Is Eve a Feminist -- Or Adam's Rib?
The film The Lady Eve has a powerful female protagonist who dominates the action to get what she wants. She is a successful professional who is good at her job. She is sharp as a knife, tough as nails, and does not suffer fools gladly. Some might argue these all point to a feminist viewpoint in the film. Yet, at the same time, Jean/Eve's career is as a grifter whose "professional" skill is to get men to fall in love with her. She also lets her emotional life get entangled with (and undermine) her professional ambitions (she succeeds, after all, by marrying). And the film plays with sexist stereotypes about "loose" women with "loose" morals. Is this film feminist -- or at least sympathetic to feminist ideals -- or is it yet another example of sexist cinema? Or something in between?
The Lady Eve is a feminist film because the main woman character is a con artist. Con artists have plans to trick people into doing something for them or giving them something for their own benefit. Jean has a plan to marry Charles, a rich man, for his money. Charles has no idea of her plan, but follows it perfectly without realizing and falls madly in love with her. Being a con artist in this movie shows Jean’s power over her future husband, who she does not even truly love. She just uses him to get wealthy. Within the process of making him fall in love with her, she uses seducing methods. In one scene, she brings him back to her room and encourages him to lay his head on her shoulder while she whispers in his ear. He is totally dazed by her soft voice in his ears. His eyes are bug wide and his heart is practically pounding out of his chest. She then notices his eyes and his body language to realize she is in control and so far her plan is working. She has his mind and body practically in her hands. In traditional gender roles, usually men are the ones who charm the woman and have her in his power. This movie features the roles but flipped. Jean is the one who has Charles thinking about her constantly. She is the one who holds all the power in the relationship. Her con artistry gives her that power over Charles. Therefore, because this movie is breaking traditional gender roles, the film is a feminist one.
ReplyDeleteThe Lady Eve satirizes sexist conventions in creating a character that directly conflicts with anti-feminist ideals in the 40s. While many scenes allude to the sexist culture of the time period, the protagonist Jean ultimately invalidates the notion that women are simply submissive, vulnerable, and male-dependent. The clear role reversal between the main male and female characters allows Jean to take on the character of an incredibly intelligent, witty, and self-sufficient woman who preys on the ignorance of misogynistic men like “Hoppsy”. Jean takes notice of Hoppsy’s arrogance as she meticulously studies his character in order to take advantage of him and his wealth later in the film. Jean observes Hopsy mainly judges women based on their appearance, and he quickly determines that none of them are good enough for him. With this mindset, it is clear to Jean that Hopsy does not consider women as anything more than objects for his own amusement. Jean then sets up the perfect situation that would allow her to attract Hopsy’s attention and play on his naiveté by conning her way into taking his money. The director highlights Hopsy’s oblivion and awkwardness by contrasting Jean’s sharp, witty intellect with Hopsy’s gawking stare and nervous stutter. Distracted by Jeans beauty and charm, Hopsy also neglects the signs warning the players of the professional gamblers on board and the swift and confident card shuffling performed by Jean’s partner in crime before the game begins. When Hopsy learns that Jean and her partner had been lying to him, he ends his relationship with Jean. Rather than allowing her emotions to get the best of her, Jean remains calm and collected in her moment of fury and devises a devious plan to get her revenge. The manipulative Jean pretends to be Lady Eve when she “coincidentally” runs into Hopsy again and compels him to fall in love with her just so she can break his heart and take his money. Again, the director emphasizes the contrast between the cunning Eve (Jean) and clumsy Hopsy who fails to connect the dots between Jean and Eve and “falls” for Eve both physically and emotionally. Eve ultimately does not follow through with her plan to rip Hopsy apart and take his money as she has developed feelings towards him. However, this is not a reflection of her own weakness, but of her own morality and maturity. Jean has most likely not grown up with the luxuries of a wealthy family and formal education, so she has always done what was necessary (manipulation and cons) in order to reach her goal, but after a moment of introspection, she comes to understand that she can have everything she wants if she tells the truth. Therefore, Jean creates another situation that would bring her and Hopsy together again and admits her love for him. Although she displays a certain level of vulnerability in this moment, she remains the dominant power in the relationship. Hopsy is in desperate need of her love and affection and she has the capacity to take that away in any moment. Surely, Jean also longs to rekindle her relationship with Hopsy, but she always leaves the man yearning for more, which serves as a constant reminder of her power.
ReplyDeletePreston Sturges’s film, The Lady Eve, is somewhat of mix between an example of sexist and feminist cinema because it portrays Jean Harrington, the female protagonist, as a deceitful professional with “loose” morals; however, she reverses the roles in the relationship and also perfects her craft and achieves her final goal. Her success makes the claim that despite her shady intentions, Jean can still empower women and act as a feminist figure by achieving her end goal. The Lady Eve begins with a prime example of sexist ideals when the variety of different women try to impress the male protagonist, Hopsie, to possibly gain his hand in marriage. One example is of the woman who cleverly drops something to bend over and show off her rear. This scene immediately portrays women as the inferiors and pursuers in the relationship, which led me to believe the film would be another example of purely sexist cinema. However, The Lady Eve surprised me and turned around the narrative when Jean was introduced and immediately shifted the narrative as she is a character who did not play those games with Hopsie and managed to reverse the roles in the relationship. Through subtle actions like having him change her heels and smell her perfume, Jean has Hopsie almost begging for her hand. By reversing the roles, Jean sets an empowering example for women watching the film that they are capable of reversing the roles, and they do not always have to pursue the man. The second example of The Lady Eve being a mix of sexist and feminist cinema is Jean’s immoral motivation to marry Hopsie and her success in marrying him. Like I mentioned before, Jean reverses the roles with Hopsie and almost has him pursuing her, which makes it easier for her to take his money. It becomes clear that like most of the women interested, she wants money out of the relationship with Hopsie, but she is more successful in gaining it because she cons him. With the help of her father pocketing cards, Jean manages to steal over $50,000 from Hopsie. However, Jean develops real love for Hopsie throughout the film and actually wants to marry him. She succeeds in both stealing his money and later marrying him through her tricks, which shows her success in what could be considered the feminist and sexist aspects of the film. To prove the sexist aspect, Jean exemplifies a deceitful woman who is only interested in marriage for the money; however, Jean empowers the feminist ideals by managing to achieve her goal of marrying Hopsie throughout the film.
ReplyDeleteI think that the film The Lady Eve tries its best to be a feminist film but falls short in a lot of ways. A feminist film portrays a strong, independent female character who despite being different than what society thinks a woman should be, is liked by the audience and the other characters in the film. Though the film portrays Jean/Eve as a strong, independent, dominant personality, she is still a manipulative con artist who the audience is meant to hate. In a way it seems as though the character of Jean was written to be the villain of the film. She manipulates and takes advantage of the wholesome, naïve man who is Charles. By making the character of Jean both independent and the villain, the film is sending the message that strong women are evil. This makes the film inherently not a feminist film. Whether the film intended to be this way, or the message got warped over time, as it stands right now The Lady Eve is not a feminist film.
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