Feminist film theories have always been apart of our culture. Traditionally in older films, feminism was almost non-existent. Most male characters tend to be unkind and almost degrading to the female characters. A good example of this is Shakespeare’s play “The Taming the Shrew”. The misogynistic, male character, Petrucio, treats the female character, Katherine, as an object rather than a human being. The subordination of women is an ongoing theme in this play. It shows that the men treat the woman more or less like a commodity. Stanley Cavell, goes against the “The Taming of the Shrew” by portraying the male characters as more fatherly and loving to the unruly, female characters. The male figures in the movies It happened one night (1934)…show more content… In both movies, the men assert their dominance by taking care of the woman. In It happened one night (1934) there are many instances that take place in regards to Peter taking care of Ellen. Throughout the whole film Ellen acts like a child, so Peter treats her like a child. After she manages to get her suitcase stolen, Peter takes her under his wing. He does not allow her to spend her money on things she does not need like chocolate, he lends her some of his clothes to wear, cooked her breakfast, found her raw carrots to eat, and even made her a bed of hay. Ellen needed Peter to survive on the trip to New York, she relied on him. One of the most important scenes that support this theory is when Ellen finally eats the raw carrot. Cavell says “seeing her eating this food of humility, Peter is won to her”, meaning she finally gives into loving him. Eating the carrot, according to Cavell, was Ellen accepting humility, an acceptance of Peter and an acceptance of equality of him. Although they Ellen relies on Peter most of the time, she is also smart enough to try and take care of herself. Another important theme that shows Ellen thinking on her feet is the when they have to hitchhike. Peter claims to be an expert on the subject but as many cars pass by them, he eventually gives up and sits down. The sheltered Ellen then shows him how it is done. She stops the next car dead in its tracks by…show more content… The men in the movie attempt to keep the woman more grounded in attempt to get them in touch with their humanity because they are from different social classes. The belief is that once the women become more in touch with humanity the social class barrier between them will disappear and they will be able to truly fall in love. In Overboard (1987), Johanna is a completely spoiled and rude heiress. She treats her staff and Dean very poorly in the beginning of the movie mainly because she was born into a life of privilege. When she was in the hospital from falling off her yacht, her husband did not even want to claim her because of how badly she was treating the hospital staff. Being with Dean and his children brought Johanna to realize the more important things in life. Sort of the same thing happened in reference to “The Taming of the Shrew”. Katherine started out being mouthy and entitled in the beginning of the play. Due to Petrucio taking control over her life, Katherine became more humble. At the same time the only reason she started acting like that was because of Petrucio morally degrading her. But in the end, Katherine never ends up falling in love with Petrucio. In It happened one night (1934) Ellen is not cruel to people the way Johanna was. Ellen just acted like everything would be handed to her. Peter made sure that she acted more