Davis who was not especially beautiful in the classical sense of beauty ruled Hollywood in the 1930s and 1940s, playing tough women who chose their careers and their own desires over sacrificing for men or children or the social and economic benefits of a well protected family home. Davis who was very popular with the mostly female audience "never pretended to be dumb, or a little girl."
In the 1930s cinema tough and independent women were often nasty leading to the effect that they could rightfully be punished. Bette Davis was "the prototype of the "Hollywood Bitch."
Her characters wanted more often victimizing a weak man with her behavior finally backfiring on her. In particular, her role as Julie Marsden in the 1938 movie "Jezebel" is the quintessential Bette Davis character. A calculating tough, aggressive and complex character who decides to break the social roles of the South in the 1850s and to have it her way, even if it means the destruction of relationships, of other people or of herself. As it is in the case of Hepburn, also Davis' roles to a great extent reflect her own persona. In spite of her professional success, Davis was so unhappy about the roles Warner Bros. kept offering her, that in 1936 she moved to England and -- unsuccessfully sued the studio before the English High Court in order to break out of her contract. Davis is quoted to have said about feminism long before it became popular to discuss it in the decades to follow the 1930s, "When a man gives his opinion, he is a man. When a woman gives her opinion she's a bitch."
List of References
Barsanti, C. (6 September 1999). The Women. (pp. 1 -- 4).
Derived 17 August 2011 from www.filmcritic.com/reviews/1939/the-women.
Collins, L. Katherine Hepburn. (pp. 1 -- 12).
Derived 17 August 2011 from www.esc.edu > File Cabinet > Student Submissions.
Digital History: Hollywood as History. (2011). (pp. 1 -- 20).
Derived 17 August 2011 from www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/historyonline/hollywood_history.cfm
Dirks, T. The History of Film: The 1930s, Part 3. (pp. 1-3).
Derived 17 August 2011 from www.filmsite.org/30sintro2.html.
Free Dictionary: Entry on "Will Hays." Derived 17 August 2011 from freedictionary.org
Derived 17 August 2011 from www.independent.co.uk > ... > Commentators > Johann Hari.
Hollywood in the Depression. (2000). (pp. 1 -- 3).
Derived 17 August 2011 from xroads.virginia.edu/~ug02/film/hollywooddepression.html.
Felstead, A.-L. (2004). Hollywood women -- part 1: icons. (pp. 1 -- 6). Derived 17 August 2011 from www.orsonwelles.co.uk/HollywoodWomen1.htm
Johnson, M. (2003). One of a Kind. (pp. 1-4).
Derived 17 August 2011 from www.marilynjohnson.net/one_of_a_kind____a_tribute_to_katharine.
Pravadelli, V. (20 May 2011). Cinema and the Modern Woman. (pp. 1 -- 22).
Derived 17 August 2011 from media.wiley.com/.../Chapter%2031%20- ...
See Digital History: Hollywood as History, p. 1.
Digital History: Hollywood as History, p. 1
See The Free Dictionary "Will Hays."
Quoted in Digital History: Hollywood as History, p. 1, 10.
Hollywood in the depression (2000), p. 1,
Dirks, T., p. 1, 2.
See Digital History: Hollywood as History. (2011), p. 1, 10.
Paravadelli, V. (20 May 2011), p. 1, 3.
Felstead, A.-L. (2004), p. 1, 2.
Collins, L., p. 1.
Felstead, A.-L. (2004), p. 1, 6.
Digital History: Hollywood as History (2011), pp. 1, 11.
Paravadelli, V., p. 1, 7.
See Pravadelli, V., p. 1, 3.
Paravadelli, V. ibid.
Paravadelli, V. ibid.
Paravadelli, V. ibid.
Barsanti, C. (6 September 1999), p. 1, 4.
D.W. Griffith (January 22, 1875 -- July 23, 1948) was a premier pioneering American film director.
Paravadelli, V. ibid quoting: Ryan, M. (1976). "The Protection of a New Womanhood: The Movie Moderns in the 1920s." In Friedman, J.E. & Shade, W.G. (eds), Our American Sisters: Women in American Life and Thought. (pp. 366-384). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
See Collins, L., p. 1, 7.
See Collins, L., p. 1, 8.
See Collins, L. ibid.
See Hari, J. (27 March 2008), p. 1.
Johnson, M. (2003), p. 1, 2.
Johnson, M. (2003), p. 1, 2.
Collins, L., p. 1.
Hari, J. (27 March 2008). p. 1.
Paravadelli, V. (20 May 2011), p. 1, 15.
See Hari, J. ibid.
Film Noir / Cinema Architecture Perhaps one of the most fruitful ways in which to trace the evolution of Film Noir as a genre is to examine, from the genre's heyday to the present moment, the metamorphoses of one of film noir's most reliable tropes: the femme fatale. The notion of a woman who is fundamentally untrustworthy -- and possibly murderous -- is a constant within the genre, perhaps as a
Cain (afterward coupled by Mickey Spillane, Horace McCoy, and Jim Thompson) -- whose books were also recurrently tailored in films noir. In the vein of the novels, these films were set apart by a subdued atmosphere and realistic violence, and they presented postwar American cynicism to the extent of nihilism by presuming the total and hopeless corruption of society and of everyone in it. Billy Wilder's acidic Double Indemnity
Big Sleep and Chinatown: Depictions of Noir in Hollywood Film noir rose to prominence in the late 1940s and was initially described as "murder with a psychological twist" (Spicer, 1). Film noir helped to introduce audiences to a new genre that had distinct trademarks and themes. The Big Sleep, directed by Howard Hawkes and based upon the eponymous Raymond Chandler novel, helped to cement and define the genre. Similarly, Chinatown,
Italian-Americans -- 1930s The American experience for Italian immigrants (with particular emphasis on the 1930s) is the salient topic for this paper. The materials presented from scholarly sources in this paper show the positive and negative impacts experienced by Italian-American immigrants; those sources will also be critiqued and analyzed in the context of the experiences, including impacts such as discrimination that Italian-Americans went through during the 1930s. Italians Arrive in the United
Representations of War in the Longest Day and Saving Private Ryan Hollywood's depictions and interpretations of the events that transpired on D-Day have long captured the attention of audiences worldwide. Though Hollywood depictions of the events that occurred prior, during, and after the invasion of Normandy may vary, they still aim to convey a similar message, one that assures the evil forces in the world will be overthrown and the
emergence of the Hollywood Production Code and the PCA Motion pictures production codes emerged in the 1930's and referred to as the Hays codes after Will hays who was the censor chief at Hollywood during this time. The production codes governed the production of motion pictures in the United States by major studios at the time. The motion pictures production code can be referred to as a set of moral
Our semester plans gives you unlimited, unrestricted access to our entire library of resources —writing tools, guides, example essays, tutorials, class notes, and more.
Get Started Now