The concept of female friendship films has been widely discussed by various writers and theorists through the exploration of texts and contextual research regarding women and their place in society. This dissertation will aim to explore the idea of female friendship within film through the investigation of gender representations and the breaking down of the female friendship film, in particular the political female friendship film and its function. Primarily, this will be achieved through a close analysis of Colin Higgins’ comedy, Nine to Five (1980) and Ridley Scott’s adventure crime drama Thelma & Louise (1991), in order to effectively demonstrate the characteristics of the political female friendship film. These films have been chosen due to ways in which they tackle political agendas through different genres and different depictions of friendship. One, a satirical comedy which illustrates the struggles women face within the workplace, the other, a dramatic adventure of two women taking the road trip of a lifetime, discovering freedom, liberation and the true strength of friendship. When exploring the political friendship film, Hollinger claims that “the friendship stems not from an emotionally intense sense of connection, but from needs that lead to socio-political action,” (Hollinger, 1998, 8) which will be a key area of analysis within these two films regarding the grounds in which these friendships are formed.
For the most part, this research is focused on identifying the common issues around gendered representation, highlighting the importance of female friendship and outlining the hardships women face in order to survive in a world that is in favour to men. Although the contextual background of the decades in which these films were produced is a key part in understanding female representation, it is important to remember that this dissertation is not an exploration of feminism, but an exploration of friendship between women who are there for each other in a time of need and form alliances that empower them to be themselves to find a place of belonging. Ultimately, this is a study of friendship and how a woman becomes to know herself and therefore learn to understand herself and her situation and how she can extend these lessons to understand her friends, which Hollinger sums up; “identification in female friendship is a means of mutual recognition and interpretation”(1998, 15).
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