Ask a woman what her ultimate wish in life is, or if she could change one thing about herself, and a fair percentage of the time, the answer will be related to her beauty. Although upsetting, this response is not at all surprising, as it is no secret that the pinnacle and prestige of femininity have long centred around values of elegance, grace, and ultimately, looks. Women across the globe are constantly bombarded with messages that teach them how best to look, act, and feel beautiful. These messages are found in advertisements, pop culture, social norms, and video media. As a result of this constant push to be more attractive, women become divided between those who do fit the beauty standard and those who do not. As I study gender relations through the lens of my own womanhood, I find myself left wondering: is it better to enjoy and embrace the beauty of femininity or to reject standards of attractiveness and live a life against beauty?
Representations of feminine beauty are found in almost all forms of media, both throughout history and in current pop culture. From thin, blonde princesses to plus-sized villains with hooked noses, I and other women are well aware of the stereotypes that are created and then reinforced through television and movies. This media representation is important because of the cultural currency that popular films carry and how they influence social norms and reflect real-world structures of heteropatriarchy. Two clear examples of this are in the 2015 blockbuster Mad Max: Fury Road and the 1960 film The World of Suzie Wong. Though both fairly well-known, these two movies each distinctly exhibits how feminine beauty exists in a hierarchy and attaches a tangible value to women. The analysis of these notable films allows the depictions and consequences of both beauty and not-beauty to be observed and identified. In this essay, I will explore the interconnection between femininity and beauty, how this affects the perceived value of women, and ultimately, argue that the identification of beauty is a flawed and problematic form of self-identity.
There are a lot of layers to unpack when it comes to understanding the intersections between beauty and femininity, as this conflation has not just appeared out of nowhere. To examine this, I first explore theories of gendered hegemony and delve into Raewyn Connell’s definitions of femininity. Then, I look at the different representations of beauty in Mad Max: Fury Road, and how its female characters exist in a hierarchy. Additionally, I consider a second film, The World of Suzie Wong, which further demonstrates the power and worth behind a woman’s outward appearance and actions. With all these elements, I am then able to determine how the value and identification of feminine beauty create a double-binding problem within womanhood.
To begin unpacking the conflation between femininity and beauty, it is necessary to first understand the different forms of femininity and their inherent hierarchical patterns. Most people who have studied gender relations, even briefly, will be familiar with the concept of hegemonic masculinity: the aggressive, strong, and manly traits that make up the supposed ‘ideal standard’ of masculinity. However, what is less often mentioned is that there is also a hegemonic form of femininity, with its own set of problematic ideals. Australian sociologist Raewyn Connell explains these patterns of gendered structures of superiority in a chapter entitled “Femininity and Masculinity”. For Connell, the most hegemonic form of femininity is something that she labels ‘emphasized femininity’. When defining this term, she states that “this kind of femininity is performed, and performed especially to men.” By saying this, Connell is establishing not only a type of femininity but also a way to ‘do’ femininity. In order to achieve the ‘ideal standard’ of the feminine, women should both look and behave a certain way. Moreover, the rules behind this ideal standard have been created through the view of the male gaze. This hegemonic, emphasized femininity therefore becomes a purposeful performance with a very specific, masculine audience in mind. This performance involves making oneself attractive to men; balancing one’s femininity between being ladylike and having sex appeal. This notion of performing for the male gaze leans into the recognition and acceptance of problematic stereotypes. This also causes women who do not appeal to the male gaze to appear as inferior. Understanding Connell’s ideas and establishing the presence and importance of ‘emphasized femininity’ is essential to uncovering how it affects women and the media.
Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
The ever-popular film Mad Max: Fury Road has sparked much debate amongst feminist and anti-feminist groups alike, and for good reason. Its storyline centers around rogue survivor and hegemonic male Max joining forces with the tenacious Imperator Furiosa and her gang of young women escaping their lives as sex slaves to the powerful dictator Immortan Joe. There are a number of moments within this film that challenge traditional gendered stereotypes and present strong, complex female characters. However, Mad Max: Fury Road is far from the feminist movie that director George Miller claims it to be. Although the narrative itself does carry a story that appears to display female empowerment, the problematic themes of Mad Max lie in its unfortunately stereotypical portrayals and treatment of these women. In the collaboratively-written book Furious Feminisms, Barbara Gurr highlights these classic film stereotypes of “the ‘Just Warrior,’ the ideal masculine type for Western society, [who] protects the innocent while the ‘Beautiful Soul,’ the ideal feminine type for Western society, remains innocent and in need of protection”. In Mad Max, the Wives quite clearly are the innocent, beautiful souls that need to be saved, shown draped in white cloth that leaves little skin to the imagination. They are revered for their beauty and fervidly protected throughout the entirety of the film because they fit the mould of ‘beautiful souls’. On the contrary, the other group of women under Immortan Joe’s control, the milking mothers, do not meet the standards of emphasized femininity. These women are shown very briefly on screen as highly overweight and being used for breast milk. However, no one makes any grand rescue mission to save them, in fact, after their introduction, the milking mothers are barely mentioned for the remainder of the film. These overweight women do not fit the criteria of ‘beautiful souls’, and are therefore deemed not worth saving. The division of these two categories of women is one of the ways that Mad Max reinforces these stereotypes, fitting itself into classic heteropatriarchal stereotypes and doing relatively little to break out of them. Ultimately, it sends a deadly message: in the apocalypse, only the beautiful are worth saving.
Continuing on this idea of beauty in a post-apocalyptic world, in the same book, another author Alexis L. Boylan further investigates the portrayal of the Wives and their ever-present beauty in her chapter “Post-Post-Post Beauty at the End of the World”. In her writing, she pokes fun at new-wave feminism’s body positivity movement, saying “It is feminist to be beautiful, it is feminist not to be beautiful. You can be beautiful, you should not have to be beautiful, but you are beautiful and not-beautiful whether you want to be or not”. Although she mockingly uses these phrases, this quote captures the essence of the main problem within beauty standards in media and society. The value of Boylan’s statement rings clear in that the parameters of feminine value exist in a strict binary: beauty and not-beauty. This is then applicable to the world of Mad Max, where women are acutely defined by whether they are beautiful or not. Additionally, these definitions translate into the character’s perceived value and the way that they are treated. I have already explained the significance of the cherished Wives and the disregarded milking mothers, but other characters are affected by this sentiment as well, as no woman is free from her own appearance. One notable way that this is shown is how women who are given the label of not-beautiful must make themselves valuable in other ways in order to gain any sort of recognition. Furiosa, for example, does not fit the depiction of beauty put forward by emphasized feminity, with her shaved head, grease-covered face, and prosthetic arm. Therefore, she has to learn combat skills and be extremely intelligent to ensure her survival in Immortan Joe’s empire. Since her femininity does not fit the male standard of beauty, Furiosa is forced to place her value into masculine traits of power, leadership, and fearlessness. This shows just how forceful the authority of heteropatriarchy is on even the strongest of women.
The World of Suzie Wong (1960)
Another film that has a notable take on feminine beauty is The World of Suzie Wong, a movie that follows the controversial love story of Chinese prostitute Suzie Wong and American artist Robert Lomax. In this 1960 film, we see some of the same patriarchal stereotypes at play, but this time with racist undertones as well. However, this film was popular for a reason, as it is no doubt that Suzie Wong’s character is very lovable and captivating for audiences to watch. The concerns in this movie, though, lie in the reasoning behind why Suzie comes across as so well-liked by both her lover Robert and the general audience. Filmmaker Celine Shimizu writes on the sexual depictions of Asian actresses in a chapter titled “The Sexual Bonds of Racial Stardom”. What I find most striking in her writing is how she notes that, despite the numerous hardships faced by Suzie Wong, “it does not appear that she has been degraded and that she has suffered. On the contrary, she appears a most lively and energetic creature.” Suzie’s energy and liveliness, despite the hardships of her present standard of living, is part of what makes her appealing to Robert Lomax and to the general audience of this film. The difficulty of being a single mother and having to sell her body for a living is no doubt extremely taxing, yet she almost always appears with her hair neat, her makeup done, and a colour-coordinating dress on. Due to this, it is evident that Suzie’s beauty is invariable and essential to her character’s depiction. If Suzie were to fall into the category of not-beautiful, the movie would likely be received very differently. This need for chronic female beauty is not unique to this particular 1960s film and still very much observable in many modern day medias, one of which being the scantily clad, beautiful Wives from Mad Max mentioned earlier. All of this boils down to the unequivocal fact that women in media, especially protagonists, cannot be ugly. The reason that this constant beauty in spite of struggle is so important is because it contributes to a woman’s sex appeal and femininity, which, societally, is of the utmost value. No matter what conflict is thrown into the plot, women suffering needs to always be palatable for a male audience.
However, outward beauty is not the only desired feminine trait in media that contributes to sex appeal. Shimizu also notes in her writing that “Suzie is posited as a more ideal version of femininity compared to the aggressive white woman. She is submissive and prioritizes her man’s desire.” By acting this way, Suzie Wong plays into societal norms of how women, particularly Asian women, should act. This reinforces ideals of heteropatriarchy, as her beauty and ‘beautiful actions’ are a large factor in why Lomax takes such a liking to Suzie. Regardless of whether her submissiveness is a purposeful choice to win over Robert or merely one of Wong’s character traits, playing innocent works. Robert chooses Suzie over the ‘aggressive white woman’, further proving to viewers that the emphasized feminine is the superior kind of woman. The young Chinese woman’s always-perfect appearance and self-subordination to her older lover is, ineptly, the reason that he proposes at the end of the film. Although one could argue that Robert shows feelings for Suzie beyond just her physical appearance, there are key moments within the film where it is undeniable that her beauty is of the utmost value. One of these glaringly obvious moments occurs during a scene in the first half of the film, when Robert calls Suzie up to his room for the first time. Suzie questions, “Why you ask for me?” and Robert responds, “Well, you’re easily the prettiest girl in Hong Kong.” This response to Suzie’s question is extremely telling. By saying this, Robert is point-blank assigning Suzie her value and place in relation to him. Their relationship continues to grow and change from this moment, but the viewer cannot forget that this exchange is integral to Suzie’s self-perception and Robert’s character. Ultimately, although Suzie Wong presents some moments of personal agency, her value is still irrevocably tied to her beauty as she is never truly able to escape the confines of heteropatriachy.
It has become undeniably clear that it is virtually impossible for women to exist separately from their beauty. Through the analysis of emphasized femininity and its role in major media films, I have shown how beauty is tied into the very essence of womanhood. Even more importantly, beauty is tied to value. By observing the way that female characters are treated within these two films, it is unmistakable that presence or absence of beauty influences the perceived value of a woman, and this then turns her beauty into an identity. Acknowledging that a woman is beautiful means that she is forced into a performance for the male gaze: innocent, submissive, and in need of saving. On the other hand, resisting against ideals of emphasized femininity forces women to either accept that they will be treated as worthless, or develop masculine traits and skills in order to preserve some semblance of value. Thus, to be beautiful is to put yourself into a box, and to be not-beautiful is also to put yourself into a box. Identifying and recognizing this beauty situates women into a category of femininity and determines how they will go about their lives and position their role in society.
So returning to my earlier question of whether it is best to be beautiful or not-beautiful, the answer falls on neither side. By making beauty an identity category for the feminine, we are inherently assigning a quantifiable value to women. Although it may seem like one should strive to be beautiful in order to achieve value, it is important to realize that this value is meaningless when it comes from rules put in place by a male-oriented society. On the flip side, identifying as not-beautiful does not let women escape the judgment and criticism of heteropatriarchy either. Therefore, the only way to break out of this defective structure is to abandon not only the value of feminine beauty, but also the concept of identifying it. Women are more than their perceived beauty and more than the way that they present in a heteropatriarchal society. There are better ways to identify with and define femininity, and we can go beyond beauty.
References
Boylan, Alexis L, Anna Mae Duane, Michael Gill, and Barbara Gurr. 2020. Furious Feminisms: Alternate Routes on Mad Max: Fury Road.” Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press.
Mad Max: Fury Road. 2015. Dir. George Miller.
Connell, Raewyn. “Femininity and Masculinity.” Essay. In Gender and Power: Society, the Person, and Sexual Politics, 371–78. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1987.
Shimizu, Celine Parreñas. 2007. “The Sexual Bonds of Racial Stardom: Asian American Femme Fatales in Hollywood.” The Hypersexuality of Race: Performing Asian/American Women on Screen and Scene. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
The World of Suzie Wong. 1960. Dir. Richard Quine.