SEQUENCE 1 : FEMALE VILLAINS

Thématique : Imaginaires / L’imagination créatrice et visionnaire

Problématique: How do female villains challenge the cultural stereotypes linked to women?

Why are female villains so complex?

Doc 1 (intro): A still from the movie A View to Kill (1985)

This document is a still from the James BOND movie A View to

Kill, released in 1985. Produced by John Glen, it starred Roger
Moore as 007 and model and actress Grace Jones as the villain,
a Russian spy.

On the picture we can see a black woman, wearing a black

leather suit with a hoodie. She has make- up on and she is also
wearing jewellery. She is carrying a man (007), effortlessly. She
looks like she is ready to throw him down, from the roof of a
building. She looks fierce and cold-hearted/ heartless/emotionless. She is defiantly staring at
something. 007 is wearing a suit and we can see he has a gun at his waist. However, and even though
his enemy has no weapon, he is clearly in danger as the woman has the upper hand.

This picture breaks all the stereotypes of the previous James Bond movies: The villain isn’t some
white, ugly, muscular, blue-eyed Russian man. The woman is not the “pretty girlfriend”, the victim,
the damsel in distress of the storyline. Here, the woman is the villain, the bad guy: strong,
powerful and merciless. THERE HAS BEEN A GENDER ROLE REVERSAL.

Doc 2: Quote by Regina (The Evil Queen) in Once Upon a Time

“I shall destroy your happiness, if it is the last thing I do.”

With these words, Regina shows her determination and her will to make Snow White’s life (her
enemy, her rival), a living hell. They evoke her courage (as not everybody is willing to sacrifice their
life to destroy somebody else’s) but also her despair.

The deep hatred and desire to seek revenge (at any costs) are characteristic of villains. Sometimes, it
is also associated to sadness as we feel for this hatred-consumed soul.

Jealousy is a feeling usually associated to women. Women are often said to hate on each other
because of petty reasons such as looks or popularity. Stereotype

Doc 3: Youtube VideoVictorian guide to women

The 4 rules Victorian Women had to live by:

1- Find yourself a husband and make him happy

2- Always wear a corset
3- You must never show more than your ankles (or else you will be labelled a prostitute)
4- Don’t be dull (but don’t be too expressive neither)
5- You must forego happiness if needed, in order to please your husband
 Doc 4: A Room of one’s own (Virginia WOOLF) 1929

Big brothers, silent sisters (picture + text)

Picture This picture is a portrait with two faces

merging into one. The left side of the face is a black and
white drawing. It represents a man: William
Shakespeare. The right side of the portrait is a feminine
face. We can imagine it represents Judith, Shakespeare
‘s imaginary sister.

Text The text is an extract from the essay “A Room of

One’s Own” by Virginia Woolf. It was written in 1929.

The text is about Shakespeare’s imaginary sister, Judith,

who is extremely talented and ambitious. She is as smart
as he is but she isn’t offered the same chances and
eventually kills herself.

Virginia Woolf wants to compare and contrast the

chances of two equally gifted people (a man and a
woman) growing up in the same environment and with
identical ambitions.

They are both gifted, adventurous, imaginative. They are

equally passionate about theatre. They both have a taste
for grammar and literature → The only thing that sets
them apart is their gender: Judith is never taken seriously, she is never given any opportunity
because she is a woman. Shakespeare had an education, which she didn’t.

V.W wanted to raise awareness about gender inequalities and sexism. It is the fact that women had
no possible future in the public sphere. They were confined to domesticity regardless of their talent.
They were given no choice at all.

Judith’s voice is suppressed and she is relegated to her function of motherhood: “she found herself
with child”. The expression “found herself” highlights her lack of choice, she had no intention of
having a child at that stage of her life. Helpless and trapped in her female body, she commits suicide.

PRL: Pour comparer

- as … as … ( … : adj ou proposition)
- Both / equally
- Like … / Unlike …
- Whereas / while / meanwhile
 Doc 5: The Devil Wears Prada (movie poster + movie bits)

ANGELS OR DEVILS ?

The document is a movie poster.

In the picture, we can see a red stiletto shoe with a trident-
shaped like heel. The background is completely white, which
makes this sensual yet intriguing shoe stand out.
The lead actresses are two women: M.Streep and A. Hathaway.
The movie is entitled “The Devil Wears Prada”. We can
therefore infer that the devil is a highly fashionable yet
merciless and ruthless sophisticated woman (as stilettos are
often associated with glamourous and powerful women). Her
environment seems to be quite neutral or pure (whiteness of
the background).

Movie clip #1
This clip is Miranda’s first appearance in the movie. As she comes into the building, every
employee is running around to get last minute things done. Everybody is hectic and the
atmosphere is tensed. The tension builds up as we see make-up and outfit touch-ups,
assistants trying to prepare as quickly as they can before the big boss walks into the office.
People are dying to please Miranda, and Andy, a witness of this agitation, is completely
oblivious to this kind of behaviour. She looks flabbergasted!
Miranda is totally different. No sense of rush on her side. As a series of close-ups draw our
attention to her handbag, shoes and coat, we are reminded of her super high sense of
fashion. As she walks into the building, people rush out of her way, too afraid to interact
with her. She isn’t bothered at all as she keeps a straight face. She seems to be emotionless
and utterly unmoved by the feeling of intimidation she triggers.

Movie clip #2
Worksheet JOB INTERVIEW

Movie clips #3 - 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3iwgKCDRdWA https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=IxYPI_Qdavg&t=7s
What makes Miranda a villain?
Whenever the occasion presents itself, Miranda humiliates people who work for her. She is
portrayed as a domineering yet successful businesswoman, and a dreadful employer, loading
her subordinates with almost impracticable tasks.

tasks – businesswoman – occasion – dreadful – humiliates

Pick your “favourite” quote: ….

2.0 or Traditional villain?

Warm up:
What makes a woman? Could you be (around) the traditional version of a woman?

For women in pop culture, staying in your lane and being good, meek, submissive, feminine,
emotional, compliant are potential pathways to an unhappy life or even worse, to
destruction. That is why there are more and more female villains.
The transition: Miranda has some good reasons for being a villain (unlike men)
-If she’s disappointed in her employees, it’s because she believes them to be capable of
more, not because she expects them to fail.
-If she is tough, it is because life has been tough on her (her mom died at an early age / her 3
divorces)
But yet, women who try to occupy the roles traditionally occupied by men and to act with
the same authority and demands for excellence traditionally reserved for men, encounter a
new danger. Even in modern days, there is a desire to take down the powerful woman
through her personal life (eg. Miranda’s divorce.)

Doc 6 Gertrude Talks Backs

anticipation VIDEOS HAMLET
https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=t0CqUTmwKiM&t=7s&pp=ygUpaGFtbGV0IGJ5IHdpbGxpYW0gc2hha2VzcGVhcmUgc3Bhcmtub3RlcyA%3D

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EmjWIMMtjDc

The original:
In Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Gertrude is a shadowy character with little substance. She is quite silent.
We see through Hamlet the picture of a woman who one day lived obediently and in the shadow of the one
king to whom she was devoted, and the next day, who allies herself in love and politics, with the polar
opposite of that man she formerly called her husband. On top of that, he is her step-brother!
The play seems to raise more questions about her that it answers: Was she always Claudius’ lover? Did
she love her husband? Did she truly love Claudius? Did she know about his plan to commit murder?
Her weakness is blamed on her sex. He mutters: “Frailty, thy name is woman” (1.2.146). It seems that
Hamlet thinks his mother is incapable of being strong merely because she is a woman. He does not blame
his uncle for being weak, even though he is indeed.

Margaret Atwood, “Gertrude Talks Back”, Good Bones and Simple Murders (1994)
Gertrude Talks Back was written in 1992 by feminist writer Margaret Atwood. With this
text, she revisited Shakespeare’s masterpiece, Hamlet.
Is this a “feminist” text in your opinion? Why or why not?