The Headless Woman is the second installment in our Disembodied Women series, where we illustrate how production companies continue to market films through the dismemberment and objectification of women’s bodies. For more, see our first post, The Rear View.
The Red Shoes:
http://www.teachwithmovies.org/guides/red-shoes-DVDcover.jpg
I find this really interesting. The reason for the poster of a headless Kate Winslet for Romance and Cigarettes was reputedly because of disagreement over whose face to depict. Which actor would get most pissed off/ take legal action if they weren’t pictured?
So of course the solution is to behead a woman. Grr.
What is also interesting is that many of these posters aren’t familiar to me as a Brit. Our Bend it Like Backham has a great pick of Parminder Nagra and Keira Knightly hugging/ tussling. Similarly Calendar girls has a picture of Helen Mirren’s face as well as body. Le Divorce has Kate Hudson and Naomi Watts including heads.
Is the USA more keen on dissecting women’s bodies? Why would this be?
Seeing this was especially jarring for me, since I have seen so many of these films using Netflix and never or don’t remember seeing the DVD cover or poster. Brings a whole new perspective to a film to see this.