February 7, 2023
FILM: BODY PARTS
DIRECTED BY: KRISTY GUEVARA-FLANAGAN
STARRING: JANE FONDA, JOEY SOLOWAY, ANGELA ROBINSON
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
The new documentary Body Parts is an interesting and informative look at how women’s bodies have been depicted and gazed at on screen since the beginning of cinema. The film takes a pointed look at this evolution, or the lack thereof at times, all the way into the Me Too era. We hear many individual stories through interviews with Jane Fonda, Alexandra Billings, Joey Soloway, Rose McGowan, Angela Robinson, Rosanna Arquette, and numerous others. The film covers issues many of these women have faced such as being forced to be nude during a film, sexual harassment, and other predatory horrors.
Filmmaker Kristy Guevara-Flanagan uses dozens of clips going all the way back to the late 1800s when director Edward Muybridge shot still photos in rapid succession of women doing menial tasks in the nude. Things changed though by the 1920s and early 30s when it is estimated that half of the writers in Hollywood were women. As such, their characters were depicted as stronger and often in charge of their sexual lives. The Production Code in the mid-1930s, however, changed all that. Females who were overtly sexual were punished. Men had the upper hand, literally and figuratively.
These details of film history slant ever so strongly what many of us have been taught (or have taught ourselves) about the power men in the industry have exhibited over the depictions of women and their place in society. It makes some great points about how these images have affected the way female viewers learn about themselves and their role in a male/female relationship. Several of the interviewees talk about how they were taught through these films what the idealized view of a woman should be.
Jane Fonda discusses her early sex kitten roles in films such as Barbarella saying she was operating at a time when women essentially did what they were told. Of course, though it’s sadly not discussed in the documentary, those of us who were around during Fonda’s major Oscar-winning heyday will recall how she then took charge of her image in the 1970s with roles in films such as Klute, Coming Home, and The China Syndrome.
The film goes on to address the sexual revolution and its impact on the on-screen presence of women’s bodies. They were freer but still under the control of male directors. Some of the most interesting and disturbing stories told here are by women who have been sexually abused on film sets. They discuss predators, including everyone from Harvey Weinstein to James Franco.
It’s all very enlightening. If there are any weaknesses to the film though they are in the form of the very brief discussions of the plights of larger women, lesbians, and transgender performers. Much more time could be centered on their issues. Another frustration here is the sometimes-blurred lines between actual sexual harassment stories and the depiction of them in films such as 9 to 5 and Bombshell. Can audiences tell the difference? Does it matter?
Overall though the film provides some interesting details about what Hollywood is doing today, both negatively and positively, regarding women and their bodies. The former includes visual effects editors removing unwanted parts of those bodies such as everything from beauty marks to excess fat. There’s also the issue of how nudity on screen might have an unwanted life of its own on the Internet. Will women be further exploited without knowing it? On the more positive side, there is plenty of discussion here about the recent addition of intimacy coordinators on film sets and the numbers of women who are now standing up and calling out any wrong behavior they experience.
In the end, this is a documentary that emphasizes that women have to fight for ownership of their own bodies. Female desire should also not be exploited or eliminated. There is a directive here for those within the industry, and for all viewers, to support the positive and not the negative portrayals, and behavior, we’ve seen from the industry for over a century.
Body Parts is currently available to rent via Amazon Prime.
FILM: BODY PARTS
DIRECTED BY: KRISTY GUEVARA-FLANAGAN
STARRING: JANE FONDA, JOEY SOLOWAY, ANGELA ROBINSON
RATING: 3 ½ out of 4 stars
By Dan Pal
The new documentary Body Parts is an interesting and informative look at how women’s bodies have been depicted and gazed at on screen since the beginning of cinema. The film takes a pointed look at this evolution, or the lack thereof at times, all the way into the Me Too era. We hear many individual stories through interviews with Jane Fonda, Alexandra Billings, Joey Soloway, Rose McGowan, Angela Robinson, Rosanna Arquette, and numerous others. The film covers issues many of these women have faced such as being forced to be nude during a film, sexual harassment, and other predatory horrors.
Filmmaker Kristy Guevara-Flanagan uses dozens of clips going all the way back to the late 1800s when director Edward Muybridge shot still photos in rapid succession of women doing menial tasks in the nude. Things changed though by the 1920s and early 30s when it is estimated that half of the writers in Hollywood were women. As such, their characters were depicted as stronger and often in charge of their sexual lives. The Production Code in the mid-1930s, however, changed all that. Females who were overtly sexual were punished. Men had the upper hand, literally and figuratively.
These details of film history slant ever so strongly what many of us have been taught (or have taught ourselves) about the power men in the industry have exhibited over the depictions of women and their place in society. It makes some great points about how these images have affected the way female viewers learn about themselves and their role in a male/female relationship. Several of the interviewees talk about how they were taught through these films what the idealized view of a woman should be.
Jane Fonda discusses her early sex kitten roles in films such as Barbarella saying she was operating at a time when women essentially did what they were told. Of course, though it’s sadly not discussed in the documentary, those of us who were around during Fonda’s major Oscar-winning heyday will recall how she then took charge of her image in the 1970s with roles in films such as Klute, Coming Home, and The China Syndrome.
The film goes on to address the sexual revolution and its impact on the on-screen presence of women’s bodies. They were freer but still under the control of male directors. Some of the most interesting and disturbing stories told here are by women who have been sexually abused on film sets. They discuss predators, including everyone from Harvey Weinstein to James Franco.
It’s all very enlightening. If there are any weaknesses to the film though they are in the form of the very brief discussions of the plights of larger women, lesbians, and transgender performers. Much more time could be centered on their issues. Another frustration here is the sometimes-blurred lines between actual sexual harassment stories and the depiction of them in films such as 9 to 5 and Bombshell. Can audiences tell the difference? Does it matter?
Overall though the film provides some interesting details about what Hollywood is doing today, both negatively and positively, regarding women and their bodies. The former includes visual effects editors removing unwanted parts of those bodies such as everything from beauty marks to excess fat. There’s also the issue of how nudity on screen might have an unwanted life of its own on the Internet. Will women be further exploited without knowing it? On the more positive side, there is plenty of discussion here about the recent addition of intimacy coordinators on film sets and the numbers of women who are now standing up and calling out any wrong behavior they experience.
In the end, this is a documentary that emphasizes that women have to fight for ownership of their own bodies. Female desire should also not be exploited or eliminated. There is a directive here for those within the industry, and for all viewers, to support the positive and not the negative portrayals, and behavior, we’ve seen from the industry for over a century.
Body Parts is currently available to rent via Amazon Prime.