Brief Encounter

The way women are represented in Brief Encounter

Firstly I looked at the costumes of the female characters; all of them wore long dresses which covered any flesh which could be on show. This is representing these female characters to have self-respect and dignity. Following on from this, I looked at the makeup which appeared to be minimal however it was something in which the women were worrying about throughout the film. This is confirming the stereotype of women, which is that they care about their appearance. This is also known to be a dominant ideology as the majority within society would agree with this.

When looking at the characters in which the females play are another way of representing women. The main female character plays a typical housewife who does the shopping and cooking. In contrast to this the men are seen to play more academic roles such as doctors. This is representing women to be less educated than men and unable to for fill academic jobs. Following on from this, the stereotypical motherly figure is represented through the actions and body language of the female characters. For example when the main female character is the one who is able to compromise with the children and when the older female character comforts the weaker female character by hugging her.

The women within this film are represented to less powerful than the men in many ways. One being when the man feels he is able to touch the women without her permission and another being when the women being the counter has to ask for a man to assist her in getting rid of rude costumers as she is unable to.

When looking at the emotions of the characters, the female characters appear to be more emotional for example when the main female character is crying. The female characters are also represented to feel guiltier when having done something they shouldn't have. However in contrast to this, the main female character is unable to stop herself from seeing the other man showing her to have a weakness in self-control. This sense of self control is further shown by the women nearly jumping in front of the train at the end of the film. 

The theorist Roland Barthes can be linked into this film which is that representations are mythic and in a sense that they appear to be real when they may not be necessary real in reality. For example in brief encounter all the women are represented to carry basic jobs such as waitresses and housewives and that they do not have the authority to be a Doctor like the male characters. We are forced to believe this as all the female characters follow this myth. This can be further linked to the theorist Gerbner with his cultivation theory. This is due to us as an audience being gradually exposed to this stereotype of women being house wives and having less authority than males therefore over time we seem to except this is the norm.