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Inner Power

An Inner Power: Women in Film
From the womb, man is birthed. From the breast, man is fed. From love, man is nurtured. Women can be seen as the source which life emerges from. It is a power that allows women to control masses, sacrifice themselves for the greater good, or even manipulate people for personal gain. Women, who in the past may have been seen as a weak and even inferior sex, possess a capacity that in some ways make them superior to their male counterparts. In film noir and their predecessors, directors and writers emphasize this ability to represent how women cannot only be the heroine but also the force that motivates their male peers. Films such as The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, The Maltese Falcon, and Metropolis, stress how women act as icons of power and symbols of either good or evil, allowing them to break the mold of being helpless creatures needing a man to support them.
Nosferatu, the story of a vampire yearning to spread his terror, depicts a woman in a way that embodies the characteristics that make them a powerful entity. Ellen, the wife of the real estate agent Hutter, appears to be in the beginning of the film a feeble and even naive woman who depends on her husband just to function in daily life. As the movie continues, however, Ellen develops strength in a personal and emotional way that allows her to save her town from the dismay bound to run rampant if Nosferatu was left to his whims. It is Ellen who realizes that in order to save her husband and peers she must make the ultimate sacrifice one could, her own life, in order to subdue this demonic creature. The capacity to look beyond her own selfish being and see that her immolation can ensure the safety of others gives her an almost godly power to destroy a seemingly immortal being. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari also shows women as creatures that can subdue the evil nature of man. Jane, the female protagonist of the film, is the only being who is able to appeal to...