job as a star reporter. The fact that Walter so easily manipulates her speaks volumes. This displays Hildy, and by extension all women, as being a feeble minded and inferior to men. It is therefore difficult to conclude decisively whether or not this is a feminist film. I lean towards an answer of 'No'.
ReplyDeleteHildy Johnson was able to compete with the men in His Girl Friday, she is portrayed as one of the tough girls. Hildy has the ability and upfront power to override the men in a man’s only field of work. Is Hildy the “modern” woman of the 1940’s, though? She walks with power, you can tell as soon as she walks through the newspaper that she runs that group of people, even though she technically does not even work there anymore after the divorce from her husband, the editor of the newspaper. The reason she came into the newspaper, though, to let her ex-husband know that she had changed, but how?
ReplyDeleteHildy Johnson was originally in a relationship with two very competing personalities. Both her and her ex-husband competed for the headship in the relationship; eventually it failed though since neither could be declared a definite winner. So, when Hildy walked into the newspaper to let her ex-husband know that she was getting remarried, her ex-husband was incredibly shocked to see who she was getting married to, especially after their relationship. Hildy, a city girl, a newspaper girl who competed with the men, was moving to upstate New York to marry an insurance agent and start their family, originally living with his mother until they can afford a home of their own. This is not what her ex-husband thought she wanted, and he was able to prove it in one night after he convinced her to work on one last story for the newspaper. Hildy and her ex-husband, both very aggressive personalities, almost teamed up against Hildy’s new finance during that one night. In the end, Hildy realized that what she really wanted was to be able to have a competition, not a typical family life with a house and kids. She is the example of the new city woman, in other words, the “modern” woman.
In my opinion, His Girl Friday is a film that mocks women who are strong and possess that can-do independent woman attitude in a world that is clearly dominated by the likes of men. His Girl Friday introduces us to Hilde Johnson, a woman who quickly comes across as strong, assertive, and driven. It soon becomes apparent that this Hilde differs in some way from that of the one who was formerly married to Walter. Though we never get an understanding of that earlier version of Hilde Johnson it comes across, at least to me; that this strong, independent women is desperately attempting to prove her independence and that she’s more than capable of succeeding without being supported by a man. Throughout the whole film she stays firm in her attempts to appear strong and confident however closer towards the ending of the second half of the movie one can clearly notice how she’s easily being manipulated by in fact a man. To me His Girl Friday depicts a woman trying and failing at accomplishing something without the help of a man discouraging the whole idea of female independence in the 1940’s.
ReplyDelete