Introduction
Colette, a bibliographical drama film is one of the works of art directed by Wash Westmoreland. According to Maes, (2017), radical egalitarian pornography has been integrated into art creating a great chance of ‘pornification’ of sex and culture in society. The book and the film both pass the same message, that women in society have been turned into mere objects of sex and as such, their value and role have been greatly reduced. The author notes that societies need to change their perception of women and their view of sexiness if a difference is to be made. “Instead, they suggest that we define sexiness in such a way that it makes room for women, and men, as sexy subjects rather than as mere sex objects” (Maes, 2017). As a work of art, the film presents various instances that support the fact that women are considered to be sexy with different cases where men define women based on sexy features. Through the interpersonal relationships established between Colette and Willy and other friends presented in the art, women are subjected to different episodes of emotional hiccups and their works fail to be appreciated although they end up being perfect. Different cases relating to feminism, sexiness, and pornography are present in order to present the meaning of different perceptions held towards women by men in the respective society. As a consequence, this essay analyzes various instances of feminism as a philosophical issue and discusses how the work of art promotes aesthetics.
Gabriele Colette is a young woman who begins an affair with Willy at the end of the 19 th century. Willy identifies himself as a literal entrepreneur who employs a number of ghostwriters. In the society presented in the setting, women are categorized on the basis of sexiness. Men in the context including Willy fall in lust categorizing women based on their sexiness. The film is synthesized to the book based on how the character perceives women’s sexuality. According to the author, “According to L&I, women are considered sexy in accordance with an all too narrow conception of sexiness” (Maes, 2017). The character is quick to make his own prejudgment about sexiness based on his objective perception of attractiveness. In addition to this, the view also supports Willy’s interest in socialites. However, maintaining his relationship with Colette demands his honesty and trust despite his case. Unable to maintain his standards, Colette finds Willy with a prostitute. Furthermore, instances of eroticized scenes, personality features and bodily features in the film support pornography. The use of these features is to clearly demonstrate the activities and perceptions held by men in the society reflected in the setting. “L&I’s diagnosis raises questions. Take the claim that women are considered sexy in accordance with an externally dictated conception of sexiness” (Maes, 2017). The problem as the author states is the qualities that men look for when formulating their judgments on the qualities they consider in women to be sexy.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
Women in the film have been categorized in the context of sexiness with certain standards being laid to categorize those (Maes, 2017). Therefore, as presented, women's rights and interests have been blurred by the standards of sexiness as demonstrated in various settings in the film. Willy’s case attracts a separation between him and Colette since she could not withstand the emotional hiccup.
The film is synthesized with the book based on how sexiness is presented by the actors and how they handle women they come across. The society presented therein is full of sexiness standards limiting women from handling important roles in life (Maes, 2017). As the author notes, “By contrast, I would want to emphasize that sexiness is not essential to a woman’s value as a person, just as it is not essential to a man’s value” (Maes, 2017). Colette has been confined in the domestic sphere after being taken to Paris as Willy’s bride. Colette is assigned the duty of managing Willy’s communication in his writing activity while other ghostwriters are summoned to handle the tasks and write the articles. When Colette writes and completes a draft on one of the articles, Willy deliberately rejects it suggesting that it does not have a plot.
After some years, Willy’s furniture is repossessed making him stumble on the draft written by Colette. Later, he suggests the revision of the draft, which he had suggested that it had no plot. Surprisingly, the novel becomes one of the bestselling novels in the market. This incidence demonstrates aspects of feminism in the setting. The fact that public life is reserved for men has been the thought trending in this work of art. Willy had confined the operations of Colette within the correspondence sphere such that she had no public life despite her writing expertise. Moreover, Willy indirectly denied Colette the right to publish such a great novel that afterward acquired a significant market position.
Additionally, sexism has been associated with the aspects of feminism following the ideologies present in the context defining how women are considered in society (Maes, 2017). The film tries to show this based on how it shows different factors that influenced the stereotypes surrounding sexism and women in society. “One’s upbringing and advertising, in the media, in the arts, in the many forms of entertainment, all of this has a tremendous influence” (Maes, 2017). Willy had an interest in socialites such that he used most of his expenses to entertain them. As a consequence, the expenses continually mount to the extent that he sought Colette’s help. Willy asks Colette to write a novel about her school stories. The essence of providing a title instead of telling her to write on any captivating title still demonstrates symptoms of feminism. However, after publishing the novel, it attracts a female readership despite the initial objection by Willy. After identifying the skill in Colette, feminism is quite evident when Willy purchases a country house and domesticates Colette forcing her to write. This seems absurd especially considering women's rights and the right for expression that should be equally distributed among both genders.
Locking Colette in the country house raises different questions on how women are treated in such settings. As identified in the context, public life is preserved for men in a society characterized by feminism. Although feminism entails the belief in social equality of both sexes in the society, there is no equality presented through the setting. Furthermore, confining Colette in the house limits her access to public life matching Willy’s perception that she should not be a member of the life outside the domestic compound.
Furthermore, confining Colette in the country house has other issues associated with it. Willy takes advantage of his dictatorial character to oppress Colette. He takes advantage of her ability to write novels and confines her freedom so that he can work for her. This incidence is against their affair. Willy is blown by the societal wind of getting money to entertain his socialites through the works done by Colette ( Westmoreland, 2018 ). Obediently, Colette writes a novel, Claudine a Paris, which becomes another best-selling publication. Nevertheless, Willy is still carried away by the lust despite the fact that he has Colette as his wife. Colette does not seem sexy any more towards Willy. On the contrary, Willy gets attracted to other women, socialites, who he identifies as sexually attractive.
Throughout the film, women are sexually classified by defining sexy standards. Men get attracted to the aesthetic appreciation of the sexual particularity of different body types as identified in Willy’s case. Men tend to admire women by their outward complexion classifying them as sexy and falling to lust. However, they are not attracted by the fruitful efforts that would be beneficial such as those possessed by Colette. Falling in lust, Willy begins an affair with Georgie despite the fact that they had become increasingly recognized couples over the years ( Westmoreland, 2018 ). The affair between Georgie and Willy emanates from his jealousy after Colette had attracted Georgie’s interest in an affair. The aspect of sexism still characterizes these cases where different characters get interested in the sexy appearance of each other falling into affairs.
Despite their coordination through the writing, Colette cannot conduct the writing freely without constant supervision by Willy. Although she is a married woman, she could not exercise authority over her public life without being cut shot or prevented by Willy ( Westmoreland, 2018 ). These incidences of confinement are totally against the belief that both genders should be treated equally as supported by feminism. The defense of women in this context remains puzzled since there is no one to fight for their rights. Through the film, women are painted as sexy models who can only make great partners in an affair. This is evident from multiple cases of Willy getting into different affairs with different women. An additional incidence is where Georgia gets attracted to Colette and wants her into an affair ( Westmoreland, 2018 ). Other incidences describe how women have been confined under the characterization by men as sexy models who can do nothing more than falling into affairs and entertain lustful behaviors.
Nevertheless, Colette tends to have the urge to defend women against sexism and stand for gender equality for both genders. This happens after she realizes the Willy has got into an affair with Georgia who she was still in an affair with. Not forgetting that Georgia had been married and writing about such an incidence would affect Georgia’s marriage. Colette writes a book and before distributing it to her readers, Georgia burns all the copies due to fear that their case would be unleashed. They are victims of lust and sexism easily giving in to lust issues despite the fact that they are not in line with the community’s norms. Most cases end up having the characters making judgments on the sexiness of their partners facilitating different decisions that are indispensable. More on Colette’s case, she is determined to use her expertise in writing to defend women and promote feminism. However, the society around her still hold the beliefs on the standards characterizing women. She still remains domesticated and has no access to public life that would support her talent and develop the worth of being a woman.
Conclusion
The issue of integrating pornography in art has raised different perceptions on the state of society (Maes, 2017). In order to present the content of the film, several scenes have been integrated with radical egalitarian pornography in order to raise the understanding of the impact of sexiness in the society. Although Colette had developed as a woman of courage and great accomplishments, she is carried away by the wave of lust and sexism attracting a morally outraged response regarding feminism. Men tend to have control over women demonstrated by Willy’s case selling all the books without Colette’s knowledge. However, the manuscripts are returned to Colette where she stands strong as an independent writer. Colette could write about her real-life experiences and her struggle to become an independent woman protecting her rights as a woman and being against the social beliefs of sexism. Therefore, through the life of Colette as presented in the film, Colette demonstrates the need for advocating for women's rights on the ground of the equality of both sexes and get full control of her public life as a writer.
References
Maes, H. (2017). Falling in lust: Sexiness, feminism, and pornography.
Westmoreland, W. (2018). Colette. Number 9 Films.
