Gender in Modern Hollywood

Photo courtesy of: www.nytimes.com/.../magazine4/images/west.jpg	Mae West in Goin’ to Town Mae West’s character, Cleo Borden, in the film Goin’ to Town is a good example of the atypical female. She is aggressive, bold, open with her sexuality, and competitive. She often times reverses the roles of male and female relationships and breaks the mold of what a typical female shoule be like.

Cleo is an escort working in a saloon when Buck Gonzales asks her to marry him. Through manipulation and gambling, Cleo manages to land her man and a written agreement that by consenting to the marriage she owns all of Buck’s property. Shortly after the agreement Buck dies and Cleo is now a wealthy woman.

In the famous scene from her first meeting with Edward Carrington, Cleo breaks the customary role of male female relationships. After calling out to Edward, she shoots off his hat because he won’t respond to her. After being shot at, Edward exchanges some banter with Cleo and tries to save face by walking away. However, Cleo isn’t done with him and she ropes him like a calf and drags him backwards. Edward becomes upset and storms off while Cleo and the other two men with her laugh. The camera angles in this scene add a lot of effect. First of all, Cleo is on a horse making her higher than Edward. When the camera focuses on him, there is a downward angle, making it seem like Cleo is looking down on him. When the camera focuses on Cleo there is an upward angle like Edward is looking up to her. The two have a role reversal here because the man is looking up at the woman and the woman is looking down at the man. In a later scene, Cleo invites Edward over to talk about the drilling plans for her land. Edward is completely oblivious to Cleo's true intentions and doesn’t get her many sexual innuendos. After some smooth talking, Cleo is able to seduce Edward and she kisses him. When her advisor walks in, Cleo is not at all embarrassed. In fact, she’s more like one of the guys in the way that she acts. She laughs because she has won the bet that she couldn’t seduce Mr. Carrington which embarrasses Edward yet again and he storms out. She seems to get pleasure out of making others look like fools which would have been considered unlady-like.

What’s interesting about Cleo Borden is that throughout the whole film she never lets herself become the butt of a joke. In every instance where someone tries to set it up for her to be the butt of the joke, she will immediately snap back with a witty comment. This takes the focus off of her and puts it onto someone else. Cleo is also portrayed in a very manly way in this film. She smokes, she drinks, she struts in a way that isn’t remotely feminine, she has a potty mouth, and she’s proud of her sexual accomplishments. It wasn’t common practice for women of that time period to be so openly sexual but Mae West broke that mold by being openly sexual in all of her films. Goin' to Town was censored more than her other films and Mae West was forced to tame down her dialogue. When watching the film there are still many instances when she is being sexual and one can only imagine what she’s like without a censor.

Photo courtesy of: www.bobhope.com/graphics/lamourlg.jpg   Road to Morocco This movie conveys a few different aspects about male and female roles and how they interact with each other. The first character to stand out is Princess Shalmar, played by Dorothy Lamour. Lamour’s character is unique because she is in a position of power but she still has the qualities of a “normal” female.	Herban Media's Myspace Tools photo courtesy of: www.alyon.org/.../r/rev-roo/road_to_morocco.jpg player courtesy of: Herban Media's Myspace Tools Song: Road to Morocco-Bing Crosby and Bob Hope

When the audience is first introduced to Princess Shalmar she is engaged to Mullay Kasim. However, while she is riding through the streets of Morocco she meets Turkey, played by Bob Hope, and kisses his hand. As the movie progresses, the audience sees Turkey’s friend, Jeff, sell him into slavery. After a haunting and scolding from dead Aunt Lucy, Jeff goes off in search of his friend. Jeff finally finds his friend at the palace, where we learn that Princess Shalmar was the one who bought Turkey. It is also revealed here that Princess Shalmar is supposedly not in love with Kasim anymore, but rather Turkey and that they are to be married. However, Princess Shalmar’s affections once again change and she falls in love with Jeff after he serenades her. It is this constant changing of who she loves that makes the princess act like a “normal” female. “Normal” being the stereotype that women constantly change their moods and cannot make up their minds.

The next relationship appears between Jeff and Turkey. These two appear to be the best of friends but once they are both introduced to Princess Shalmar they become eighth grade boys. They spend much of the movie trying to cut behind each other’s backs to catch the attention of the girl. Some of their antics include serenading the girl while the other is sleeping, cracking jokes about the other to make him look foolish, and saying bad things about the other or stretching the truth to make one look better than the other. Even though Jeff and Turkey spend most of the movie fighting each other, by the end of the movie they realize that they are both better friends than enemies. They finally start to work together and succeed in rescuing Princess Shalmar from the sheik. The movie ends with both men being the hero and each getting his girl.