I will be investigating the
industrial changes in film, the structure of the market, America’s investment
in the British film industry and the reasons censorship laws were revised. I
will examine Alfie (1966) directed by Lewis Gilbert, pinpointing issues of
gender roles, the male dominance, the hedonistic man and his consequences. I
will observe whether this is a sensationalist film, if the film uses subject
matter, for example abortion, to shock and anger viewers. I will discern how
exaggerated Alfie (1966) is in respect to the ‘real’ 1960’s. The 1960’s showed significant
social change Sue Harper (2000) states
The 1960’s
was a period in which social change in Britain appeared to be accelerated: the
Profumo affair, the election of the labour government in 1964, the public
protests about Vietnam, the suspension of capital punishment in 1965 and the
Race Relations, sexual offences, obscene publications and Abortion Acts all
modified people’s perceptions of individual freedom. (Sue Harper, 2000, pg 101)
In the ‘swinging sixties’ people seemed less
conscious of their permissive acts.
‘The girls
have become as emancipated as the boys’ and ‘lead fulfilled sex lives’ (Sue
Harper, 2000, pg 101).
Suggesting the ‘no sex before
marriage’ issue seemed to be relaxed. 1960’s film showed social changes and
expressed changes in the era’s view on social issues. Alfie portrayed women as
a ‘stand-by’, someone who is there, but asks nothing of the man for example
Gilda in Alfie (1966), or an independent woman, who is heartless and
promiscuous such as Ruby. Emotions of women seemed to be restricted, even
though there were women, not like either statement suggests. The freedom and
relaxation of social issues made filmmakers impetuous. They made sexually
driven films. The 1960’s film industry was more challenging and less tolerant
of women than they were in the 1950’s.
The film industry’s, economic
structure in Britain was struggling. The structure of the market changed, for
example the ‘youth’ were dividing into subcultures and more interested in music
than in cinema. Television had a large part to play, becoming popular with the
‘family’. The industry needed to recruit a new audience. They started making
films about taboos of society. Their main audience, young single adults or couples.
Another factor is poverty; they could not afford to go to the cinema. The structure
of the market, caused cinema audiences to fall dramatically, resulting in
cinema’s across Britain to close.
Britain started working with international
film industries; they needed the American market to help cover film costs.
America stopped investing in the British industry at the end of the 1960’s and
this caused problems resulting in risk-taking.
British Lion
had served as a permissive catch-all for independent film makers and that it
had backed some adventurous projects. (Sue Harper, 2000, pg106)
As films became more hedonistic,
they dealt with issues such as permissiveness, infidelity and abortion. This
required the censorship laws to be revised. They introduced an ‘X’ rate
certificate, age restriction, 18. This was one of the major changes in the film
industry from the 1950’s-1960’s. Film used social and political issues, becoming
apparent in Britain. This gave them more freedom in film content.
Alfie (1966) dealt with issues
in London that encircled his life and followed him throughout the film. The
political issue of Abortion is raised in the film. It shows us how women were
treated by men and the gender roles and difference. It glamorises sex and
shows, women were made to feel below men, but the way Alfie treats women is supposed
to be slight comedy, for example when Gilda cries, she rests her head on his
shoulder and he says ‘mind the shirt’. (Alfie, 1966) Alfie had some results
from the doctor and when he met her she didn’t fall for his charms.
The only
female character apparently not bedded by Alfie in the film is ‘abnormal’: a
female doctor (‘queer job for a bird innit?’) who’s swept black hair and
glasses suggest repression. (John Hill, 1986, pg165).
In the 1960’s, film encouraged the view of
‘Swinging London’. Alfie does exaggerate, he is an individual, he does not
represent the whole era.
The most influential issue of
the film is abortion. An affair with his friend’s wife resulted in an unwanted
pregnancy and an illegal abortion, by an unqualified doctor, in Alfie’s flat. The
Abortion Act 1967 was
The law
forbade all ‘unlawful attempts to procure a miscarriage’, except where it is
necessary to preserve the life of the mother. (Wheen. F, 1982, pg112)
Liberal MP David Steel changed
the Abortion Act 1967,
Technically the law did not legalise
abortions, but rather provided a legal defence for those carrying them out.
Abortions can legally be performed under certain conditions - the first is that
continuing with the pregnancy involves a greater risk to the physical or mental
health of the woman, or her existing children, than having a termination. The
woman's "actual or reasonably foreseeable future environment" may be
taken into account. Abortion up to 24 weeks is also allowed if there is a
substantial risk that the child when born would suffer "such physical or
mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped". An abortion must be
agreed by two doctors (or one in an emergency) and carried out by a doctor in a
government-approved hospital or clinic. (BBC, 2008)
Working class women could still
not get a legal abortion, so committed the crime of an illegal abortion.
Alfie treats women as
unimportant and he refers to them as ‘bird’ or ‘it’. Alfie demeans women and
treats them like objects for his pleasure. Thus showing us the domination of
men over women, in the 60’s. Women could not support themselves or a family
without a man. Women were paid a lesser
wage. Gilda decides to marry Humphrey, she ‘respects him’ (Alfie, 1966). She
now has financial stability for her and her child with Alfie, who refused to
marry her. When Gilda was pregnant, Alfie stated that it was ‘her’ baby and she
could do whatever she wanted.
The character Ruby is a rich
American woman; he says he would settle down with. She is independent of men
and shown as ‘heartless’, when Alfie finds another man in her bed. Ruby states
‘he’s younger than you are’ (Alfie, 1966). He then knew how it felt, and he could
not carry on his hedonistic lifestyle. Ruby suggests that American women have
more freedom than British women. In the 1960’s Women’s Revolution was noticed
in politics in America, whereas in Britain it was not so noticeable. The late
1960’s showed politicians started to notice the Women’s Liberations.
Alfie leads his life with
different women including married women, their husbands portrayed as immobile
or boring. The ‘Swinging Sixties’, only gave advantage to the men, and the
women have to suffer any consequences of the sexual acts, for example abortion.
I conclude that, Alfie dealt with
very important political/social issues. It shows traumas women went through and
shows effectual dramatisation of the events of infidelity, unwanted pregnancy,
abortion, sexist views and degradation of women in the 1960’s and the dominance
of man. The film successfully evokes the fundamental issues and Alfie gets his comeuppance,
feeling rejected by Ruby and other women.
You know
what? When I look back on my little life and think of all the things they’ve
done for me, and the little I’ve done for them, you’d think I’d have the best
of it, all along the line. But what have I got out of it? I got a bob or two,
some decent clothes, a car, I got me health back and I ain’t attached. But I
ain’t got me piece of mind, and if you ain’t got that, you ain’t got nothing.
(Alfie, 1966)
Some faults that can be found about the
changes in the representation of sexuality are, hedonistic ways only applied to
a minority of the era, it does not give us an accurate account of every person
in ‘Swinging London’. Women portrayed as being a ‘stand-by’, boring, or
‘exiting’, a heartless woman. There was no in-between. Women were made to feel
inferior to men, but not exaggerated like Alfie. The abortion issue shows that
women were adulterers and had to commit a horrible crime of abortion, in order
to keep their marriage together. As contraception was not widely available to
single women in the 1960’s the same problem occurred there as well. Alfie gets
his comeuppance and finally realises that he doesn’t have a viable way of life.
It appeared to me that Alfie was chasing social significance, not to be of upper-class
but to be wanted and needed by women, without it affecting his ‘bachelor
lifestyle’ I conclude that this is a sensationalist film using issues of
infidelity, abortion and roles of women to anger and shock the audience.
Bibliography
Alfie (1966) Lewis Gilbert. [FILM] UK: Paramount Pictures
British Broadcasting Corporation
(BBC), (2008) Q and A Abortion Law,
British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). [ARTICLE ONLINE] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4350259.stm
(Accessed 03/11/2009)
Harper, Sue (2000) Women in British Cinema: Mad, Bad and Dangerous to
Know. London: Continuum
Hill, John (1986) Sex, Class and Realism. London: British
Film Institute
IMDB, (1990) Alfie (1966). IMDB. [ONLINE] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0060086/
(Accessed 28/10/2009)
Pearson, Chris (2009) Alfie: Sexuality, Gender and Sex in the
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(Accessed 28/10/2009)
Wheen, Francis (1982) The Sixties. London: Century
By Lea Weller BA
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