‘Messages & Values’

Get Carter is set in 1971 in a post ‘Swinging Sixties’ world

What do you know about the ‘Swinging Sixties’?

The ‘Swinging Sixties’ is a term applied to the fashion, music and cultural revolution that took place in London in the 1960’s

In 1963 the Contraceptive Pill was introduced – this heralded a new freedom for women – They now had control over their own sex lives and reproduction

What changes could the contraceptive pill bring to women of the 1960’s?

Are these attitudes towards women represented in ‘Get Carter’?

What does this tell us about the impact of the ‘Swinging Sixties’?

Swinging Sixties?

A lot of men in society felt their place was threatened by this and a ‘loss of status’ was a fear many men held

Carter’s Women

Watch the opening scene from Get Carter and make notes on the following:

How are audience positioned to view male characters in this world?

How are the audience positioned to view female characters in this world?

Whose POV do we adopt? (do we see the world through the eyes of men, or women?)

Audience Positioning:

Refers to how we relate to certain characters/actions we se on screen.

The shot identifies the films protagonist Jack Carter

He is positioned as a loner, isolated from the criminals he surrounds himself with telling us that he is different in someway

The other men are in groups and are viewing pornographic videos of women

The character of Anna is played by Britt Ekland a famous model and actress

She is presented as glamorous and attractive, but quiet and obedient

The film immediately positions the women in the film as submissive and men as dominant

To be seen, & not heard

Swinging Sixties

How do your notes about the film correspond to the representation of women that the ‘Swinging Sixties’ ideology promotes?

You must now begin analysing the representation of women in Get Carter

You must find the scenes that provide the best analysis of female representation in the film and complete an in-depth analysis of the micro

elements

You must note down the ways women are represented:

Consider:

• How are they treated by men?• How do they react to men?

• What is their purpose in the narrative?• What happens to the women once they have served their purpose?

Analysis Task

Learning Objectives

Analyse the representation of:

GlendaEdnaAnna

What role does Glenda play in the narrative of Get Carter? (What is her function in the film?)

Glenda is introduced as an object of Kinnear who attempts to seduce Carter

She is seen as a tool to be used by Kinnear

She is used to please men; Kinnear uses her to seduce Carter, and Carter by sleeping with her

In each frame she is surrounded by men, told what to do and ignored when not ‘working’

Notice how her voice is often drowned out by the men around her, signifying her as a lower status and importance than them

Glenda

Mulvey goes on to say that the role of female characters in a narrative serves two purposes:

1. As an erotic object for the characters within the film

2. As an erotic object for the spectator within the audience

As a result, women that are seen in film are not signifying real women, but rather the idea of women which is often fetishised, by male audiences

Do you think this is true of Get Carter?

Laura Mulvey - Male gaze

What does this tells us about 1970’s culture? And male audience members?

Watch the following scene and consider how ‘The Male Gaze’ applies to Anna

Anna is framed in a way that suggests someone is watching her

The obscured frame provides a voyeuristic experience for the audience – this is how they want to see women (She has been fetishised)

Carter instructs Anna and is able to pleasure her with just his voice – demonstrating his power over her, and his masculinity

The male gaze applies here as both Carter (imagining) and the audience members are seeing Anna as an erotic object

Anna

What function does Edna play in the narrative of the film/

Enda’s role in the film to provide food and shelter for Carter

She never leaves the home and when attempting to assert her authority, is over ridden by Carter who tells her to:

The role is Edna serves Carter – she is inside the home, making food and

providing sexual pleasure for the male (temporarily)

in her life.She is a representation of

what many men saw as the role of the women in

society

“Make us a nice cup of Tea”

She is even rewarded for her obedience

“I might even let you watch”

Edna

summary

Watch the following scene and consider how ‘The Male Gaze’ applies

These reps of women give us an insight in to how women were seen by many men at the time

It shows us that the liberation and freedoms women gained during the 1960’s took a long time to take effect

By positioning women like that we are encouraged to see women as Carter does and how many men at the time did

The idea of women as controlled and lower status was still held by many men in society

Men and Women

As we have seen, the representation of Women in Get Carter is a very negative one.

They are not represented as strong, independent women that the ‘swinging sixties’ mythology promotes

Instead they are portrayed as objects that men use and control

Men and Women

Many critics have argued that director Mike Hodges was commenting on the transition from ‘Swinging Sixties’ to a more economically bleak 1970’s

The extent of ‘female liberation’ is questioned by this film

Get Carter portrays a society in which women are not liberated, except in superficial ways

The female characters are all victims, owned and used by men who see them as sex objects and little more

It is implied that the sexual freedoms brought by the contraceptive pill has benefitted men more than women

Whilst this is true, we must be able to prove this point with analysis of the film!

1960’s fallout

Get Carter presents a Britain where ‘Free Love’ has been replaced by Pornography and exploitation

It is a reflection of how ‘female liberation’, a result of the ‘swinging sixties’ eventually benefited men just as much, if not more than women

The men who make the pornography use the advancements made during the 1960’s to control and further exploit women

They are able to reinforce their positions in society this way and maintain their dominance over women

1960’s fallout

By the 1970’s Marijuana and LCD had been replaced by Cocaine and Heroin – some would argue that this is a natural consequence of a more liberal view of some drugs

Get Carter presents a Britain were most positive outcomes of the ‘swinging sixties’ were either eroded or exploited

The use of recreational drugs is now an epidemic spreading through the working classes and Heroin is used to control women

Those most directly responsible for this were the people who held the most power – The Patriarchy

What type of drugs do we see used in the film?

Glenda & Carter

After the ‘swinging sixties’ women’s place in society slowly began to change as they entered the work force and aspired to be seen as equal to men

As more women moved in to the work force, many men felt their positions and status in society was being challenged

Jack Carter and the other men in the film represent a ‘masculine crisis’ that men faced in the aftermath of the ‘Swinging Sixties’

Carter uses Glenda for sex and information

When she leaves for her bath Carter watches a pornographic film depicting two women

At first Carter appears to enjoy the film, until his niece appears in the film

Why do you think Carter is so angry when he sees his niece?

Carter reacts angrily to the scene as HIS niece is being abused

He clearly cares about his family, but only in a superficial way

The use of his niece is an affront to his status – he is being mocked by Kinnear who uses ‘his women’ to challenge him

Glenda & Carter

In the scene were Carter sees his Brother in the coffin he places a hand on his shoulder out of affection, but this is tarnished later as he is seen shaving over the open coffin

For Carter, the attack on his family is personal, but more importantly it is an attack on his name

Family Values

Status is very important and reinforcing this status is fundamental to their lives

The men of the film use violence as a tool to raise or maintain their status

Sometimes this is against men, but a lot of the time it is against women

Why do you think Carter is obsessed with avenging his brothers death?