Hollyanna Mathews

Professor Jamieson
FMS 593
December 13, 2018
Feminism in 1970s Experimental Films

In many Hollywood narrative films, women were depicted as objects, dames in distress,

helpless without a man by her side. In experimental films, many directors changed that

stereotype, especially female directors. In this paper, I will be describing the way women

directors frame the female actors’ bodies and how it relates to a feminist ideal. It is important to

remember these times and these women, because they paved the way for future women to take

charge in their fields, women like me.

The Feminist Movement, starting in the 1960s and still continuing today, sparked a lot of

changes for women. Two specific ideals that the feminist movement emphasized so much, and

still does to this day, is an end to sexual harassment in the workplace and domestic violence

(Walsh, 2010). There are two films that incorporate a combined version of these two ideals.

Chick Strand’s film Soft Fiction and Yoko Ono’s film Rape (1969) enforce the idea that women

should be allowed to say no and be listened to. If they do not wish to do something their body,

they should not have to unwillingly. In the 1960s, what is now considered to some to be the

feminist bible, The Feminine Mystique was written by Betty Friedan. It was a book that changed

many women’s ideas about their worlds and how they should be living. Before this book, women

were mainly housewives from the moment they got a ring on their finger. There are multiple

accounts in the book of women stating they didn’t believe they could hold any authority, not

even over their own children (pg 399, 400). Women did not know they had the right as human

beings to stand up for what they wanted or desired, nor that they had the right to be treated

equally as men. They were walked on, treated as objects who were solely there to cook, clean,
and be baby machines. This book opened women’s eyes to new possibilities for their lives,

which sparked the new generation of women, and eventually the new generation of men, who

began to listen to women. The two films mentioned above helped push this movement forward.

In Chick Strand’s Soft Fiction, multiple women, including Strand herself, are shown

onscreen performing some sort of action, framed in a specific way, and there is a story being told

whether by words or music. Some of the framing involves just the mouth and nose of the

woman, making the screen an intimate and at times sensual place. Other moments the screen is

wide staying far from the body on the screen, as though to keep a respectful distance. Many of

the stories being told are that of sexual assault whether by a family member or by strangers.

However, the images don’t coincide with the stories. One story being told in first person as a girl

at the age of seven who was molested and raped by her own grandfather. With this story, the

camera focuses in a wide shot on a naked woman who is making breakfast in her kitchen. This

story contrasts the image, because we do not see the trauma that this woman, if she is the one

telling the story, went through, but the life that continues on after the trauma has happened.

Many times, people will see a naked woman’s body on screen and sexualize it immediately; not

many people will question what it has gone through physically. The story takes away the

sexualization of the woman’s body, but rather makes the viewer question what they are watching

or feel uncomfortable or both. Strand frames these women’s bodies in a way that is unusual for

film, therefore adding to the experimental side of the film. The frame of the naked woman in the

wide shot, makes her completely vulnerable, completely bare. She cannot escape the frame until

she goes into another room, and the viewer cannot escape from looking at her entirely. This

vulnerability enhances the story of the little girl, reminding the viewer of how vulnerable this

little girl. It emphasizes the feminist idea of basic human right to say no and be respected by
triggering the disgust for pedophiles so many men and women have. This disgust then associated

with the image of a naked woman, can make the viewer question if the woman is respected ever

throughout her life.

Another moment in Soft Fiction that resonates with the idea of the basic human right to

be respected, not as an object for men to take as they please, is the story that Strand tells from a

letter written to her by a fan. On the screen we see Strand grinning and speaking as though she’s

telling a story to an audience. Her smile, while reading about this woman being forced to have

oral sex with multiple cowboys all because she had a camera and was taking pictures, makes the

story light hearted. This could be Strand alluring to the idea that many people will hear a story

about sexual assault like that, they argue about whether or not it’s actually sexual assault. Of

course, because she kept trying to escape the group of men tells us that it was. The laughter

comes from the idea that it’s uncomfortable and that she talks about lusting after the cowboys’

looks, but still makes her case of sexual assault. Honestly, I couldn’t tell if Strand was genuinely

thinking the letter was funny or not, because I know multiple people who say they are feminists

in our time, but when reading a letter like that they would not consider it assault. However, it’s a

nice idea to believe that Strand made herself out to look like society. Of course, maybe that’s the

point of experimental works, to not always have a reasoning or meaning behind a scene or

moment.

In Yoko Ono’s film Rape, with the help of John Lennon, the title is deceptive from the

actual action of the film. The film is about a woman, Eva Majlath (IMBD), who is being filmed

by a cameraman, Nicholas D. Knowland (IMBD), whom we never see. They do not speak

English at all in the film. In the film, Nicholas follows the woman around the city they are in for

about half the film. Every time Eva speaks to him it is not in a kind way based off of her facial
expressions. The second half of the film is of her sister’s apartment and the camera filming the

inside of it. It’s dark the whole time, and she begins to scream and yell, bang on the walls, and

even sit and hide her face from the camera, all the efforts to make him leave her alone. The

interesting part of this film is the fact that at first the woman was a somewhat willing participant

to be in a film, but, without her knowledge, she was “chosen at random” and was set up by her

sister with Ono, because she was living in Britain illegally (Richardson, 2004).

This film is a metaphor for rape and assault. He pushes her around, invades her private

home and space, and refuses to leave her alone after being told with both words and body

language multiple times. However, we never see him physically do this, we only see the victim

and the way the camera frames her body. Throughout the film the camera goes from being

distant to right up in Eva’s face. It’s as though the rape that the title of the film is naming is of

her personal space. We see the annoyance on her face turn to frustration that turns into anger

then finally fear. It also would seem that the fact she is in a public area for half of the film and no

one comes in to help her get away from the man is Ono and Lennon’s way of making a

statement. People won’t get involved; they believe it’s none of their business. That’s true today

as much as it was back then. Police sure wouldn’t do anything, not even for domestic violence,

let alone a woman being harassed on the street. In 1975, according to the “Criminal Law of

Misdemeanor Domestic Violence, 1970-1990” written by Joan Zorza in the Journal of Criminal

Law and Criminiology, “Police Commander James Bannon described the manner in which his

police officers would respond to domestic violence calls” as only responding to “those women

who appeared in the most imminent danger.” These men had the ability to declare whether or not

a woman was in real danger of her husband or family member. The problem with the idea that

they wouldn’t deem the woman credible if her injuries were serious enough, is that the next she
called, and they ignored her, could be the last time she ever calls anyone. Putting a man’s worth

over a woman’s health and safety is was feminism is trying to shut down. So, Ono and Lennon

showing the terror that runs through this girl’s body when her stalker comes into her home,

makes the audience think about what to do the next time they see someone, man or woman,

being bothered by someone else.

The fact that she was chased by this cameraman back to her sister’s apartment, also has

significance. As stated above, Yoko Ono and Eva’s sister were in cahoots with one another to put

Eva in this film, but of course Eva does not know this. Therefore, when she is back in what she

would believe is the safety of her sister’s home, she thinks her sister would help save her, but she

is sadly mistaken. Her sister knows that nothing will happen to Eva, so we hear laughter from her

and multiple other women in the apartment. No one seems to care to help Eva, scaring her even

more. If we were to place meaning on this event, then it could be derived as Ono commenting on

how people don’t take women’s allegations seriously. The Detroit police didn’t, and people still

don’t. It’s interesting too that John Lennon worked on a film like this. Lennon is known for his

peace and love slogans, but he admitted in a Playboy interview that his song “Getting Better”

was about his abusive tendencies towards his first wife Cynthia Lennon and, he states, “any

woman.” Maybe he was seeing the light to his terrible behavior, and maybe we should thank

Yoko Ono for that, but it’s still curious to understand what his part in this was for, or why he

wanted to fun the making of this film.

Soft Fiction and Rape were two of the most revolutionizing films of the experimental

world. They had a purpose that struck the very core of the feminism movement for sexual

harassment and domestic violence to be stopped.

 Bibliography
Cunningham, John M. “Yoko Ono.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.,
23 Mar. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Yoko-Ono.
Friedan, Betty. The Feminine Mystique, 1963.
Joan Zorza, Criminal Law of Misdemeanor Domestic Violence, 1970-1990, 83 J. Crim. L. &
Criminology 46 (1992-1993)
Ono, Yoko and John Lennon. Rape, 1969.

“Rape.” IMDb, IMDb.com, www.imdb.com/title/tt0256305/.

Richardson, Mark. “You Say You Want a Revolution: How Yoko Ono's Rape Could Have
Changed the World.” Senses of Cinema, 15 Dec. 2010, sensesofcinema.com/2004/feature-
articles/yoko_ono_rape/.

Sheff, David. “John Lennon Interview: Playboy 1980 (Page 3).” Playboy, The Beatles Ultimate
Experience, 1981, www.beatlesinterviews.org/dbjypb.int3.html.

Strand, Chick. Soft Fiction, 1979.

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U.S. News & World Report, 12 Mar. 2010, 8:30 am,
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Willis, Holly. “Canyon Lady.” L.A. Weekly, 5 Apr. 2016, www.laweekly.com/film/canyon-lady-

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