Francia y sus mujeres

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Krysthel Gutierrez

Professor Martin Munro

FRT3520

08 October 2015

Women in a lead role

I got really excited when I first noticed that most of the films that we were going to watch were old, because I believe that those are the ones really worth watching; but it wasn’t until I watched La noire de… that I got really impressed that a woman had a lead role in such an old movie. I thought this was a one-time thing, but then we watched La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil and got my mind blown off. I was amazed to see such a strong character portrayed by a female, specially in old movies like the ones I just mentioned. In this essay, I am going to discuss the roles that this characters had and the influence they have on the spectator.

In both of the movies the spectator can observe that both Diouana and Sili are ambitious enough to go out and look for a job of their own. Both of these women want to do something with their lives other than staying idle, while their families are struggling with money matters. These women are also pretty young of age, but mature enough to realize that they can work for what the really want. This in turn, has a positive reaction among the audience, because both

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movies are encouraging women to work for what they really want and to not settle in a life of conformity were they are seen only as child bearers and housewives.

La noire de… was release in 1966, an age in which women were still treated as less than men. Women had to marry whomever their parents chose for them, and very few of them were allowed to go to school. This situation was even worse in countries like Senegal, which are ruled by sexist traditions and is still an ongoing issue in some areas. This is why I was very amazed when I saw Diouana breaking all these absurd stereotypes and deciding to get a job. Although the director of the film ultimately suggests that she had a weak spirit, the film still brings the good qualities when she was still in Dakar.  

As opposed to Diouana, the main character of La Petite Vendeuse de Soleil, Sili, is a much stronger character that would not let any adversities defeat her.  The plot of this film is simple, but very meaningful; it is by far the best film until now. The movie begins with a little handicapped girl who looks weak. This immediately makes the audience think that they are going to see an emotional movie about a helpless girl, but in turn the audience gets to see a girl full of determination, optimism and resilience that has a positive feedback on her life.

This film is also full of sexist stereotypes, such as the idea that only male children are supposed to sell the newspaper. This assertion is rebuffed when Sili answers “Girls can do anything that boys can do” and promise to sell all of her newspapers. She is full of optimism when she takes this task, because she believes she will finally get some profit to sustain herself

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and her grandma, but then the audience observes that selling newspapers can be a tough business. She stays almost a whole day without selling a single newspaper, but we never see her giving up. Sili kept going to different sections, until she luckily meets a man who congratulates her for her efforts and gives her a ridiculous amount of money. Some of the male children see when this happen and immediately felt threatened to see that a girl was taking their profit away from them. This can easily be an allegory that illustrates why men want to be the ones providing for their families, and the answer is that they want to be the ones to have the power because that makes them feel strong and important and whenever woman can achieve this role too, they loose their power to them. Finally, the last stereotype the audience can observe in the film is the typical “damsel in distress” situation. We can observe throughout the film how Sili is bullied by the male children gang, and we can observe that it is her male friend who always comes to her rescue. Although this is not highlighted, it is still a slight example of one the roles that women have in most of the films in those times, but Sili is independent enough to avoid falling into the “damsel in distress” category.

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