Diana Motta Morales - Core Response #1

     LaPlace’s “Producing and Consuming the Woman's Film” introduced a new way of thinking and analyzing films through a woman's perspective during the 30s and 40s. LaPLace claims that women were being attracted to films because “women favored female stars over male, and preferred, in order of preference, serious dramas, love stories, and musicals.” (138) I think this is interesting because for so long men were often seen as the “default” or as the main character, to see a drastic change in film and see women take charge is surreal. Though I’ll admit the path in which women's representation wasn't the most preferable, it was still a move in the right direction. Films with women protagonists often shined on women's experiences of the negative stereotypical view of love, emotion, family, and domestic realms.      

    Another interesting fact that LaPLace mentions is the "consumerism ideology" and how it negatively impacted women. Capitalist consumerism advertised content and “freedom” to women introducing them to a "new era". Women were sold the idea that being a housewife was ideal and that they should strive to be “administrators of the home” even though many women worked outside the home. It’s also interesting to notice how cigarettes were a form of freedom, and how big money-hungry companies constantly took advantage of women, by advertising them in media women often strived to be/look like women in films. LaPlace states that “the display of products in films and of stars in product advertisements- are all aimed mainly at female consumers: fashion, cosmetics, home furnishings and appliances”. (141) An example of advertisement in the media is in the new Mean Girls musical that recently came out. During a scene in the bathroom Regina “accidentally” drops her ELF lip oil in the sink. A product that has been talked about everywhere is being advertised in a movie targeted mainly toward young girls. 

    Though that is not the only example in the media targeted toward women, I wonder if capitalist consumerism is targeted toward men or if women are the only ones affected by this consumption of mass-produced products?


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