Women in the 1910s and 1920s had a new political power and a new social
presence in British society. That newness is reflected in the variety and
vitality of the images of women to be found in the Topical Budget newsreels for
the period.
These images, however, were generated by men. The only part women played in
the production of newsreels at this time was as secretaries, negative cutters or
laboratory staff. There were no women camera operators, no women title writers,
no women editors or women owners of newsreels. Women gained more of a foothold
on the male bastion of newsreels in the sound period, with some female
commentators and even some editorial influence, but in the Topical Budget era
their sole influence was as the subjects of the news themselves.
Images of women in the Topical Budget newsreels can be categorised as those
where they had some measure of control over the content, and those where they
did not, though these two distinctions are not necessarily mutually exclusive.
The suffragettes were notable manipulators of the image as it would be likely to
appear in the newspapers, and the film of Emily Davison throwing herself in
front of a horse at the 1913 Derby surely exists because she knew that all of
the cameras of the press (still and moving) would be trained upon Tattenham
Corner. Similarly, the women's march through London in 1915 declaring their
desire to be recognised for their contribution to the war effort is constructed
for the newsreel cameras, which could never resist either a parade or the
prominent slogans carried on the banners.
Exploitative images of women as objects of fascination are legion in Topical
Budget, from the familiar bathing beauty sequences, to the more ambiguous scenes
of women workers in the hayfields and munitions factories of the First World
War. The latter reflect the changing gender roles in British society, and it is
important to try to imagine the startling effect the films here of women
working, playing football, piloting aeroplanes, and parading in the latest
fashions would have had on a cinema audience brought up on the patriarchal
certainties of the pre-war era.
Overall, what is evident about the images of women in Topical Budget is their
positive nature, the often exuberant vitality that they transmit, affirmative
pictures of the greater proportion of society reveling in a new sense of
identity.
Luke McKernan
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