All of the women in Brazil (1985) are presented in ways that make them non-appealing, essentially ruining the movie, at least for myself.
Protagonist Sam Lowry's mother, Mrs. Lowry, and her friend, Mrs. Terrain, are portrayed as self-absorbed and beauty obsessed. Nearly all of their screen time is devoted to their cosmetic surgery addictions, whether they be alone and bragging or together and bickering. Their intelligence seems to be limited, and they are driven purely by their desire to be young and attractive again. The only saving grace offered is that they add an element of comedy to the otherwise drab film.
Mrs. Terrain's daughter is put forth as a forced love-interest for Sam. She is clearly undesirable, purposefully made boring and 'dorky' to act as a foil to the female lead,. She and Sam clearly don't get along, and her occasions of rudeness toward him (comments and dirty looks) are supposed to make her unlikeable to the spectator. While barely present in the film, her screen time is hardly bearable.
Mrs. Buttle's husband is dragged away from her and killed during government interrogation, wrongly accused of terrorism. While Mrs. Buttle is meant to show the emotions related to these horrific events, it is hard to sympathize with her because her emotional state leaves her practically silenced, a balling heap of tears that is meant to cause issues for the protagonist and his 'dream girl'. She is barely featured, shifting the example of the consequences away from the most innocent of its victims.
Finally Jill Layton, the lead female and love interest of Sam, is the worst of them all. Introduced at first as a heroic type, her character quickly degrades from determined and independent to male-controlled and in need of saving. When Sam first tells her of his dreams of her she tricks him into leaning against the door of her truck and kicks him out (literally). However, once he has climbed back into the vehicle he is able to finish his explanation and uses her driving skills to get them to safety. Rather than warning her of the danger she's in thanks to his governmental department, he tells her of his dreams and of her beauty. Once this distinction is accepted by Jill she becomes the woman in his dreams in reality, in need of his rescue and no longer able to function of her own will. She goes back to him even after he accuses her of being a terrorist, and sleeps with him despite his creepiness in the dream speech and his barely knowing her. It's as if she feels she owes him something, or as if he were somehow actually charming, neither of which are true. I must say that I was thrilled when she was murdered in front of him, as I found her character to be so horrifically written that I became physically angry whenever she appeared on screen. When she appeared at the end of the film I nearly threw my computer, but was satisfied entirely when the event was part of a dream brought on by torture.
This depiction of women is clearly a product of male dominance within the film industry, and goes against cyborg feminism as put forth by Donna Haraway. While technology has been integrated enough to call the people of futuristic Brazil cyborgs, the cyborg has not aided the feminist cause in the slightest. Work is not done within the home, and women themselves do not seem to have respected jobs; the lead female is a truck driver, and the only others seen with jobs work as secretaries, waitresses, and salespeople. Meanwhile, men are government officials, doctors, lawyers, military, etc. The woman's work is neither valued by the individuals she serves nor the state itself. The fact that the women are only featured for the sake of the males within the film is further problematic for feminism and Haraway. There is no sexless cyborg in this world, as gender stereotypes are magnified to clearly fit people into their binary category. Males have power and can incite change; females are powerless to these males and are affected by the changes around them. The terrorist trying to incite change is male, and his accomplices are also male. The government officials trying to maintain order are male. Even the male plumbers have some power, kicking Sam out of his home and causing trouble for him. Meanwhile, the main female is instructed on where to drive her own truck!
The female characters in Brazil and the ways in which they are treated make it possibly my least favorite film of all time. While the concept and plot had the potential to be enjoyable, the women in it made it nearly unbearable to watch, the fault of those who made it.
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