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“That’s one career all females have in common, whether we like it or not: being a woman.” All About Eve is all about women conforming to the social expectations of their gender. Discuss.
All About Eve, directed by Joseph Mankiewicz, is a 1950 film featuring a cast full of dynamic women, who grapple with the narrow and restrictive roles society has allocated for them. Throughout the film, Mankiewicz exhibits the nuances of the female personality beyond societal archetypes via his multifaceted leading ladies. However, he demonstrates the inescapability of gender roles defines women’s lives, as they attempt to cater to the male gaze and a prescribed definition of beauty. Additionally, the film promotes the importance of marriage as a pillar of femininity, without which “you’re not a woman”. Ultimately, All About Eve depicts women deferring to the standards of their social milieu.
The women of All About Eve are imbued with a multi-layered complexity that goes beyond societal and filmic stereotypes, challenging the traditional roles and actions of women. On the surface, characters such as Karen and Miss Caswell may appear to be juxtapositioned as the ‘dumb blondes’ to the shrewder Margo and Birdie, however, each display the ability to manoeuvre men for their own purposes. This is exemplified by Karen’s declaration that the men will “do as they’re told”. Her confidence in her influence is confirmed by Lloyd, who consistently seeks her approval despite her status as a “nonprofessional”, making evident her potential to transcend the boundaries of her allocated role of “happy housewife” - a “loyal little woman” whose only function is vacuous cheerleading. Similarly, Eve is able to play an innocent, “stage-struck kid” while conducting ruthless machinations in the shadows. She defies the over-simplistic dichotomy of the madonna and the whore, switching from humble self-deprecation one moment to seduction the next. This stark contrast is highlighted in her tonal changes, for example, her shift from breathy and tremulous when initially talking to Karen in the bathroom to a deeper and commanding tone when the conversation derails into blackmailing. Eve’s ability to outstrip social boundaries commonly restricting women aid in her deception of the men in the film, demonstrating that women are able to use the expectations placed upon them to their advantage. Hence Mankiewicz applauds intricate portrayals of women that challenge their typically shallow categorisation.
Despite their capabilities, women still pander to the preferences and beauty standards of their male counterparts, as men exert control over their careers. All positions of power in the theatre are held by men - the producer, the director, the playwright, and the critic. Hence they are targeted by Eve for their ability to propel her to stardom. To do this, she attempts to mould herself to appeal to the male gaze. Mankiewicz demonstrates her conformity through the metamorphosis of her costuming: from a “mousy trenchcoat and funny hat” to a more feminine “elegant new suit”. As the theatre’s power players dictate that an actress is only “a body with a voice”, women of this profession are particularly pressured to abide by societal beauty standards, lest they be replaced with a “new, fresh exciting one”. These standards include a predisposition towards youth, fuelling Margo’s “age obsession”. Despite being “talented, famous, wealthy” and exuding confident body language and outspoken repartee, she is plagued by insecurity, as the disparity between the “twentyish” characters she plays and her own self increases. Thus, the film is a depiction of women, regardless of talent or wit, aspiring to the beauty standards determined by a patriarchal hegemony.
Similarly, a relationship with a man is also a prerequisite for womanhood, with women subject to the belief that they must eventually settle down into marriage, giving up any previous careers as they do so. As the model housewife who proclaims herself to “have no talent outside of loving [her] husband”, Karen is portrayed as the character with the most balanced and kind disposition. Her only lapse into “cynicism” is when Eve poisons her relationship with Lloyd, signifying that marriage is the key to a woman's happiness. In contrast, Margo is shown to be temperamental and unstable because she lacks the security of marriage, without which she believes “nothing is any good”. When she becomes a “foursquare, upright, downright, forthright married lady” she is ecstatic that she “finally [has] a life to live” and can at long last step down from centre stage. This seems uncharacteristic of the Margo who took great pride in her acting career and “just [didn’t] miss performances”. However, her ingrained belief that marriage and career success are mutually exclusive overrides this. Eve, on the other hand, has sacrificed personal relationships in favour of her career, but seems ultimately unsatisfied. She carelessly hands off the Sarah Siddons Award and pursues success in Hollywood, revealing that her insatiable ambition has stripped her of true satisfaction. The film concludes with Eve unloved and isolated, the victim of her own inhumanity, while the married women achieve happiness, thus demonstrating that adherence to convention dictates one’s emotional fulfilment.
In essence, social expectations are a major focus of All About Eve, and despite overcoming the polarity of stereotypical female categorisation, it ultimately parrots the social norms of its time by endorsing the contortion of women to suit the desires of the male gaze, and venerating marriage as the paradigm of femininity to which all women should aspire for true contentment. Though not all of Mankiewicz’ characters are able to match up to this constricted definition of womanhood, their consequent dissatisfaction elucidates to the audience their acquiescence to societal expectations.
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