DiBattista explores assertive women in '30s and '40s era Hollywood films

At its best, a film provides not only entertainment, but also inspiration, striking a chord with viewers that reverberates long after they have left the theater. For Maria DiBattista, one particular genre serves to both inspire and enchant, leading her to her life's work.

DiBattista, professor of English and comparative literature at the University, Master of Rockefeller College and chair of the Committee for Film Studies, vividly remembers watching the smart and savvy comic heroines who came alive on the silver screen in films of the '30s and '40s.

In an era when female leads in television and film were often limited to frustrated and unfulfilled housewives, such as Lucille Ball in "I Love Lucy," or glittering but vacuous stars, like Marilyn Monroe, these "dames" presented an admirable alternative.

These heroines were "women intent on creating the life they wanted for themselves," DiBattista said. The characters knew "what to say and when to say it and met life with self-confidence."

Inspired by the intelligence, confidence and unique flair of these female characters, DiBattista eventually embarked on the scholarly study of '30s and '40s movies. Interested in feminism and in the way people use language, she brought the two together about 10 years ago when she first taught a course on women and film.

DiBattista notes that film is an important force in society because it is the "primary source of images of sexual ideals — how we should look and how we should talk." Concerning the fast-talking dames, DiBattista said, "Women emerged as what American women can really be. They were a delight to look at and listen to."

After having taught and talked about these films in her years at Princeton, DiBattista decided to bring her thoughts together in a book. The result, "Fast-Talking Dames," was published by Yale University Press in May and details the adventures of actresses such as Barbara Stanwick, Katharine Hepburn and Myrna Loy.

There is no cookie-cutter quality to the films of the "fast-talking dames." Rather, these heroines exhibit their cleverness and self-confidence in a wide variety of settings. Barbara Stanwick's roles ranged from a card shark to a newspaper reporter to a showgirl.

Carole Lombard portrayed a "luminous, unselfconsciously sexy heiress" who pursues the man she loves. "These women," DiBattista noted, all present "different portraits of self-determination."

DiBattista said she does not see many modern counterparts to the "fast-talking dames" in today's movies. She noted that heroines today are too self-doubting, like the nervous executive played by Helen Hunt in "What Women Want," or the well-meaning but insecure Reese Witherspoon in "Legally Blonde."

However, DiBattista points to Alicia Silverstone in Clueless and Allison Janney in The West Wing as two modern "fast-talking dames." Silverstone's character, DiBattista said, is "of that line of self-confident women who know what they want. That doesn't mean they can't make mistakes, because they do, but at the same time you find yourself rooting for them because they have so much to offer."

Overall, however, DiBattista said there is a disconnect between the growing number of women today who are accomplishing great things in such fields as business, journalism and politics, and the lack of positively portrayed career-minded women in television and film.

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"We have still not worked out the sexual politics of women who seem confident and take pleasure in what they do outside of the home," she said, noting that often women in television and film today who have high-powered careers are at the same time portrayed as edgy or bitter.

While the heroines of the '30s and '40s did act in comedies, their goals transcended simply drawing a laugh. DiBattista outlined their aim with a reference to the French critic Bazin, who said that during the '30s and '40s "comedies were the most serious forms in which America talked about the state of its society.

"Comedy was a resourceful way of getting people to face unpleasant realities," DiBattista explained. "These women were models of how to face adversity and articulate the values we want to preserve.

"They afforded images of determination, resolve, and how to respond to difficult situations. They were not afraid of the future or of themselves," she added. "They never age."