Hidden Figures' Essay on Development of Characters

The representation of gender and female characters in film adaptations in the drama genre will be the main theme of discussion in this essay, with the use of three adaptations – each set within the 20th and 21st centuries. The topic of adaptation will be the focal point, as described by the OED (referenced by Maddox 2014) as, “an altered or amended version of text, musical composition, etc.” This essay will look more specifically at three popular film adaptations, The Devil Wears Prada (2006),) Hidden Figures (2016), and Bombshell (2019), each of which falls into the genre of drama and will use arguments from relevant theorists and academics such as that of Laura Mulvey (1975), Robert Stam (2005), Liesbet Van Zoonen (1994), as well as others. Fidelity will also be a key point of discussion within the essay, a concept that is commonly disputed by critics when discussing adaptations such as these, as well as adaptations from novels and books into films in particular.

While The Devil Wears Prada (2006) is an adaptation of the 2003 novel by Lauren Weisberger, both Hidden Figures (2016) and Bombshell (2019) are instead based on real-life events (faction) and portray the sexism and discrimination that women faced – and continue to face today within the workplace. While these three films tell very different tales, the theme of strong leading female characters remains prominent throughout each, therefore breaking away from traditional stereotypes and representations of women on screen and in the media – particularly in the drama genre in which they are often portrayed as the weaker sex in comparison to their male counterparts, as well as being sexualized in their appearance and portrayed in a manner that is appealing to the ‘male gaze’ (Mulvey, 1975). In feminist Laura Mulvey’s theory, she argues that women in the media are often represented in a manner that is pleasing to the “heterosexual male eye”. This can often be seen in the media today, with many of the women displayed on television fitting society’s unrealistic and somewhat unattainable beauty standards – slim, beautiful, and in most cases, white. This is another reason why I have chosen these three adaptations in particular, as while some of the female characters do fit this stereotype, the majority of the leading actresses used to portray these characters within the films are middle-aged women of different ethnicities, of whom have bodies that represent the average woman in society today, rather than what women are expected to look like, thus not only making these films appear more realistic for the audience watching them but perhaps more relatable for the women also.

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Each of the three adaptations that have been chosen for this film festival in particular are drama films, a genre in which,

“Relies on the emotional and relational development of realistic characters…Often, these dramatic themes are taken from intense, real-life issues” (Buffman, 2011).

This is evident throughout each of the following adaptations, particularly in Bombshell (2019) and Hidden Figures (2016) as they are based on real-life events from the past, meaning that they do exactly what the drama genre itself aims to do – “tell an honest story of human struggles” (Buffman, 2011). Even though unlike the other two films The Devil Wears Prada (2006) is an adaptation of the novel released three years prior, it is still very much representative of the blooming cut-throat fashion industry in the U.S. in the early 2000s, as well as the increase of women in jobs of higher status. This can be seen with one of the leading protagonists Meryl Streep, who plays the role of Miranda Priestly. Not only does she play the role of a fierce, independent businesswoman extremely well – earning her the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in 2007 (VF), but she can also be seen to represent women in film much differently than how they have been traditionally portrayed in the past. This is because even though she is playing the role of such an important and prominent character within the film, it is her fierceness and class that give her such authority and presence, rather than her appearance.

In the past, female characters in drama films were often made to appear as somewhat ‘damsels in distress’ and delicate in comparison to the male characters, feeding into outdated stereotypes as a result of this, there has been a great shift in recent years in the way in which women are being represented on screen. This is no doubt due to the development of the feminism movement and popular campaigns i.e. that of ‘Me Too’ (2006), as well as a shift in focus from prioritizing family life and settling down to work and independence. Gauntlett (2002, cited by Murphy 2015), stated that

“The traditional views of a woman as a housewife or low-status worker has been kick-boxed out of the picture by the feisty, successful ‘girl power icons” (p. 247).

Something that can be seen increasingly in the media today, particularly in these three adaptations.

Fidelity is also a key issue when discussing Adaptations, and is defined by Johnson (2020) as something that “reflects a faithful understanding of its source”. The concept of fidelity is important particularly for directors when adapting a book to a film, as it would in most cases be impossible to copy the book word-for-word without losing the sense of realism that you would normally have in drama films. It is important to ensure that certain details noted in the book are also evident within the adaptation, particularly when paying homage to the source or if it is a popular novel or book that is being adapted into a film, as many people will notice if something is missing and it may cause a negative response from viewers.

Hidden Figures (2016) describes the tale of three African American women – Mary Jackson, Katherine Johnson, and Dorothy Vaughan, whose exceptional mathematical abilities proved to be crucial in helping the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) win the space race in the 1960s. The film is adapted from the book ‘Hidden Figures: The Untold Story of the African American Women Who Helped Win the Space Race’ (Shetterly, 2016), which gained immense popularity and quickly became the New York Times bestseller the following year. In the film, the struggles of not only being women in the workforce in the 19th century – an industry was largely dominated by men, but also being black women in particular, is displayed to the audience throughout. Not only are they discriminated against as a result of the color of their skin, but they are also a minority in another sense because it was reasonably uncommon at the time for women to take on stereotypically more ‘masculine’, practical professions such as that of scientists and mathematicians. The film is set specifically in 1961, just six years after the Montgomery bus Boycott initiated by the Rosa Parks bus incident in 1955 and a time in which segregation was still extremely present across the U.S., dividing black and white people even further as a result. This can be seen directly in the film in a scene where Katherine Johnson – played by phenomenal actress Tara P. Henson, gives a compelling speech to her boss Al Harrison (played by Kevin Costner) about the half-mile distance in which she is made to walk just to use the “colored bathroom” (Hidden Figures 2016) in comparison to her white colleagues, causing her to have to leave the building for longer periods, even in poor weather. This eventually caused Harrison to tear down the bathroom sign later on in the film, an action that could be seen to symbolize people’s gradual shift in attitude towards segregation toward the end of the 1960s.

Even though the drama film (2016) does portray some of the difficulties experienced by Johnson, Vaughan, and Shetterly – representative of many African-American women in the 1960s, unlike the book it does not delve into too much detail about the extremity of racism and that was prominent in the U.S at the time, arguably one of the films biggest flaws. While the public’s response to the book was largely positive, the film adaptation did not receive quite as much praise and was described by The Guardian as,

“An enjoyable but limited film despite excellent performances from its female leads…Disappointingly, the film hides the details that are most meaningful and instructive as we face an era of renewed international turmoil, misguided technological utopianism, and resurgent racism.” (The Guardian, 2017)

This is largely because many fans of the book believed that the film adaptation did not fully do the book justice, mainly because - like most adaptations, it did not portray every aspect and detail that was included in the book, therefore amplifying the issue of fidelity as a result of this. Film Theorist Robert Stam argues that often when adapting books to film there is an immense focus on what has been “lost” rather than what has been “gained” (Stam, 2005). This is largely due to the traditional view that the source is always better than the adaptation, however, it could be argued that adaptations allow the audience to understand the story from the perspective of the director rather than just their own - something that they would not have been able to do by just reading the book themselves.

Furthermore, one key theorist in particular who discusses the representation of women within the media is Liesbet Van Zoonen (1994), who argues that the portrayal of women in the media is not only stereotypical but reinforces society’s values and ideas of how women should appear onscreen – something that often occurs with male producers in particular. While it could be argued that this is not the case in the film Hidden Figures (2016), it can be seen in other popular drama films such as Wonder Woman (2017). This is because the film could be seen to be an accomplishment in the sense that the character of Wonder Woman herself, played by actress Gal Gadot, is a woman playing the role of a superhero – something that would not have been seen often in the past, she is still dressed in an outfit that is tight and revealing. This links back to both Van Zoonen's (1994) and Mulvey’s (1975) feminist’ arguments that women are portrayed in the media in a way that their appearance attracts that of a straight, male audience.

Even though adaptations typically have a negative reputation because they rarely live up to the original, adaptation theorist Linda Hutcheon (2006, cited by Kinney 2006) argues that it is practically impossible for adaptations to remain the same as the source and that they must instead “differ enough from the original text while still maintaining the source’s fundamental ideas.” Therefore means that for them to work as a film, they would have to be altered in a way that would work on screen, rather than just on pages.

Popular feminist and film theorist Laura Mulvey, famously known for her successful essay ‘Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema’ (1965) will be the academic invited to give a presentation at this particular film festival. In her essay, which has now been used in many academic discussions and debates regarding the representation of women in film, she discusses the concept of women being portrayed on-screen and in the media in a manner that is pleasing to the “male gaze” – hence the name of her now renowned theory ‘The Male Gaze Theory’. In her theory, she states that how much unlike men, women are “the bearer of meaning and not the marker of meaning” (Mulvey 1975, cited by Sampson 2015). This therefore means that their characters have little use other than to just simply be looked at by the audience for their appearance, rather than listened to and respected like the majority of the male characters that are seen on television and in films, thus underlining the sexism and patriarchy that is still very much prominent within society today. Even though the representation of women in the media has improved immensely in recent years, there is still much more that needs to change. I have chosen to invite Mulvey as the academic to speak at this film festival as I feel that many of the arguments that she discusses in her essay and theory are very relevant to the main topic of this film festival in particular – the representation of gender and female characters. Even though there has been a notable change in the representation of women in the media and film industry in recent years as discussed earlier in this essay, women are still being constantly sexualized in the media today. Finally, I also decided that Mulvey would be a good choice for an academic to invite to give a presentation on this topic in particular, because feminism is a key theme within the film adaptations that are discussed within this film festival, meaning that a female academic would fit well as the guest speaker.

Bibliography

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3. The Devil Wears Prada, 2006. [film, online]. Directed by David Frankel. USA: 20th Century Studios.
4. Hidden Figures, 2016. [film, online]. Directed by Theodore Melfi. USA: 20th Century Studios.
5. Bombshell, 2019. [film, online]. Directed by Jay Roach. Los Angeles: Bron Studios.
6. Weisberger, L., 2003. The Devil Wears Prada. 1st Edition. New York: Broadway Books.
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