All About Eve Essay

..and, in the last analysis, nonhing is any good unless you kitty look up just before dinner or produce around in bed and there he is. Without that, youre not a woman Is this the message of the require? Made in 1950, the carry All About Eve screen written and directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, was deliberately engineered to entice women back into their homes after WWII had forced many to deal working office staffs in the outside world. The film foc economic consumptions on publicizing the richness of the image of a nuclear family and traditional gender qualitys and how finding dear is endorsed as the proper course for women. This is evident through the roles and character organic evolution of the three main women in the film Karen Richards, Margo Channing and Eve Harrington. Through these characters, the film explores the fulfillment of an archetypal fifties American housemarried woman and the hollowness of actresses calling achiever compared to spousal.Furthermore, the fi lm depicts self-supporting women as a threat to orthodox values as they inhabited masculine traits. In the film, Mankiewicz emphasizes the security, gratification and permanency in housewives post Cold War. This is evident through the role of Karen Richards, the wife of playwright Lloyd Richards. Lloyd and Karen personifies the ideal married couple where Lloyd is the bread winner, and Karen operates as a traditional, expert little housewife. Mankiewicz repeatedly frames Karen with characteristics of pureness and ecstasy through the use of bright camera climb downing in mid- keep out up shots, portraying her as luminescent and angelic. In addition to this, Karen is often shot in light coloured costumes in contrasts to Eve and Margo, who are continuously framed in dark colours throughout the film, suggesting her innocence. Both of these techniques highlight her fulfillment from marriage compared to Eve and Margo who are individual and unmarried.Karens character is used as a ref lection of 1950s America stereotypical housewife who is all defined and liege to her husband. This is evident during the film hinting Lloyds indiscretions, Karen remains loyal to him, and even blames herself for his unfaithful behavior, where she wonders in a voiceover about that helplessness you shade when you have no talent outside of loving your husband. Here, love is equal as a talent and the generic mode of the line indicates a duty of wives to their husband. Ultimately, Karen is a reflection of the traditional housewife in 1950s America and is perceived as the most stable and mature pistillate character as marriage has provided herwith financial and emotional security, social mobility and protection. passim the film, career accomplishments and fame is presented as fleeting and temporary, whilst marriage is emphasized as the result success for a woman. Mankiewicz establishes that females who rise to the top of their profession are merely to be faced with the glass ceil ing of the patriarchal status quo.This is liveming in the character Margo Channing, a great star whose days as Broadways reigning star are numbered as she is at the peak of her career, at the age of 40. Although she is talented, famous and wealthy Margo is insecure that when she retires from the theatre shell be alone, without a career and without a man to love her. Marriage is offered as a solution for Margo, and only once she makes the decision that allows her to get back to be a woman, do we see a gradual transmutation from Margo being an actress to being a proper married women. The gratification from marriage is highlighted through the use of camera lighting in the cub room scene after Bill and Margo announces that theyre getting married. A close up shot of Margos smiling face and relaxed manner with radiant lighting similar to Karens indicates true happiness as she has achieved the role of housewife. Through portraying her positively, the film asserts this will provide her with the happiness and fancy she had been actively rejecting. In short, the use of Margos growing happiness as she transitions from professional career for marriage, the film positions the earshot to view domesticity as providing final fulfillment for women.In an era where women were expected to conform to social norms, those who failed to mother on the role of a nurturing mother with a financially secured husband were labeled as a threat to community. Mankiewicz uses the characters Margo and Eve to explore how independent and successful careered women possess masculine traits because they do not have a man. Prior to Margos marriage with Bill, the film portrays her with a masculine way through her deep voice and posture. In the scene of Margos voiceover, the audience can see that Margo is the head chief of the house, with Birdie and Eve work for her favour. This highlights Margos masculinity as during this era, the males were the dominant figure in the house, and the wives r ole was to please their husband. Therefore, Margo is not presented as an ideal woman as she takes on the male role in her own home.Only once Margo marries Bill, we see her conform to societys expectations of married woman, as she leavespaid date upon marriage to become a domestic housewife. Mankiewicz also depicts Eve, an independent and constructed success as manipulative, conniving and calculating mastermind driven by individual(prenominal) ambition, all of which were dominant values in a masculine society at this time. Furthermore, women without a man to love were displayed with masculine characteristics, and thus not truly a woman because they did not abide by right American values. Ultimately, the film All about Eve is marked by a polarizing gender ideology, used to promote marriage as a romantic ideal and women. Through the roles of Karen, Margo and Eve, the film highlights that married women find happiness from serving their husband, the inevitable emotional emptiness that women will experience e if they reject their domestic roles in their pursuit of a career, and how independent women picture traits that arent consistent as a true 1950s women. and so the film suggests that domesticity is what provides women with ultimate satisfaction.