Abstract
Some people say that movies offer a clear reflection of a society or a culture, and put into light its majors concerns and views of the world. And one has to admit that this is particularly true for the American cinema, which, from its origins in the beginning of the 20th century, often followed the cultural trends of the society. As for women one just has to recall the importance of the Hays code since the thirties. Some morale values, inherited from the so-called American Puritanism, prevailed over more than the first half of the century. However this did not prevent directors from creating strong women characters, and this period was also the area of the major actresses in Hollywood's history, such as Bette Davis, Grace Kelly or Marilyn Monroe.
When one thinks about the image of woman in the American cinema, it is usually referred to the traditional image of the household woman conveyed during the fifties, and it had not yet acquired the status it has today. Men characters were more often put forward – in the wake of Western movies… -, and it was finally more the actress herself than her role that was preeminent. A movie like The Night of the hunter reveals a quite cynical vision : Willa Harper (the woman character) dies because she seems forced to abide this traditional perception of women devoted to her religion and husband. She is quite naive, and like most of the female characters in the classical movies, a bit single-minded. For love and marriage to cohabit harmoniously, woman has to follow the evolution of her social model, and the model is no longer the Wife one; sex-appeal has became a powerful incentive for feminine characters. They also usually obey to a sort of Manichean rule which set a difference between blonde and brunette girls, the latter representing the “impure love”, whereas the former stands for the true innocent heroine of the love-stories. And this is particularly true in musicals.
