Depiction of Genders in Film during the 1950s - Waleed Malik

                In my opening blog post, I stated that for my blog on Gender Roles in film during the 1950s I was going to be comparing two movies: A Streetcar Named Desire and Detour. Ok, I am cheating; Detour came out in 1945, but it is part of the noir genre that remained static in its style and themes for the most part throughout the 40s and 50s.

                Detour is the story of a man travelling across the Continental United States to find the woman he loves. It is a stereotypical noir film, where the main protagonist is a tall and handsome anti-hero named Al. Throughout the film, his errors and mistakes are attributed to fate; he is a man of circumstance who just goes on his life with the cards he is given. He is shown to be determined to rectify his situation. Al’s characteristics are reminiscent of the time: men were just coming home from the horrors of war, and all the misfortune that befell them was seen as them being put in a bad situation. However despite the men’s inability to repatriate back into normal society, they were still well-respected and seen as hard working. The main female character in Detour is Vera. She is a hitch hiker that Al picks up on his way across the country, a decision he later regrets and she ends up black mailing him into helping her. She is the famous femme fatale that dominated female roles throughout the decade. She is seen as beautiful and seductive yet deceptive and, like many other noir films, she is the main protagonist’s downfall. I think this portrayal of females in film is a reference to the Biblical Original Sin. Eve was seen as the reason humanity was punished by god, and she was also the reason Adam sinned as well. The prevailing thought in society was that females were like the forbidden fruit: they were beautiful and desirable, but they were dangerous as well since they caused lust in man.

                A Streetcar Named Desire is a movie that broke many norms of the film industry. It portrayed controversial topics such as domestic violence, prostitution and rape. In my opinion, it depicts more realistic and equal version of males and females. In the movie, the witty and beautiful Blanche has come to visit her sister Stella in New Orleans. She is a fierce, independent woman who is not afraid to speak her mind. She is one of the first feminists to be portrayed in film. Throughout the film she argues for more equality between the sexes in both the home and in public. Blanche’s forward thinking ways are brought into direct conflict with Marlon Brando’s Stanley. Portrayed as an aggressive misogynist, he constantly mistreats his wife Stella in front Blanche, and often gets involved in moral arguments with her. Living in near poverty, he drinks heavily, gambles and beats his wife. This portrayal of men became popular in later decades, but in the 1950s portraying the ugly truth of lower class domestic life was a taboo.

                The two films vary greatly in portraying both genders. Detour adhered to the status quo, showing the genders in their dominant, if not unrealistic, versions. A Streetcar Named Desire tried to show a different view of the sexes, one that was controversial but started a trend in films where characters would be more unique and dynamic rather than following the established norm.