The Cinematic Representation of Women in Film

In John Berger’s, Ways of Seeing, he sets up a dichotomy of representation between man and woman. Man is independent of his own representation in a way, he acts out his own representation. Women, on the other hand, are of a different realm where their representation is a product of their own self-monitoring and the monitoring of society, and it is a mask that can never be shed. This representation is impressed upon them so they are boxed into their ‘rightful place’ and this is done so in societal action and treatment of women alongside the visual representation of women.

Clare Johnston, in her work, “Women’s Cinema as Counter-Cinema,” point out this representation in Rocky II as the part of the wife who is at home and of service. In the film men take care of the women and fight to outwardly impose their masculinity in reaction to the fear of being perceived as feminine, as this would have detrimental effects on their agency and stature in society. She notes though that the audience watching be they minority or women cannot help but identify with the white male protagonist in his moment of triumph. This is a fantasy wherein they are able to live out a triumph that is not readily available or available at all to them.

With these takes on female representation in mind, what is your take on the agentic representation of Ada in Jane Campion’s, The Piano? Does it align with these sorts of boxed off representations both authors discuss? If it does, in what ways? If not how are these representations accomplishing such deviation?