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Antonia's Line

 

            
             The film, Antonia's Line, confronts many issues related to the topic of gender and the challenging of expectations of people to conform to their traditional roles in society. These issues include male dominance and exploitation of women, female independence and the struggle against discrimination and finally the issue of gender stereotypes and how this film attempts to break them.
             This film also employs techniques such as symbols, imagery and film specific methods to convey the meaning of the movie.
             A major issue dealt with in this film is male dominance and exploitation of women. The two characters, farmer Dan and Pittee are both members of the village who represent the problem of male dominance though their actions against the female population in the village, even their own family. .
             Farmer Dan is shown to be an oppressor of women in the scene in which he tries to sell his daughter Deedee at the local pub. He is seen showing her off as he would a cow at an auction, saying things like "she's as strong as an ox", and that Danielle was "well stacked." .
             Farmer Dan's son, Pittee, is also a character who shows a great amount of disrespect towards women in this film. Pittee is the embodiment of evil and established as a "devil" figure which progresses throughout the film. He rapes both Deedee and Danielle's daughter, Therese, causing both physical and emotional pain. A technique used by the filmmaker to provide this image of evil and oppression is the uniform and haircut, which symbolise militarism bringing connotations of violence, war and power. .
             The community and also the church both contribute to the idea of male dominance. The inaction against Pittee for raping Deedee and Therese the church shows hypocrisy, as the preach love, honesty and decency, then do no nothing about the atrocities occurring under their noses, while condemning Danielle for conceiving a child out of wedlock. There is almost an acceptance of these male sins as they are repeated overlooked and the women's sins are openly discussed.


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