Blog 7: His Girl Friday

This film was very interesting because I thought that the normal stereotype for women was flipped around. This movie was released in 1940. Looking back at that point in time, women didn’t have much opportunity to obtain a “good” job. During these times, most women felt their job was to stay home and take care of the children and the home. They completed many in-house chores to help support the family. In this film however, Hildy didn’t follow the norm, she was a career woman who wanted to end her career as a journalist and get married and become a housewife. Hildy wanted to start a family and settle down with her husband. She felt that her career was taking over her life. She was one of the rare women who was given the opportunity to excel in the work place and had a good paying job. She wanted to become a more typical female whose job was to be a domesticated housewife. Her ex-husband, Walter Burns, was a very dedicated and driven man who always put his job first. He rarely focused on his relationships and never made any sacrifices for his love, Hildy. His passion for work ruled over his desire to love Hildy. However, once he learned that his ex-wife was about to get married he began to realize what he was losing and how much he cared for her. He ultimately tricked her and her soon-to-be husband to stay in town while he hooked her to write about an intense story. Throughout this film he played tricks on her husband to land him in jail and delay their departure to Albany. Walter wins back her love by exposing her to a situation where she felt comfortable. Her love and passion was for writing and she had a perfect opportunity to do that with the circumstances that was presented to her by Walter. She ultimately chose to stay with Walter and sacrifice her desire to become a domesticated woman because she felt her passion was for journalism. She relived some old memories with her ex-husband Walter and she finally realized that was who she was and she would never be able to be what others thought she should be.