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Eighties films about "Career Women" and other small "f" feminist themes...

spanglechick

spanglechick

High Empress of Dressing Up
My GCSE class are going to work on Caryl Churchill's "Top Girls" in the autumn - which for the uninitiated, is pretty much the seminal work of 80s British feminist theatre. (For those who do know it - stop rolling your eyes. They're 15. They aren't as cynical and theatre-weary as you sophisticated bastards).


Anyway, getting kids to really understand the eighties, how in many ways it was a decade of massive social revolution, a watershed between one way of life and another... it's hard. And what works quite well is having them watch film from the period.

So help me - suggest items for their summer reading/watching list.

I'll start with:

Working Girl
Nine to Five
 
Well, I’d like to coin the Magnolia test, which judges whether or not a movie is a proper women’s movie by asking whether:

1 The cast is largely, maybe even solely female…

2 And the female characters are kind to one another because they like one another, and they talk to each other about a million things other than men…

3 And the relationship between the women is far more important than any they have with a man. (Bonus points if any of the following are in the film: Shirley MacLaine, Dolly Parton, Bette Midler, Olympia Dukakis. Triple for Sally Field.)
Click to expand...

:thumbs:
 
In Flashdance wasn't the main character a welder? That alone in the film quite impressed me as a kid!
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
League of their own.
Private Benjamin.
Baby boom
Breaking glass
Thelma and Louise
Desperately seeking Susan
Ladies and gentleman the fabulous stains.
Flashdance?
Click to expand...
How is Desperately seeking Susan about career women?

ETA-Didn't read the OP properly, not sure about feminist themes either really but it's been a while.
 
The Color Purple, for both reading and watching.
The Handmaid's Tale is 80s but may not be quite what you want.
Again, not sure if they fit the themes but some of the great young adult films of the 80s centred on young women, like Pretty in Pink, Heathers or Sixteen Candles.

eta. Shirley Valentine. Desperately cheesy, but was warmly received at the time, and fits the idea of the changing role of women.
 
Much as I love John Hughes films, i think the combination of wrong country AND wrong age might be counterproductive.

Handmaid's tale is a good shout, - less so for cultural immersion in the decade, and more for being indicative of that wave of feminist writing.
 
Also, I think Terms of Endearment has f elements, Shirley MacClaine always plays very strong female roles...
 
I loved Shirley Valentine. He was a total dick and made me feel uncomfortable but she was out there on her own, a big fuck you to her usual boring housewife life, and while it didn't work out how she expected, she didn't take a shit life lying down (well...).

I haven't watched it in years, and I suspect it might have a bunch of "midlife crisis, get it out of your system, woman" stuff in there (honestly can't remember), but it was pretty subversive in its own way at the time.
 
sparklefish said:
How is Desperately seeking Susan about career women?

ETA-Didn't read the OP properly, not sure about feminist themes either really but it's been a while.
Click to expand...
A girly girl led by men finds that women can be strong and stand up for themselves, and do what they want. Girls don't need to be attached to a guy to be defined.
Pretty weak I grant you, but strong women leads that could handle themselves in films during the 80s were few and far between.
You could kind of argue the inclusion of alien and aliens, though it's set in a future where there does not appear to be any gender issues, so the 'issue' is basicly ignored.
 
ATOMIC SUPLEX said:
A girly girl led by men finds that women can be strong and stand up for themselves, and do what they want. Girls don't need to be attached to a guy to be defined.
Pretty weak I grant you, but strong women leads that could handle themselves in films during the 80s were few and far between.
You could kind of argue the inclusion of alien and aliens, though it's set in a future where there does not appear to be any gender issues, so the 'issue' is basicly ignored.
Click to expand...
Yeah, you're right. I love that film. DSS not Alien.
 
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