Bonus Blog!

In the 1931 film, "Jekyll and Hyde" many of the story's original plot's were changed. In the story, I noticed that any women that were characters, were portrayed very negatively. One woman or girl, was trampled on and left there screaming on the ground. The other only female character in the book was a maid.

As noted, it seems there wasnt very much respect for women in that century. The book expressed women as not important members of society. In the movie version, this appeal was very similar. Currently, the female characters we have seen were all prostitutes, and not appreciated or cared about. However, the men in this story seem to have very important roles in society. Lawyers, and doctors benefit everybody. I believe that the movies director, Rouben Mamoulian, expressed the story in such a way like this to show the beliefs and what society valued in his time period. He showed that there were, in fact, no important, strong, independent women like there are today. He portrayed women as sleazy, as worthless. Maybe, in fact, he wanted to change the outlooks on different genders, in a positive way.

It seems, that Mamoulian wanted to show women as weak humans, who should be built up. For example, in the movie, there is a scene where Mr. Hyde is at a burlesque, and relocates a gorgeous woman he helped before. As another man spotted her, he too wants his "treasure." After being angered Hyde gets defensive, and protective of his woman. The other man seems to back down. In this scene, nobody tries to help the young girl, even when they see she is unhappy, and frightened. This definitely shows how women arent respected in his time. Now, in our decade, we love helping others and caring for each other. In the novella, in the chapter "The Last Night," one line bothered me very much so. On page 50, it reads "'Weeping like a woman, or a lost soul."' This line seemed very subjective to females. It basically states that women always cry, and moan, and wine about everything.

Although the movie, and story are similar in many ways, there are also times when they are different. For example, in the story, it states that Dr. Jekyll did not have a mirror in his labratory when he first conducted the expirement. In the movie, there was a mirror that Jekyll stood in front of while he turned into Hyde. Also, in the story, Hyde isnt portrayed as such an ape-like man.