Essay 3 Draft

--During the past week, we watched three movies in our Literature class which dealt with the role of women. These three films: Splendor in the Grass, Attack of the 50ft Woman, and Rear Window each portrayed the women in the film differently. The ways in which they are portrayed could be attributed to when they were made. All three were made during the 1950’s and early 60’s. Splendor in the Grass was made in 1961, Attack of the 50ft Woman was made in 1959, and Rear Window was made in 1954. It was in 1919 and 1920 that woman finally got the right to vote. From that point on, women’s role in society has grown as they have become more involved in all aspects of society and began to change their role in life. Before the 1950’s, suburbia was on the rise and many women reveled in this change and began to change their roles even more in society. Specifically that they had to give up certain things so their husbands could succeed. This can be shown in their portrayal and roles in the three films. So what is common between the three women in each film? They all had to, in some way shape or form, had to give up something or another for their boyfriend or husband.
--In Splendor in the Grass the main woman portrayed was Deanie. However it could be argued that Juanita could be the main woman in the film because this film was set during 1928 and she portrayed the Flappers. However it will be easier to just stick with Deanie as the main woman of the film. Deanie started out as not wanting to fool around with her boyfriend Bud and later her mother began to explain how her and her husband had not touched each other once until they were married. Deanie kept refusing to give into Buds advances for such until Bud ended up leaving her although not directly. Because of the sadness and misery she felt she ended up becoming more and more like Bud’s sister Juanita in terms of the way she dressed and acted. More specifically like a Flapper. It was then that she continually tried to get Bud to take her even though he wouldn’t stating that she was a “good girl.” She ended up giving up her original good girl lifestyle for the more Flapper oriented lifestyle just so that Bud would take her back and keep her.
--In Attack of the 50ft Woman, Mrs. Archer or Nancy was the main woman in the story. This one is a little more difficult to tie into how the woman ended up giving up something for her husband. When the movie started Nancy was not actually giving anything up for her husband, she just wanted him to stay loyal to her.