Suspense And Not Wanted: Film Analysis

For years the spotlight has been on the men of the film industry, but even back in the silent era women filmmakers were creating impressive pieces of art that surpassed many of the more “important” male directed movies. From Lois Weber’s Suspense (1913) to Ida Lupino’s Not Wanted (1949) female directors have made films that focus on women and the unexpected plights that life brings. While watching these two films it’s interesting to see how the men are portrayed, which includes the male characters that are selfish, the ones that are saviors and the ones that represent the law. By examining these three different representations we can discover how the male characters affect the stories of these two films. Oddly enough, both the films start off with the male characters that are depicted as selfish, if not evil in …show more content…
The selfish characters like the tramp and Steve Ryan, get the plots moving and are out for their themselves, as they take advantage of the women of the films. These characters become the villains of each picture, but men in general are not portrayed like this, with some of them ultimately becoming the saviors for the women. The women of these films are ultimately the main characters, but they must be saved by the men in their lives, with the husband racing home to defeat the tramp and Drew Baxter being the figure of domestication. Finally we have the men of the law who work against the women in each film, as they bring about a lot of trouble by simply doing their jobs, they aren’t portrayed as evil, but they aren't seen as much help to them either. In the end I think men are portrayed in a more complex way in these film directed by women filmmakers, they aren’t all heroes and they aren’t all villains, the male character ends up riding that grey area where nothing is