HIUS 131 Lecture 18: Film: It
HIUS 131 – Film Notes – It
• By 1920s, film companies appealing across class lines
• How was the movie constructed so that young, WC women would identify with the characters?
o Not blonde
• Approved by National Board of Review
• The "it" factor - "draws all others in"
o Attracts opposite sex
o "sex appeal"
• Salesgirls in department store fawning over new storeowner (Cyrus)
• Salesgirls being scrutinized for "it"
• One salesgirl (Betty) trying to get the boss to notice her
• Monty (2nd in command/manager {?}) asks if he can drive Betty home, and she says yes, in my car
- an overcrowded bus
• WC children messing with/trying to get into car
• Betty taking care of her friend and her friend's baby
o Landlady telling her what her baby should/shouldn't do
• Blondes as MC
• Wanting new dresses advertised in newspapers
• Waiter thinking Betty is a prostitute based on clothing? Or knows she's WC? Wants to put her in
corner
• Betty sees Cyrus out at dinner, flirts with him
o Imitating boss's blonde girlfriend by pinning flowers to her shirt
• "if you have 'it,' you will win the girl you love"
• "in a shopgirl's day, the first 1,000 customers are the crabbiest"
• Betty gets herself in trouble so that she can go to Cyrus's office
o "the customer is always right"
o Starts tell yell at her, then recognizes her
• Loses bet that he won't recognize her next time they see each other, so he has to take
her out
• Going to Coney Island on a date
o Hamburgers
o Riding "social mixer" (spinning"
o Boat ride that pushes them together
o Slide together
o Rolling tube
o Cyrus kisses her, and Betty calls him a "minute man"
• Minute you think you know a girl, you kiss her
• Secretly loved it
• MC reformers trying to take away Betty's roommate's baby because she's sick and has no job
o "If women like you would stay home and have babies of your own, we'd be better off"
o Betty pretends to be the mom since she has a job
o Asking where husband is
o Monty thinks Betty is mother
• MC reformers come to store to make sure Betty has a job, and Cyrus thinks she has a baby
• Cyrus confesses he liked Betty, and says he'll buy her whatever she wants
o Betty mad at him because she wants a relationship, but to be treated
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