A clear example of the way women have been viewed and marked in cinema
The first scene, in a hospital, depicts a moment among a nurse and a patient. The nurse behaves fulfilling stereotypes: sensual in her outfit, pretty for the job, ready to serve… while the patient (blindfolded) is curious to know if she is as beautiful as people say.
First question: how does this add any relevant information to the story if not to show that we live in a patriarchal sexist society? The nurse will never appear in the film again!
From beginning until end a number of women play a role, all of them being under the wing of a man: the husband, the father, the guy that survived and now will take care of you.
There are parallell stories, in all of them the stereotyping is repeated:
a couple of scientists (married) in an island: he drinks too much, yells at her, she is called useless, has to agree to his wishes, her opinion doesn’t count, she doesn’t need to rest, but has to watch his sleep… and when the carnivorous plants enter their light house the only thing she does is being paralized and yelling like mad, while he activelly looks for a way out and kills them all. Wonderful example.
Either women are stubborn creatures that have no rationality and behave emotionally (the story of the good woman taking care of others in an improvised clinic); or they are sexual objects serving men (even the blind woman pregnant). The child girl is manipulative (gets what she wants even in critical times), and plays with the feelings of others (now I love her more than you…).
Second question: how many women were involved in the making of the film? and the original book, was it written by a man or a woman?
And the third question for further analysis would be: is this treatment traceable through the book, the original work? how was the book adapted? who’s responsible? all the authors and makers involved? some more than others? and why?
Watching this film one cannot feel but nausea. This film is a cornerstone of the way women have been treated and put down through history.