1. In the film His Girl Friday the viewer gets a strong sense of how the pre code of films went through a dramatic change to the postcode of 1934. The pre code allowed women to have a sexual desire, nudity, or partial nudity was all right to be shown, and smoking was ok for women to do. However the postcode of the 1930s allowed women to step out the satin gowns and into tailored business suits. They were to be on an equal level with their male counter parts, strong, smart, and worked for a living. The code changed the roles of women during those times, creating the wars of the sexes where witty dialogue, and verbal sparring between characters were given. His Girl Friday was a great example of how the screwball comedy method worked between actors Cary Grant and Rosalina Russell. The lead character who was said to have been originally a male was changed to a female role (to show the postcode in full swing to the audience) gave women in the industry a chance to shine as the star, and not the sidekick of a male lead. By making a rash decision like that director Howard Hawk would change the film industry as a whole.
3. Howard Winchester Hawks was born may 30, 1896, in Goshen Indiana to a wealthy family. In the 1920s Hawk worked as a producer and scenarist at Paramount, and in 1926 he began directing at the Fox studio where he was his own part time producer. He would take it upon himself to rewrite screenplays, improvise and film shots on the spot without approval of the Hays office (Motion Pictures Producer Association Censorship Authorities). Without a doubt Howard Hawks is most known for making many films with different genres, which most directors didn’t do at the time. Hawk made sure that he didn’t stereotype himself as one kind of director so he directed, comedy, tragic, existential, and even western films. He would also play around with gender conventions without taking it to far, he would create effeminate men, and even create maculate women who were in control like in the film His Girl Friday. The audience never knew what Hawk would come up with next and that’s what kept the crowd pleased. Howard gave ways for women with potential in acting to gain access to male groups in different types of ways. Women in his films were exceptional, one of a kind and given a chance to be the main attraction in his films.
4. I personally enjoyed the film His Girl Friday by Howard Hawk , it gave me a chance to see that even in the 1940s women held respectable or even star roles . without being looked down upon by the other cast members . The screwball comedy was hard to follow at first , but after a while of watching it I felt like I was apart of the scene and could understand all of it. Howard Hawk did a fantastic job on the film when it came to jokes, storyline, and casting.
