Historical evidence of the evolving importance of women in society is a nice chance to trace the way feminist movements emerged and took over. One of such prolific historical prints is a movie Girlfriends produced in 1978 – a half documentary which makes it unbelievably interesting to watch it through a realism approach. Perhaps, such a sharp relevance to the theme was achieved by Claudia Weill – the director – due to former documentary films working experience. This is a great movie reflecting the times and conditions when America allowed women to impact the men’s world. This paper will review the way Claudia Weill presented the three themes: a working woman of the 1970s in America, relationships with men, and the intimate relations between two woman characters.
Girlfriends is a low-budget film that was ultimately distributed by Warner Bros but has not gained deserving popularity until nowadays. Although the movie holds a very interesting plot and the play of Melanie Mayron is outstanding, the main focus is a new feminist sensibility unveiled. This is a story of a Jewish New Yorker – Susan – who desperately tries to find herself within the New York photography art business. The story of her professional ascending is interrupted by personal affairs; they help the viewer understand the sense of Susan’s life better. The realism of the 1970’s recruitment of women was clearly presented in a movie where women were not largely allowed to the higher layers of the art society and large business in general. Claudia Weill, being a documentary director for a long time herself, interpreted the harsh environment around Susan and other women who broke through the men’s shield. Susan used to be a custom photographer at weddings and other Jewish occasions while dreaming of showcasing her works at some small gallery, at least.
Another aspect unveiled by the author of the screenplay and the director is the relationship of the two girlfriends who used to live together for a long time. Although many critics and average viewers think that the main thought to convey here is homosexuality, it is far from being true. The two girlfriends’ space here is absolutely heterosexual. What Susan Weinblatt and Anne Munroe reflect is female friendship that is used by the director in order to show different life paths women of the 1970s could choose. Namely, back in the 1970s American women, and Jewish American women, in particular, could either be housewives or pursue some job goal; the latter was a hard thing to do. Susan had these two ways to choose from: to either marry someone like her friend did or become a famous photographer during the times of latent gender discrimination. Susan undergoes had times when Anne decides to leave her roommate and gets married. This is a spectacular moment in the movie that not only showed the separation of girlfriends and loneliness of Susan, it also showcases the desire of women to be independent and subsequent challenges they faced that the society still offers. The society of America was not ready to give a woman what she wanted during those years, no rules or laws were fully established to support a working woman. And so, when Susan lost the only stability she had – her roommate – the world seemed to crash down. She felt somewhat betrayed and at the same time, some doubts on life goals sneaked into her consciousness. This is the realism applied in Girlfriends. Society offered women stable positions at home as mothers and wives and at some job places, though not all of them. Although this gave some sort of freedom for women at work, at the same time it meant no real help during motherhood in the 1970s. And so, women had to choose between being housewives and abandoning the thoughts about pregnancy in case they wanted a career. This is what Susan faced when Anne left the apartment and decided to start married life. She saw the situation as if she was standing on the crossroad of opportunities that society pushed her to. The relations of the two women are supposed to be the foremost theme of the movie as per the title. However, the friendship in the movie is only a tool to reveal realistic circumstances under which women used to live and how Anne resigned to fate, unlike Susan.
Another theme touched upon in Girlfriends is serious and essential, indeed. It is one of those problems that women still face every day – the necessity to combine personal relationships and holding down a job! (Butler 37). This motif is clearly depicted through Susan’s relations with the rabbi and her short affair with Ceil. The latter was a wonderfully fitted theme in order to confirm Susan’s heterosexuality. Life gave her an opportunity to try whatever including homosexual relations but she decided to stick to traditional ones. This is so realistic of 1970’s America. The youth was open to new discoveries and experiences. Both women and men could try any opportunities they encountered having freedom of choice, the moral values were altered, and the reality experienced changes. Therefore, this brief episode when “Susan’s straightness was reinforced” was very sound as per identity crisis overcoming (Darren 86). And all that was happening while the heroine was looking for her professional self in the men’s world. The same theme is supported by Anne’s decision to delay pregnancy because having a baby would have hardened a path of a young unknown writer to success. So, combining all the responsibilities was impossibly hard for a woman. Susan has ultimately achieved some sort of success having a two-woman show at the gallery but at the same time, the movie offers another opportunity – to move in with Eric – which is left as an ambiguity. This happens to be a very interesting and intriguing topic. The female identity is a foremost point to discuss here. The Girlfriends was the first movie to represent female identity within the world of men. Susan has an opportunity to either prolong her professional activity or get bound with common dwelling and relations with Eric (Lev 149). Interestingly, today one would get surprised at the ridiculous problem faced in the 1970s, though back then the one opportunity completely eliminated the other.
This is a splendid movie about 1970s feminism. Reflecting on the three main themes of feminism of those times, Claudia Weill was the first director to speak up about it on screen. Although the movie has not been popularized, this is a marvelous record of what women had to undergo in order to conquer the place they currently take within the gender role-play. Girlfriends have it all: pathos and bathos and it is totally informative to watch it over again.
Works Cited
Butler, Alison. Women’s Cinema – The Contested Screen (Short Cuts). London: Wallflower Press, 2002. Print.
Darren, Alison. Lesbian Film Guide (Sexual Politics). New York: Continuum, 2000. Print.
Lev, Peter. American Films of the 70s: Conflicting Visions. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000. Print.