Justine Sawyier wrote: >I am beginning to research a paper on the question of moral ambiguity in m= ale >and female characters in film, dealing with the primary issue that this >quality has been allowed in male characters (hero/anti-hero), and not in >female characters. I want to use examples in modern film that show that b= ias >is slowly changing, allowing female characters more shading and dynamic >range. My intent is to use examples from early film (D.W. Griffith, German >Expressionists, Classical Hollywood Cinema, Film Noir, the reactionary 50's >era films, up through the modern), to trace the development of moral >ambiguity. > >Does anyone have good recommendations for films and materials to look at t= hat >deal with this issue? > >Does anyone have recommendations for modern films and materials that show >this aspect evolving? > >Does anyone have any thoughts on the subject that they wish to share? > Terminator 2 is a really interesting film when it comes to female moral=20 ambiguity. Since I'm certain you've all seen the film, I won't go into deta= ils.=20 Sarah Connor, clearly a heroine, is locked up in a mental asylum since she = using=20 force repeatedly have tried to stop the apocalypse she's certain will come = in a=20 few years. After her escape from the hospital she tries to assasinate an=20 engineer who is about to design the chip that would eventually destroy the= =20 world. Sarah isn't locked up without reason. The pressure of knowing about = the=20 coming end of the world as we know it and the fact that she's the only one = who=20 could stop it, has definitely turned her into a psychotic (or whatever the= =20 clinical diagnosis would be). I find it impossible to imagine a male action= =20 character breakting down from the strain of being the chosen saviour of the= =20 world. Surely, male action heroes have problems, usually depicted as whiske= y=20 bottles or beer for breakfast, but they don't *break down*.=20 Hope this is of interest, and apologies for my rotten english. ulf ---- To signoff SCREEN-L, e-mail [log in to unmask] and put SIGNOFF SCREEN-L in the message. Problems? Contact [log in to unmask]