The Gibson Goddess
| Movie | |
|---|---|
| Original title | The Gibson Goddess |
| Country of production | United States |
| original language | English |
| Publishing year | 1909 |
| length | 8 minutes |
| Rod | |
| Director | David Wark Griffith |
| script | David Wark Griffith |
| production | American Mutoscope and Biograph Company |
| camera | GW Bitzer |
| occupation | |
| |
The Gibson Goddess ( German : The Gibson Goddess ) is an American comedy film by director David Wark Griffith from 1909 . The screenplay was also written by David Wark Griffith, the silent film is a production of the American Mutoscope and Biograph Company .
action
Nanette Ranfrea, the leading actress, corresponds to the Gibson Girl's ideal of beauty created by the American illustrator Charles Dana Gibson at the turn of the century . Because of her attractive appearance, men are constantly swarming around her, but she sometimes finds it a nuisance. So she sighs during the movie Oh! Why did they have to call me the Gibson Girl? - based on the title of a popular contemporary hit. After a busy season full of social obligations, she wants to spend a quiet summer in a remote seaside resort. The selected location is mostly visited by middle-class vacationers. Hence, Ranfrea believes she will escape the strenuous attention of men there.
She arrives with little luggage and her housemaid, but within a very short time she has caught the attention of the male population - and aroused the jealousy of the now neglected female population. The large number of admirers prompts Ranfrea, who only wanted to read a book in peace on the beach, to retreat to the seclusion of her hotel room. Your housemaid is resourceful and suggests another way to get rid of the crowd. Ranfrea dresses in a bathing suit with thickly stuffed coarse woolen stockings, the sight of which makes most men flee. With one exception, Commodore Fitzmaurice, who is now Ranfrea's constant companion. When the two meet the other suitors, Ranfrea wears her black silk stockings again, and the men realize that they have been deceived. They then want to turn back to the previous favorites, but they are now giving them the proverbial cold shoulder.
Production notes
The Gibson Goddess is a one-reeler on 35mm film that is 576 feet long . The film was registered with the United States Copyright Office on November 1, 1909 , and released in theaters the same day. It was released on Blu-ray Disc in 2017 .
criticism
The New York Dramatic Mirror , originally a theater magazine that had only recently begun a column discussing films, was unimpressed with the film and particularly dismissed the ending as unconvincing. Film historian Charlie Keil sees The Gibson Goddess as an “antidote” to the heavy-handed melodramas Griffith filmed the previous month such as A Change of Heart , His Lost Love and The Expiation . He notes that the film simply addresses the voyeurism and fetishism inherent in motion pictures. However, he also says that the film is “basically a throw-away”.
The media historian Moya Luckett sees the numerous women in "strong" roles, be it as heroines of the plot or simply as working women, as an expression of the progressivism of David Wark Griffith. This also applies to works such as The Gibson Goddess and The New York Hat , which at least do not condemn the women's joy in their public visibility. Another aspect is that the film raises awareness of the difficulties young women have in using public space for themselves undisturbed. She notes positively that the protagonist controls her appearance in free self-determination and uses it specifically to ward off unwanted advances.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Gibson Goddess . In: The Moving Picture World , Volume 5, No. 19, November 6, 1909, p. 653, digitized .
- ^ A b Moya Luckett: Space, Gender, Oversight, and Social Change: Progressivism and the Films of DW Griffith, 1909–1916 . In: Charlie Keil (ed.): A Companion to DW Griffith . Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, New Jersey and Oxford 2018, ISBN 978-1-118-34125-4 , pp. 309-329.
- ↑ The Gibson Goddess in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- ^ Maggie Hennefeld: Griffith's Body Language and Film Narration: “The Voluptuary” Versus “the Spiritual” . In: Charlie Keil (ed.): A Companion to DW Griffith . Wiley-Blackwell, Hoboken, New Jersey and Oxford 2018, ISBN 978-1-118-34125-4 , pp. 245–283, here pp. 252–253.