Gillian Armstrong :: essays research papers

The set-back rationality I chose Gillian Armstrong for my enquiry paper is because I admire her dedication and ambition to become a director even though it was a male-dominated job at the time. She is an extremely ambitious and independent cleaning woman that didnt let anything get in her way of pursuing her goal to become a director. The second reason I picked Gillian Armstrong is because she is the director of Little Women, which has been an on the whole-time favorite film of mine since I was little. Armstrong has explored several genres, including gangster, musical, and most frequently, period drama. The three films I am going to explore are My Brilliant Career, Mrs. Soffel and Little Women. These are all period drama films that evolve female characteristics and feature women in play roles. These films demonstrate the stylistic pattern of story telling, (Carter, 2002). Gillian Armstrong produced My Brilliant Career in 1979. This film was the highlight of the period drama, w hich was popular in Australia at that time. Armstrong became the first woman to direct a feature length drama in Australia in 46 years, (Carter, 2002). The film is about Sybylla Melvyn, a sensitive, passionate new woman with high hopes for a writing career. When offered the opportunity to escape her outback(prenominal) station home to stay with relatives in New South Wales, she accepts willingly. In New South Wales, her cultural openness and writing career is encouraged. She in the end meets Harry Beecham who is wealthy and handsome. Sybylla struggles with the tough decisions between ambition and independence, and between bang and marriage. She eventually sacrifices romance with Harry and takes a job as a governess in the McScwatt household while still pursuing her goal as becoming a author. Sybylla eventually finds success as a writer and also as an independent woman. Mrs. Soffel was produced by Armstrong in 1984. This film was direct in Pittsburgh, and was her first American f ilm, (Carter, 2002). This film is about a woman named Kate Soffel who is the wife of the warden of the Allegheny County jail. Her job is to distribute Bibles and read the scriptures to the prisoners. Kate is unhappy and unsatisfied with her lifestyle. She is trite of her husband constantly controlling what she can and cannot do. Kate eventually falls in love with Ed Biddle, who is a prisoner being wrongly sentenced to close by hanging for the murder of a grocer during a robbery.