And the exclusion of women Brief overview of the Dream Its foundations lie in the Declaration of Independence We hold these truths to be selfevident that all Men are created equal that they are endowed by God Creator with certain inalienable Rights that among these are Life Liberty ID: 565519
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Slide1
AMERICAN DREAM
And the exclusion of women…Slide2
Brief overview of the Dream
Its foundations lie in the Declaration of Independence:
‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by God, Creator, with certain inalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.’
First used by James Truslow Adams in 1931
‘The American Dream is that dream of a land in which life should be richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement . . . It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order’
Seen by Martin Luther King as a dream of equality
Rejection of class based society and it logically follows that gender equality should be inherent in the DreamSlide3
Myth
That everyone can share in the Dream (a land of opportunity)
That hard work and ambition are all that is needed
That wealth and status equals success
That material security and social acceptance equals emotional security and happinessSlide4
Reality
That it is limited to few… inaccessible to many
That it has become corrupted and distorted, yet remains profoundly seductive
It is ultimately hollow and unfulfilling
It is a distraction from what is important – morality, honesty, empathy and kindnessSlide5
Mankiewicz and the Dream
America became a land fascinated by the self-made man… the rags to riches tale.
Perhaps the film is a critique of the ethos of self-making
Embedded in the American Dream is the assumption that hard work and ambition will bring happiness and this will come in the form of material success, social approval and popularity. Eve embodies this. It seems the Dream is limited to a few and in people like of Eve we see the weapons that a woman must employ in a world in which all the power resides with the men
Mankiewicz condemns
the deceptive and manipulative manner Eve achieves her success, as she is punished… but not Addison?
Mankiewicz celebrates
success achieved with “work done the hard way – by sweat, application and craftsmanship” (Bill)Slide6
Topic
Mankiewicz’s
satire
offers a powerful
critique
of the
American Dream
.
DiscussSlide7
Topic Sentences
Success in American films is invariably linked with an unscrupulous disregard for decency and fair play.
Women appear to have limited access to the Dream, in what appears to be a patriarchal society.
While Mankiewicz satirically reflects the transition from the old world to new world values, contemporary audiences to the film are left with a sense that not much has really changed for women.Slide8
Topic sentence #1
Success in American films is invariably linked with an unscrupulous disregard for decency and fair play.Slide9
Eve embodies a voracious desire for success with very little self-identity apart from consuming ambition.
Characterisation of Eve:
- Masculine and feminine – seamless transition, insidious, dangerous, using sexual wiles
- Lack of identity – conceals, covers, “magic perfume”
- Mirrors - perfecting the image, mimicking
- Hands – youthful, grasping, allusion to Macbeth and first woman
- Animal Imagery – Eve Uses sexual favours
- Costumes – trench coat, Margo’s suit, black
- Stairs - climbingSlide10
In the mirrorSlide11
The handsSlide12
Eve… the first womanSlide13
The CostumesSlide14
StairsSlide15
Animal Imagery
“…native habitat is the theatre”
“bloodhounds”
“dead animal act”
“lamb loose in our big stone jungle”
“loose lamb in a jungle”
“sharpen her teeth”
“fangs”
Busy bees, full of stings, making honey”
“snake pit”
“Cub Room”
“childish little game of cat and mouse”Slide16
Topic sentence #2
Women appear to have limited access to the dream, in what appears to be a patriarchal society.
All About Eve is more concerned with “the kind of power that women can acquire in a man’s world that usually offers them more limited opportunities for freedom and advancement”.
“Margo Channing is such a woman, a star actress whose presence in the play is vital to four men, all of whose professional careers depend in some sense upon her success as a performer.”Slide17
The Women
Females were constrained by the society…
like the girdles they had to wear.
Social context
– women in the 50’s
They were encouraged
to return to home duties.
This was the foundation
for their happiness.
.Slide18
Margo Channing
Growing tension in Margo between professional identity and personal identity
“Funny business, a woman’s career. The things you drop on your way up the ladder so you can move faster.”
“I suddenly feel like I’ve taken all my clothes off”Slide19
The ageing star
Margo finds the ageing process confronting
She believes aging means invisibility
She fears feeling “unwanted or insecure – or unloved”
“It’s a bitterly sad point of no return for an actress. It usually means that a wide range of stimulating identity proxies – particularly those that reflect and sustain the metaphor of youth – would, from now on, be inexorably unavailable to her.”
Carey, Gary (1972),
More About All About Eve, p.21Slide20
Karen Richards
Born into a privileged world – a Radcliffe girl
“they’ll do as they’re told”… but this is not the case in the end.
“That helplessness you feel when you have no talent to offer, outside of loving your husband”
“How could I compete?” Slide21
Claudia Caswell
Abuses her sexual power
“Now, go and do yourself some good” (Addison)
“Now go and make him happier” (Addison)
“I can see your career rising like the east in the sun” (Addison)
but she becomes “violently ill to her tummy” …perhaps she doesn’t have the stomach for what takes.
“Like I just swam the English Channel”Slide22
The Men
Male control is firmly established.
Lloyd controls the script and her role (words)
“I shall never understand the weird process by which a body with a voice suddenly fancies itself a mind”
Bill controls the script of her personal life (actions)
“Bill’s here baby, everything’s alright now”
Max controls the production (money)
“… out to make a buck”
Addison controls the response and narrative (audience)
“Do you realise and agree how completely you belong to me”
“In
Eve
, the resisting male (Addison) does not flee the dangerous woman, but, instead, deprives her of the power to act”Slide23
… and Mankiewicz
Mankiewicz ultimately controls everything… the script, the vision and the perspective
“So that at the age of six they must find other ways to get what they want. And each one is different, and each one has a separate scheme, and they begin to develop their little tricks, their little wiles, and it’s fascinating. My God, there’s nothing I want to write more about.”Slide24
Topic sentence #3
While Mankiewicz satirically reflects the transition from old world to new world values, contemporary audiences to the film are left with a sense that not much has really changed for women
In All about Eve there is ultimately a “male character strong enough to foil the destructive plottings of a powerful woman” – the “bourgeois family” is restored and saved from the “threat of an immoral if fascinating assertion of feminine desire”.
“The film offers a profound, sometimes humorously misogynistic commentary of the female sensibility as it was lived in post war America”
Discussion for this paragraph will mainly be drawn from the coda (postscript). Note: Addison DeWitt started the narration and finished the narrationSlide25
Mankiewicz’s Message
Women are punished – dream shown to be fleeting, transitory, ultimately unfulfilling… unless they surrender to male version of the Dream & male control – it is a cut throat world of the theatre and therefore society… always someone younger, waiting in the wings to usurp the older
Largely patriarchal - Endorses punishment of women and establishes male control.
“elaboratate plottings of morally dubious characters comes to nought or even worse comes up trapping those who set it in motion” Slide26
“Miss Harrington knows all about it” Slide27
Mankiewicz’s message continues…
Dream has become distorted/perverted – methods of attaining the Dream condemned
In the end male control is firmly established
Old world order celebrated – represented by Margo, Karen… aging actor made correct choice
Accepts new world order but it is made to look hollow
- For Eve, the award does not replace heart
- For Phoebe, the image is of an opportunistic, cunning, stealthy young woman
Essentially he endorses the old world values but acknowledges the new world values