Introduction
Through the centuries, people had a different vision of friendship, and especially of women’s friendship. These ideas on women’s friendship found their reflections in numerous pieces of art and design. Studying different epochs of art along with authors’ approaches to women’s friendship, I found a number of thought-provoking ideas.
I also saw such pieces of art which reflected my own vision of friendship between women. In particular, I believe that women’s friendships can be very strong. Sometimes it may be stronger than one can imagine. It happens that serious problems may arise between friends, but the real friendship between women is stronger than that. This idea was shown in my proposal. The proposal discussed an experience from my own life showing that even someone’s dishonesty leading to serious material losses cannot be stronger than a real friendship between two women.
A similar idea can be found in William Blake’s “Naomi entreating Ruth and Orpah to return to the land of Moab”. This picture painted in 1795 is dedicated to the idea of strong bonds of union and friendship between women from ancient Hebrew culture. Evaluating such pieces of art as this one I come to a conclusion that my vision of women’s friendship is quite fair.
Main text
The idea that real friendship between women is not possible has been widespread for centuries. People express their thoughts concerning women’s friendship saying that it is fake, and no more than performance in the theatre of human life. They say that women may be separated for the reason of the slightest difficulty appearing in their relationships. However, this is not what I think about women’s friendship. I saw in my own life that women can be really close and devoted, and even the most complicated problems may not separate them. I wrote about it in my proposal. Studying the materials of the course, I found that I am not the only person with this way of thinking.
Throughout the course of human history, the idea of the strong friendship between women was common. It can be noticed in the reflections of this idea in human art. In particular, the picture by William Blake “Naomi entreating Ruth and Orpah to return to the land of Moab” along with many other paintings reflects this idea (Philadelphia Museum of Art 1939, Raine 1951, Ruff 2010). In modern-day art, true friendship between women is also caroled. In particular, modern cinema shows many situations when women appear to be more devoted and attached to each other than men. One example of this idea is Fred Zinnemann’s “Julia” (Brantley 1995, Curran 1998, Erens 1984, Miles 1996). This is a story of great devotion between women under the pressure of Nazism. The other example is Ridley Scott’s “Thelma & Louise” showing that women may be really close and loyal friends even under the risk of death (Cook 2007, Williams & Hammond 2006).
Conclusion
In conclusion, comparing my idea of women’s friendship discussed in my proposal to the theoretic materials of the course I came to a conclusion that strong friendship between women exists, and this is proved in many respected sources. Despite the commonly spread opinion that women’s friendship is nothing like men’s friendship, it cannot be real, and it can be destroyed by the slightest misunderstandings and problems, I strongly believe that women’s friendship can be a real bond of union helping to go through the most difficult problems hand in hand.
References
Brantley, W 1995, Feminine Sense in Southern Memoir: Smith, Glasgow, Welty, Hellman, Porter, and Hurston, University Press of Mississippi, Jackson, MS.
Cook, B 2007, Thelma and Louise Live! The Cultural Afterlife of an American Film, University of Texas Press, Austin, TX.
Curran, D 1998, Guide to American Cinema, 1965-1995, Greenwood Press, Westport, CT.
Erens, P 1984, The Jew in American Cinema, Indiana University Press, Bloomington, IN.
Miles, M 1996, Seeing and Believing: Religion and Values in the Movies, Beacon Press, Boston.
Philadelphia Museum of Art 1939, William Blake, 1757-1827: A Descriptive Catalogue of an Exhibition of the Works of William Blake, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia.
Raine, K 1951, William Blake, Longmans, Green, London.
Ruff, J 2010, ‘William Blake and the Cultures of Radical Christianity’, Christianity and Literature, vol. 59 no. 2, pp.347-356.
Williams, L & Hammond, M 2006, Contemporary American Cinema, Open University Press, London.