Here's a look at the first two Terminator films taking a feminist approach. This is for my BTEC Film Studies
students who are currently writing up their own feminist analysis of science
fiction films which I hope they will then turn into a blog post just
like this! It follows from yesterday's genre analysis of The Terminator. Enjoy reading and please leave any feedback if you have
anything to say about what has been written here. After reading this, you may also find it interesting to read David Jackson's piece on why he thinks James Cameron is misandrist.
The icon returns... as the good guy! |
Feminism
is a movement that began in the early 20th Century with the purpose
of creating equal rights for women. At
this point, women were not allowed to vote and had very little opportunities
for employment or even control over their own bodies. Women were virtually possessions for their
husbands and domestic violence was even more common than it still worryingly is today. Feminists argued for women’s right to vote
and for equal rights with men in the workplace and in the home. They were advocates for methods of birth
control becoming available so women could take more control of their own
bodies.
Feminist
film theory is important because films are such a popular and influential
medium. Feminist theorists are
particularly concerned with the role of women in films and how they are represented. They analyse films from a feminist
perspective, looking specifically at the development and empowerment of women
in narratives, the relationship between female characters, the male gaze and
the idea of containment of women.
Help! |
In
The Terminator, Sarah Connor is
firstly represented as a stereotypical damsel in distress figure. She is the princess that needs to be rescued
from the evil villain by a heroic male figure.
Kyle Reese is a soldier sent back from the future to protect Sarah from
the Terminator. Sarah is represented as
a weak woman and she is employed as a waitress but finds it difficult as she is
disrespected by the customers. When the
Terminator finds Sarah she is scared and feeling hunted as a strange man has
been following and watching her. This
turns out to be Reese who than saves her by shooting at the Terminator. Sarah is dragged around by Reese who
continually saves her from death. He is
the character with knowledge in the story and he has to repeatedly tell Sarah
what is going on.
Man strong, woman weak |
As
the story progresses, Sarah learns how to defend herself a bit more. The male character teaches her to make bombs
and how to use weapons. Sarah is
dependent on the knowledge and skill of the male character. By the end Sarah has become the final girl,
like in many slasher films as her protector has died trying to save her. Even before his death, Sarah has become
stronger and when Reese is injured she is the one that encourages him to keep
going. Finally when Reese dies, after
injuring the Terminator, Sarah must fight back and gain her independence. She crushes the Terminator despite her
injury.
Literally contained |
In
Terminator 2, Sarah has been
institutionalised because figures of patriarchal authority such as the police
and doctors believe she is crazy. This is an example of containment. Sarah is now a strong, independent woman and
she has been locked up in a mental institution for it. Sarah is first shown as strong and in control
of her body and surroundings. She has
turned her cell into a makeshift gym so that she can do chin ups. She is watched by a team of doctors like a
dangerous caged animal. She is
resourceful and intelligent and almost escapes the hospital without any help. When the Terminator arrives with her son, she
is briefly relegated again to the damsel in distress role.
Tooled up |
However
throughout the film, Sarah is tough, good with typical masculine weaponry such as guns and determined. Increasingly she becomes more dependent on
the Terminator as he is stronger and virtually indestructible. In the final scene where Sarah confronts the
villain, it is the ‘male’ Terminator who must finish the job when Sarah runs
out of bullets. Therefore Sarah’s
position in the film becomes less prominent as the male characters become
increasingly important. On a few
occasions she is actually a hindrance to the mission and has to be told to calm
down and remain focused by her ten year old son.
Feminists
would find the representation of women in the film to be progressive in the
lack of a male gaze set up in the films.
The idea of the male gaze suggests that women are often objectified and
sexualised by male screenwriters and directors.
Women are often filmed to emphasise their attractiveness to the male
audience and the viewer is often positioned to look at women as if they are a
male character staring at the woman’s body.
Sarah Connor is never a sex object, although in the first film there is
a sex scene where her bare breasts are visible.
However for the most part, especially in the second film, Sarah is not
dressed in sexualised clothes and the camera does not linger on her body or her
appearance.
The male gaze |
On
the other hand, in Transformers and
the sequel, Mikaela Banes is played by Megan Fox and is constantly dressed in
revealing clothes such as short skirts and tight tops. Though she is quite a strong character who
displays knowledge of car mechanics and gets to fight alongside the heroes in
the final battle, she is also objectified as she leans over a car and then a
motorbike in the sequel. The camera
tilts up her body showing us the reaction of the male character as he looks at
her. The audience is invited to identify
with the male hero as he enjoys the look of the female character.
The Fox |
The
notion of containment is also central to feminist film theory. Often strong female characters have to be
contained by the men who write and direct Hollywood films. Even though Thelma and Louise for example try
to break free of social norms, they have to kill themselves at the end of the
film in a last act of defiance.
Similarly strong women are often contained by the patriarchal idea that
they must be mothers. In films from Kill Bill to Aliens to Terminator 2,
the female heroes of the story are strong because they are protective of their
offspring or because they take the role of a surrogate mother. Sarah Connor is only important because she
gives birth to the leader of the human resistance in the films. Her role as mother is the most important
thing about her. She is fighting to
protect her son John Connor so that he can grow up to save the human race in
the future. Her caring nature as a
mother figure also means that she fails in an assassination attempt later in
the film. When a child pleads with her
to not kill his father, Sarah breaks down and cannot continue in her
actions. Again, she is saved by the male
characters that come to help her.
Mummy you're so badass. |
This
is a common way for screenwriters to assert patriarchal ideology over strong
female characters. Sarah Connor is also
literally contained at the start of Terminator
2 because she has tried to fight the system and figures of authority have
deemed her insane. She is even licked by
a male nurse as a reminder to the audience that she is a woman and therefore
vulnerable and targeted by men. However
it is only with the help of male characters that she can break free of this
containment.
Kicking ass for kids. |
Can I get a hug? |
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