Enemies of the State: the Films and Filmmakers of the Underground — Part 2 “Women in Prison”

INTRO

In today’s article we will be looking at Women in Prison films (henceforth W.I.P). Self-explanatory as the genre’s title may be, W.I.P films are not so cut-and-dry in the multitude of negative assumptions audiences are tempted to lodge.

Fig. 1  The Big Doll House (1971)

Fig. 2  The Big Doll House (1971)

Fig. 3  The Big Doll House (1971)

A HISTORY OF THE GENRE

Before it was a genre, W.I.P films were closer to an unofficial category used to describe prison dramas that featured women instead of men. We are speaking of the 30s to 50s. While not considered high brow, these films in this era weren’t watched with the same embarrassment as they would be some 20 years later. Restrictions of the time limited eroticism. By the 60s and early 70s, W.I.P flicks had come to be considered more low brow. The filmmakers creating these films opted to lean into their new classification, including more scenes with overt sex appeal. As a result, tropes around catfights, shower scenes, and repressed lesbianism started to emerge, and what was previously a classification became a genre under the banner of exploitation cinema.

Fig. 4  Women's Prison Massacre (1983)

Fig. 5  Women's Prison Massacre (1983)

Fig. 6  Women's Prison Massacre (1983)

Fig. 7  Women's Prison Massacre (1983)

Fig. 8  Women's Prison Massacre (1983)

THE BIG DOLL HOUSE (1971) — JACK HILL

From the godfather of exploitation flicks, Jack Hill, “The Big Doll House” follows 5 women (one of whom is Pam Grier in her breakout role - fig.10), as they plot their escape from a Philippine jail. With “Doll House,” we see the genre’s ties to gender politics duly explored. Much of the sexuality of these films comes from the inadvertent: A pantsless, braless Grier in a tight yellow tanktop is less her character trying to be sexy, and more her character wearing what's comfortable. Sexiness is in the eye of the beholder, but in prison there is no beholder, no one there to hijack the hygienic act of showering as something sexual. “Doll House,” and many of these films, present the paradox of a world where women are at once stripped of their societal freedom, but also freed of the societal restrictions that tie nakedness to eroticism.

Fig. 9  The Big Doll House (1971)

Fig. 10  The Big Doll House (1971)

Fig. 11  The Big Doll House (1971)

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