The name is absent

Appendix 3.1: Analytic methods - 6 films from 1954

How are these analytic terms useful in summarising the
representation of women in films popular at the British box
office in 1954? In this group of six films women are
typically defined as follows: not only do they act in relation
to a particular male character, typically in serving the
interests of the male, but also professional female
occupations can be largely subsumed under the general heading
'service'. Women either manage or assist in shops and
businesses, they are nurses, teachers or entertainers. Women
never change their occupation or their class position, and
they are always either young or old. Narrative resolutions
offer only marriage or death for women. The central thirty
years of women's lives are not represented on the screen.
There are a few additional observations to be made about the
representations in this group of films.

Given the central presence of women's domestic functions it is
remarkable how limited these functions appear to be from the
evidence of their depiction on screen. We see female
characters preparing and serving food, such as Helen in The
Glenn Miller Story, Vicky and Alice in Hobson's Choice, Helen
Mary and her mother in Rob Roy the Highland Roque. We see some
of them ironing (less frequently), hanging curtains (once,
this is Margaret in Rob Roy), and having care of children.
Childcare, however, is simply shown in terms of holding the
child's hand, pushing a pram, or merely being in the same
space as the child: none of the very varied activities which
this form of work actually entails is represented.

There are almost no representations of any significance of
relationships between women. The only exceptions to this are
Margaret and Helen Mary in Rob Roy, and Maggie, Vicky and
Alice in Hobson's Choice, and both of these can be subsumed
under the general term 'family'. Margaret is Helen Mary's
mother in law, Rob having entrusted her to his mother's care
when he is taken prisoner during his wedding feast. Maggie is
elder sister to Vicky and Alice and in addition is explicitly
required by their father to occupy the position of mother to
them since she is not only the eldest but also, he says, the
one with the most sense. Reference to popular film from other
periods shows how striking is this absence of any female
camaraderie: the support and affection existing between
Mildred and Ida in Mildred Pierce (1945) being one example.

A final observation remains to be made: of the six films in
this study four take place in the past. Hobson's Choice in
nineteenth century Salford; The Million Pound Note in
Edwardian London; Rob Roy the Highland Roque in eighteenth
century Scotland; The Glenn Miller Story during the fifteen
years preceding Miller's death during the second world war.
The period of On the Waterfront is slightly ambiguous but can
be understood as contemporary, and Doctor in the House is
unambiguously contemporary.

The conflict over value structures which is the unifying

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