MovieChat Forums > The Beguiled (2017) Discussion > Female empowerment!

Female empowerment!

posted 8 years ago by kateyk12
7 replies | jump to latest

I have been saying, now is the perfect time for a re-make of this, with all this 'we are women and we are strong' stuff going on. This is definitely a story about women overpowering men.

[–] buzzerbill 8 years ago

Or, alternatively, repressed and oversexed females at their worst.

Yet another unnecessary remake.

[–] AmigaWolf 8 years ago

Here here, Yes your right buzzerbill.

[–] DarcyBrandon 8 years ago

Yeah.

I saw the 1970s version and wasn't it more: Look at all the repressed women and how fighting over a guy makes them go crazy.

[–] joekiddlouischama 8 years ago

I saw the 1970s version and wasn't it more: Look at all the repressed women and how fighting over a guy makes them go crazy.

... not necessarily; The Beguiled (1971) is much more nuanced than that, especially in the sense that the female characters already have demons in their respective pasts and are sexually repressed by the war. Corporal McBurney's arrival does trigger those repressions, but they are not idol or frivolous, and the female characters come across as real human beings. Moreover, if the film offers an unsettling view of femininity, it offers a similarly disturbing portrait of masculinity: the protagonist, played by Clint Eastwood, is a lecherous liar who seems untroubled by his dubious sexual ethics. He is not, however, a malevolent character, nor are any of the women. In a sense, they are all victimized or compromised by the war.

Finally, the most noble and decent character in The Beguiled (1971) is certainly a woman.

[–] vicky_lc2001 (1907) 7 years ago

I agree with your post. Also with your additional comment below.

[–] joekiddlouischama 8 years ago

I have been saying, now is the perfect time for a re-make of this, with all this 'we are women and we are strong' stuff going on. This is definitely a story about women overpowering men.

As I indicated in my previous post in this thread, I would argue that the original, at least, is more a film about what war does to people of both genders (both major genders, for those who are politically correct). It is much more nuanced and complex than a sort of "female empowerment" message or a "battle of the sexes," and the original film transcends "good versus evil" types of distinctions. Nor, in the end, do matters come down simply to men versus women. Rather, there is a sense of rawness and realness about human feelings that proves shocking in its instinctive honesty.

Now, whether Sofia Coppola turns that nuanced material into some sort of contemporary political metaphor remains to be seen.

[–] vicky_lc2001 (1907) 7 years ago

Di you go to every movie where there are strong women and vengeful women and say that? You must be very young to think that's it's some sort of recent phenomenon. You'd probably go wild if you sa Alien/s and the first two terminator films, lol!