Dec 02 2008
Gender Roles In Woody Allen Movies
Woody Allen is one of America’s premier film makers. He has done everything from comedies to dramas and was never shy when it came to playing a part in his films. His “early funny movies” are full of good natured humor, while his later dramatic works are enthralling and full of suspense. However it is in these later dramas that there begins to emerge a recurring pattern in Allen’s works.
An ongoing theme in Allen’s films is the roles that men and women play through out the stories. Gender roles in films have been around since the beginning of not only cinema but story telling in general. It was almost expected for there to be a dashing male lead who has to get the gorgeous female out of some sort of predicament. Although in recent times this has somewhat changed to where the heroine must overcome a great difficulty. Disney movies are a good example of this with one of the most recent being “Enchanted” (2007), where the Princess Gisele ends up having to save her “one true love” from the clutches of a monstrous dragon. Allen tends to favor the former with the male roles being dominant.
An example of the male dominated lead, would be Allen’s 2005 drama “Match Point.” The film is about a man named Chris Wilton who takes up a job teaching tennis at a private club. There he befriends a man named Tom Hewett, who is a member of the wealthy Hewett family. Chris then begins a loveless relationship with Tom’s sister Chloe. However, after meeting Tom’s fiance Nola, Chris is instantaneously drawn to her as she is to him. The two have sex in an empty field, but Nola claims that it meant nothing. Chris marries Chloe and begins work at her father’s company, while Tom and Nola end their engagement. Upon hearing the news Chris attempts to locate her and finds her at a museum. The two begin a long affair which ends with Nola getting pregnant and wanting to keep the baby. Nola begins to threaten to talk to Chloe if Chris does not. Although he strongly desired her, Chris realizes the only way to keep the life he leads is to get rid of Nola. He devises a plan which makes her death look like a drug related crime. After several close calls with the police which could have convicted Chris, all evidence ends up pointing toward a dead drug addict that takes all the suspicion away from Chris. Chris ends up dismissing the incident as necessary and continues to live his life with his wife and his newborn son.
“Match Point” has three lead females and three lead males. Chris, being the one who drives the story along, is the strongest of the male roles. Nola, being the true love interest is the strongest of the female characters. Although the other 4 male and female characters are considered lead roles, it is really Nola and Chris that take the spotlight. Chris, like the other male characters represents dominance. Through out the film he has a calm and collected demeanor on the outside while he is constantly debating with himself on the inside. Allen seems to enjoy a sort of dualism in the roles he writes out, a sense of people are not always what they seem. Nola, an aspiring actor, perfectly fills out the dualism role. Even though she is the strongest of the female leads, she still appears like the others as an object, rather than a person. More of a supporting character than an actual lead. This is very similar to how the Rachel Dawes character Christopher Nolan’s 2008 film “The Dark Knight” was presented. She was simply there to build upon the Harvey Dent figure. Thus Nola may be one of the main motivators in the film, but her role is down played to the point where she is almost just a minor nuisance to have around. Nola almost seems easy to forget about.
In “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (Allen 1989), an ophthalmologist named Judah is having an affair with Dolores an airline flight attendant. She wants him to leave his wife for her, he refuses and she threatens to tell his wife about the entire thing. Desperate to protect his marriage, Judah asks his brother to hire a hit man to kill Dolores. Judah becomes guilt ridden and for once in his life he believes that there is a God who is passing judgement on him. At the same time Cliff, a failed documentary film maker, is hired by his brother-in-law, Lester. Lester is a television producer who wants Cliff to make a documentary glorifying him. During the filming, Cliff grows to actively despise Lester. Also during the filming, Cliff falls in love with Lester’s associate producer, Halley. Cliff, who is in a failing marriage, attempts to try to woo Halley by showing her footage of his other documentary about Professor Louis Levy. Levy is renowned philosopher and Cliff tells Halley he is only making Lester’s documentary so that he can continue making the one about Professor Levy. Cliff dislikes Lester greatly and resents it when he goes after Halley. She leaves to London after Lester offers her a producing job there and returns months later. Cliff learns that her and Lester are engaged, and that he sent her a bouquet of white roses every week when they were in London. Cliff is heartbroken and quickly realizes that he is incapable of that kind of affectionate display. In the end, Cliff and Judah meet by chance at the wedding of daughter of Ben, who is one of Judah’s patients and Cliff’s brother-in-law. Judah has overcome his guilt about killing Dolores and engages Cliff in a hypothetical discussion that draws upon his moral quandary. Judah believes that with time, any crisis will pass but Cliff, still bitter over losing Halley, claims that one is forever fated to bear one’s burdens for “crimes and misdemeanors.”
In a similar fashion to “Match Point,” the women of Crimes and Misdemeanors are more objects than people. Both Dolores and Halley are like unattainable trophies in the lives of Cliff and Judah, with Dolores representing lust and Halley representing escape. With Judah and Dolores, Dolores is threatening Judah by wanting him to leave his wife for her. Again we see one of the main women characters as more of a supporting role than anything else. We also see the dualism return with Cliff being an almost all new person when he’s with Halley, yet with his wife he lacks passion and is instead simply going through the motions. Dolores’s wanting to confront Judah’s spouse is minor in comparison to the guilt he receives after he puts a hit on her. Even when he thinks he’s gotten over it, after the conversation with Cliff in the end, the guilt is seen returning into his eyes. Halley ends up being a tease to Cliff’s life. To him she was a means to escape the hum drum relationship he had with his wife, both physically and mentally. Although it would seem that Halley is in a position of power between the two men, in reality she is merely a vessel through which Cliff and Lester attempt to harm one another. This again reinforces the conviction in Allen films that women are objects rather than other full leads.
“Match Point” has Chris both killing an object of his lust and looking for a means of escape. In “Crimes and Misdemeanors,” that role was divided between Judah and Cliff. Nola is Chris’s way to escape his empty unfeeling relationship with Chloe, in almost exactly the same way that Halley was Cliff’s escape. Although to Chris, Nola was not a vessel though which to damage someone. She was simply his life that could have been. By killing her, and by Judah killing Dolores, they have removed temptation from their lives and can stay focused on their wives. Cliff does not kill Halley, but when he realizes he can never have her, she is too effectively separated from his temptation.
The women in Allen’s films represent general symbols usually portrayed in stories. They are objects of lust, leading the male lead to do things that they never thought they could, or would ever do. They usually hinder the male lead in his pursuits and cause a lot of trouble for them. But in some cases, such as the Halley character, they provide a confidant. They can help balance out the male character and put him on steady ground such as Chloe brings stability to Chris’ life by getting him the job with her father’s company and by buying that apartment for them. In a similar fashion, Halley takes interest in Cliff’s documentary and helps him develop and fine tune it. She helps his intellectualism grow by engaging in meaningful dialect with him, unlike Lester who often mispronounced words.
Although Allen does favor male dominance in his dramas, he gives his female players a strange sort of power in that they truly drive the story by working behind, or in some cases in front of the male leads. He dares to question, to what lengths would you go to get someone? Would you cheat, lie, steal, or murder? He further empowers women in the cinematic world by having them present these question to their male counterparts. Allen presents women as vessels of greater power than they actually appear, helping to further blur the line in concerns to gender roles. As time goes on, it is highly likely we will see as many heroines as we see heroes in future movies, television shows, and wherever there is a story to be told.
