A film which combines violence with female characters is Luc Bessons award winning is Leon from 1994; a film about a hit man roaming the streets of New York doing his job until he bumps into a twelve year old girl Mathilda played by Natalie Portman, who plays a very demanding role as she turns this mans world around through the controversy of horrific murder scenes. Leon played by Jean Reano acts as the heavily influenced male, who is not targeted by Mathilda but is taken back and intrigued by her persistence and dominance as a female at such a young age in such bizarre situations handles herself so well and is not scared to get involved in the first place! He eventually gives up the tough man image and opens up to her with his deep thoughts and background as she does with him. Again, the viewer will look at this female icon as being a great display of positive feminism and it will have the same screen memory effect on Women, as they will want to be this character. Whereas men wouldnt necessarily fear this character but would look up to her as a status above them, reversing the traditions of the male-dominant human race.
In comparison to Kill Bill male character Bill, we see more of Leons feminine side as he is so taken back by Mathildas character, so feminism eventually takes over this film, though this is done cleverly using very masculine scenes as we see Leon physically fighting his way through different situations violently and through murder. Semiotics are cleverly used to show his admiration for Mathilda, such as in the end scene where Leon is slowly dying but does so looking up at Mathilda before his last word is spoken, the camera angles are cleverly used to emphasize this.
Although both films Kill Bill and Leon feature females in demanding roles, a male is always needed as a battle opponent and in both cases it is the female who is dominant in battle, even though I suppose you could classify Leon as friendly fire where the battle was not intended to happen and the victim was not supposed to die.
I feel that Leon displays a more Powerful image of feminism, although Kill Bill features more genuine evidence through the high number of female characters, yet the one female used in Leon, creates such a Powerful image through her young age, heroic efforts, lack of training and extreme determination that she overcomes the females of Kill Bill. The main reason for this is that it isnt supposed to be a fantasy film, the storyline and characters are actually believable, though it may be a Little far fetched, it could actually happen and the viewer can relate to this. Kill Bill relies more on intertextuality, with films such as Jackie Chans adventures and gangster films where the male characters do most of the killing.
When feminism is used as the basis of the film, it seems to be used with violence as a mask covering real female traditions. Other films such as Fight Club and even James Bond movies also use this method. Though one film, which doesn't take this approach towards a Powerful feminist message, is Sharon Maguires Bridget Jones Diary from 2001.
Starring Rene Zellweger as Bridget Jones, this film is the opposite approach towards feminism than Kill Bill and Leon as it paints its picture using typical, traditional female ways. Zellweger plays a typical fun-loving blonde in search for the right man and for the correct step in life for an everyday female. Though we eventually discover that she isn't as stereotypical as we originally conclude her to be. This film uses a different method as it reveals a character we didn;t initially see, whereas the initial characters set in Kill Bill and Leon where WYSIWYG characters (What you see is what you get), in this case we could see strength, hunger and determination through the blatant use of violence.
Overall, I feel the feminist approach to film is a good way of making successful films providing it is kept within its boundaries. I have only analyzed good, successful films in this essay, often you see films with dominant female characters but the role they are playing is too male-like that it ends up being funny, films such as Xena Warrior Princess' for example. Kill Bill, Leon and Bridget Jones Diary all kept within the realistic female boundaries for their film genre, it could be argues that Kill Bill didnt but as a fantasy film I feel that the boundaries were quite limited which led to it being a successful film. There is demand for more feminism to be used in film but there is only so much you can do so with the fantasy and reality boundaries overall it is a difficult route to take but will always be considered original.
The article was produced by the writer of masterpapers.com. Sharon White has many years of a vast experience in Term Papers writing and custom essays writing consulting. Get free samples of essays and courseworks and buy essays .
Author:: Sharon White
Keywords:: Powerful, Little, Women
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