Glorious Female

Women’s day is not just a day to celebrate on being a woman, or to get special treatment from the men, but to cherish the courage and hardships of playing a tough character in the act of life with all due respect. Women in all ages have had to surpass all difficulties to achieve their goals. Among the toughest difficulties there were men and patriarchy.

Like there have been women making a difference in the society there have been some also making a difference in films! There have been films where the women have been portrayed as objects of desire or as social example of the good or the most common one- damsel in distress. Yet there have also been some brave hearts to break the rule of generalness.

They have explored the world of women, their goals, their demands, their problems and their desires. And the explorations have seen outstanding creative results in forms of Literature and Cinema. These great minds have known how to respect the worthy ones and have presented the society with beautiful films. To name some - Queen, Kahaani, English Vinglish, Black Swan, Coco before Chanel (Coco Avant Chanel) and The Help have been some of the greatest films that celebrated womanhood. Women are not meant to be slaves or destitute, they have all the rights to stand up right and rule the world.

Each of these films has portrayed freedom of women, their right to respect and recognition. While ‘Queen’ shows the life of an extremely dependable girl, who transforms into an independent and confident lady.

‘Kahaani’ deals with the story of a mysterious pregnant woman who comes to a new city in search for her lost husband. The film shows the great lengths at which women reach out to achieve an aim. It is not just a tale of love and sorrow but also ambition and determination. Initially the protagonist seems to be very helpless, but gradually her strong character unravels and shocks the audience.

‘English Vinglish’ shows the life of a middle aged homemaker and a mother of two, who had lost the meaning of her life in the regular humdrum life until she visits her sister in America. She rediscovers her talent and respect while learning Enligsh, for not knowing which she was always ridiculed by her husband and daughter. Once she gains confidence she realizes that she had never lacked love, but respect.

‘Coco before Chanel’ shows the struggle of Gabrielle aka Coco, with the whims of fashion of the society before she started her business on fashion. She was the lady to define the modern woman.

‘Black Swan’ tells the tale of a young ballerina and her transformation into the character she is supposed to perform, it is both a psychological thriller and a bit horrific, yet it shows the strength and weakness within one woman. Finally when she succeeds to produce an outstanding performance for which she had been worried, she feels satisfied and dies. Her dying symbolizes the absurdity of her obsession for perfection.

‘The Help’ is the story of a young white woman journalist, and her relationship with two black maids, during the Civil Rights era in 1963. Skeeter is a journalist who decides to write a book from the point of view of the maids to expose the racism they face while working for the white families. I would personally term it as the perfect feminist film.

As was the saying, “The sun never sets on Britannia” we know that even the greatest empire was also ruled by a lady. 

Lahari Basu 

Msc.Media || PG:1