Does the Female Perspective Exist in Hollywood Romance?

It is not a secret that Hollywood movies are centralized around the male viewpoint. It was not even until very recently that Hollywood began hiring females as film directors. With the insertion of female directors into mainstream media, one would think that the female viewpoint would be better utilized. These women have many expectations to fulfill, as they are representative of the female perspective. The question is whether or not they succeed in fixing the damage which has broken women down for so many years.

This article will focus on two films, Sleepless in Seattle and Gas, Food Lodging. The first of the two was written and directed by Nora Ephron for mainstream cinema, whereas the second was independently adapted and directed by Allison Anders. Through my analysis of the two afore-mentioned films, I will compare and contrast the differences between Hollywood and independent films to prove that female directors in Hollywood have not yet succeeded in refuting the male point of view to which we have been subjected for so long.

In Sleepless in Seattle, Nora Ephron has the opportunity to create a mainstream romance film which portrays women in a positive light, but she fails to do so. The entire plot of the movie is focused on the term "magic," which women understand and men do not. Ephron avoids any explanation of why this is, and therefore only further extends the line between gender roles. She makes no attempt to refute gender biases, but rather provides support in favor of them. Sleepless in Seattle is the story of a woman who falls in love with the emotional feelings of a man, and the man who falls in love with the physical image of the woman.

Annie, the character played by Meg Ryan, attempts to find the stereotypical "nice guy." The problem with this plot line is that the main character Annie already has found her nice guy in her fiancé Walter, but the film does not address this issue. Even though Walter and Annie make a perfectly fine couple, we are to just automatically assume that because of his personality flaws, Walter is not the right person for Annie. Of course Annie is unsatisfied with Walter - he is the exact opposite of the fairy tale prince for which all women are looking. The truth, however, is that most women are only looking for reality.

There is one scene in the film where Annie tells Walter that she in love with another man, and Walter encourages Annie to go find him, no hard feelings. It is extremely naive to believe that after being engaged, a man would support the pursuance of a replacement to himself. Ephron attempts to make this believable by giving Walter almost no personality traits. The ones which he does possess are all irritating and prompt one to question how Annie and Walter's relationship began in the first place. In analyzing this film, one finds that Walter is used simply as a way to make the audience believe that Annie is not desperate, as she already has found someone.

Annie falls in love with Sam based on what she hears him confide to a radio talk-show host, but he falls in love with her when he sees her getting off a plane in the Seattle airport. Ephron tries to provide detail into the emotional ability of Sam to make him a prime candidate to be the "perfect guy" that every woman is searching for. The main attribute of this perfection is of course his ability to love endlessly. But the fact that he takes on this typical male view of attraction by means of physical appearance should negate his worthiness. However, this bares no discussion within the film which is not a big surprise.

I watched this movie with a faint glimmer of hope that Ephron was making a farce of the romance, but I sadly realized that this was not the case. For instance, a recurring motif in the film is the discussion of the classic romance film An Affair to Remember. Whenever this movie is discussed in the film, the women become emotional and often brought to tears, and the men in all their masochism laugh this off. As if society does not already prototype women to become so irrationally overcome with feeling, the last thing we need is another woman to support this thought.

What is so ridiculous about this movie is that we as an audience are expected to believe that this relationship, which is completely unfounded in terms of the real world, could in fact succeed. In the end, Sam recognizes Annie as the woman he saw in Seattle, but the film avoids the issue that Annie flew across the country to stalk this man. This only further exemplifies Ephron's unbelievable plot of seriously believing that relationships are founded upon this inevitable "magic" that will defy all reality and give women what Hollywood has determined they ultimately want - the fairytale romance which requires no questions to be asked, just the belief that fate will take care of everything.

The problem here is not Ephron, but rather Hollywood itself. It seems as though mainstream media will only support those women who do not attempt to refute the gender stereotypes already in place. Women are supposed to long for that fairytale romance and to deny the truth in reality, so this is what Hollywood films give us. The last thing women need is reinforcement through popular media of the preconception that women are too emotional to be real, and must go about their lives searching for the ultimate romance.

In order to retain the false sense of truth feminism has brought to the media forefront, one must avoid discussion of Hollywood films and look instead to independent films, such as Allison Anders' Gas, Food Lodging. Told from the perspective of a young girl Shade about her family in the confines of a small desert town, Gas, Food Lodging is a refreshing romance which defies the conventions of Hollywood.

Through this film, Anders provides a world where men have all the control and ability to decide whether to stay and support the women in their lives or to abandon them altogether. Rather than buy into this patriarchal control, Gas, Food Lodging centers itself in the idea that women do not need to rely on these men to keep happy. Each of the main female characters have at one point fought the battle and been denied the support which they crave from the men they love, but the difference from traditional Hollywood is that these women are able to get back on their feet despite their tragedies.

Anders allots all of her screen time to the feminine view, a nice change from the typical modern romance. Her main character, Shade, is a young girl whose identity is influence by her mother Nora and her sister Trudi. There are men tied to the story of the three main female characters, but Anders does not allow these men to dictate the actions of the women in the film.

The greatest thing about this film is the fact that all of the women characters join the lead in her end-of-the-film transformation. The end of the film also brings the idea of maturation in the main character by which she is able to walk alone - the final scene shows Shade independent of any outside needs. There are far fewer criticisms of this movie than in the tradition Hollywood romance in terms of the feminist view. This is the story about women who initially buy into the patriarchal world and attempt various relationships with men, but eventually come to find that they are able to make it on their own.

The exception to this is the side plot of Nora and her boyfriend Hamlet. But their relationship is acceptable because of Nora's earlier rejections of the men in her life. The point Anders is making through this film is the fact that women who define themselves by men will eventually find that men are not as important as once believed, and the women who reject men altogether will soon come to realize that they can be loved despite their occasional faults.

It is almost depressing that the women in popular media who are given the chance to create media productions are the ones who will enforce the male view. However, I am not surprised that Hollywood has failed to produce romance films which correctly afford women the right to be rational. There is hope in the independent films of the present, and we must root for Hollywood to break down the sexual barriers it has been following for so many years and follow suit.