Representation of women - Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Source: http://www.akira.ruc.dk/~camelia/Teaching/Autobiography/Breakfast-at-Tiffany-example.pdf

• Holly is seen to wear a long, black dress, elegant black gloves and a cigarette in hand.
• Female protagonist.
• She's a call girl.
• Likes to party.
• The main theme of the film is the celebration of power of romantic love and stability over fluidity and freedom.
• Based on a 19 year old girl making her living in New York.
• She is characterized as being unknowing and mysterious.
• She keeps the details of her personal life hidden.
• She is wild and free.
• She gets a new male neighbour and they build their relationship, which by the end is a romance.
• She has a liberal view on marriage.
• Aims to escape the conventional existence.
• Themes of belonging and freedom. 
  Feminist film theory:
• In the 1970's feminists argued that women were represented stereotypically and their actual lives weren't actually portrayed .
• The main assumption was that films mainly reflected social power structures.
  Susan Douglas:
• The 60's was a decade which 'belonged' to the boys. 
• Decade of 'Rebel without cause'.
• Women played a more trivial part in the 60s: they fainted whilst seeing the beatles, and exposed themselves at Woodstock.
• Emphasis on shortening the generational gap in the 60s.
• Susan Douglas thinks that Holly Golightly is the first hermaphrodite female protagonist in a Hollywood film. 

Orientation:

• Holly herself challenges her orientation in the film, there is real ambiguity. 
• "People couldn’t help but think I must be a bit of a dyke myself. And of course I am. Everyone is: a bit. So what? That never discouraged a man yet, in fact it seems to goad them on."
  
  Her name:
• She made herself: Holly Golightly < a mixture of go & lightly. - It represents her ability to change identity, location and lifestyles without hesitation.
• She's a traveller. - has no real home.
  
  Lifestyle:
• She refuses to have any kind of stability or identity.
• She travels away and refuses to settle down.
• After getting in trouble with the law, Holly leaves the city.
• Paul makes her change her mind and settle down with him. 
• When she finds love, she finds a place that she can call home.
• The film ends with reference to the 1950's belief that women must get married and raise children.
  
  Challenging the 1950s.
• The film is seen to challenge the morals and beliefs of the 1950s.
• Sexual liberation is key - this film shows the advancements in society and represents the image that it's okay to be free and fulfil your desire. 
• Hepburn had a boyish appearance due to her tall, thin appearance but still managed to be attractive to men.
• This showed that the 1950's pin up image wasn't all that was desired and it didn't matter what you looked like anymore as long as you were happy.
  
  How she defyed the stereotype,
• She didn't represent the typical stereotypical persona in the film e.g. the girl next door or the mothering role.
• She slept all day and partied all night.
• Watered her plants with alcohol.
• Kept her slippers in the fridge.
• Slept nude.
• Refused to decorate her apartment. 
• Kept her phone in her suitcase. 
• Whistled like a man when calling for a cab.
• Dined in fancy restaurants.
• Got drunk whenever she wanted.
• She only wanted to get married for the money.
• She represented a 'young, hip modern chick'
• At the same time as rebellion, she accepted the moral idea that you have to settle down with a man which reinforced traditional ideas of womanhood. 
• The representation that is evident here is dominant to that of the 1950s.
• Despite the fact that she settled with Paul by the end, she never paid the price for her sins.