Gender Theory in The Third Man

Throughout the film The Third Man, the character ‘Baron’ Kurtz is viewed as a powerful person, but he shows many feminine character traits.  The fact that his name has the meaning of “Lord, power, or royalty”, is one reason why the audience may assume he has power. His name plays a big role in people first impression of him.  The scene that introduces Baron at the cafe, he comes off as a powerful person because of the way he speaks English with a heavy European accent.  The audience is given the notion that he is self confident, intelligent, but at the same time he gives off a creepy and secretive vibe.  The audience may get the sense that Baron is a very manipulative person, this may be his way of attempting to take advantage of Holly.  Throughout this scene he also shows character traits that you would normally see from the opposite gender (female).  He dresses very sophisticated and looks as if his clothing and style is important to him.  In this scene he is wearing a fancy dress coat with fur around the collar, and a polka dot bow tie, which could be considered a feminine way of dressing.  Fur coats are usually worn by women and it is a way to symbolize wealth and power. Baron Kurtz’s powerful personality is toned down by his feminine style of dressing.  His powerful personality is also toned down by him carrying a small dog around.  It is more stereotypical for a female to keep a small dog by her side, like a mother would a child.   In this cafe scene another example of Baron showing a lack of masculinity happens when Baron and Holly were walking down the street and they pass a police officer, Baron quickly moved out of the officer’s way. This shows Baron as having less power, it is as if he is afraid of the characters who have authority over him.  A cinematic element used in this scene is the use of a close-up shot and a medium close-up shot of Baron’s face and his little dog. These shots shows Baron’s power, but at the same time the shot is closing in on the way he is dressed and the way he is holding the dog, which is pointing out his femininity.  Baron has a powerful personality in this scene, but his feminine character traits portray him as less powerful.

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

As I viewed the movie Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, many of the components of the feminist theory can be easily identified.  I was able to focus on the question from the feminist theory, “How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?”.  I was also able to focus on the use of the cinematic elements that reinforced the relationships between the characters in the movie.  As I watched the film I saw that Snow White is characterized as a stereotypical female. The epitome of a stereotypical female embodies  Snow White as beautiful, caring, innocent, gentle, soft spoken, naive, and helpless.

In the scene when Snow White enters the home of the seven dwarfs, she immediately notices that the cottage is filthy.  Snow White, being a typical female is suppose to automatically notice a mess and rush to clean it.  This scene shows characteristics of the image of the perfect woman. Snow White becomes the dwarfs housekeeper, she cooks all of their meals and is a caregiver.  She takes on a motherly figure in this scene.  This shows the audience that Snow White is the kind of female who is more than willing to serve the male.

Snow White's innocence and caring attitude is expressed through sound.  Her voice is very soft, higher pitched, and she is a beautiful singer which allows the audience to view her as a greatly loving and gentle female.  She is also physically a small person, this allows her to be seen as a more weak character. The ideal woman is considered to have a small waist, pretty face, and a gentle heart.  In a few scenes the camera positions are shot from higher angles looking down on Snow White which makes her appear as a small and weak person who has less power.  This allows the audience to feel as if they are looking down at her from above, which makes Snow White seem powerless.

The camera shots that have Snow White in them, the lighting has a more yellow, warm, and calm feeling.The film has a kind of soft, glowing filtered look to it that emphasizes the gentleness of Snow White's character.  Obviously the filmmaker is trying to show Snow White's innocents, by contrasting the evil stepmother scenes which have dark and creepy lighting with sharp angles.  These lighting techniques express the good and evil between Snow White and her stepmother. This type of lighting can also highlight the lack of a loving mother daughter relationship.