80 Years of Rita Hayworth’s Gilda: Put the Blame on the Male Gaze
Written by Nandita Joshi
Rita Hayworth dazzled the silver screen throughout the Golden Age of Hollywood. From her mesmerizing dancing in Cover Girl (1944) to her sultry charisma in The Lady from Shanghai (1947), she has cemented herself as one of the most noteworthy actresses of her time. This year marks the 80th anniversary of her most iconic role in Gilda (1946), and, more often than not, her seductive energy as the titular femme fatale Gilda is what is spoken about most. Yet, there is more than what meets the eye with Hayworth's characterisation of Gilda that should be recognised today.
Johnny Farrell (Glenn Ford) and Ballin Mundson (George Macready) become acquainted after Ballin saves Johnny from a robbery gone sideways. Very quickly, they became business associates at Ballin's casino in Buenos Aires, Argentina. However, when Johnny meets Ballin's wife, the ravishing Gilda (Hayworth), in her legendary introduction, flipping her hair onto the screen, tension rises between the three of them.
Although the femme fatale archetype was culturally significant in the 1940s, moviegoers were more likely to go to the pictures to see women being portrayed as a self-sacrificing mother like Joan Crawford in Mildred Pierce (1945) and Bette Davis in Now, Voyager (1942) or a foundational family figure like Jane Darwell in The Grapes of Wrath (1940) and Irene Dunne in I Remember Mama (1948). Femme fatale films were the exception, not the standard, breaking through the traditional roles depicted by women on the screen during that time.
Yet, the genre was catered to the male gaze. The glamorous bandeau gowns, the sculpted, voluminous curls and the provocative musical numbers were angled towards making men squirm in their seats and ogle, mouth agape at the screen. A trope that had the potential to reclaim the agency that women were not seen to have ultimately reduced to objectification, like Barbara Stanwyck in Double Indemnity (1944) and Ava Gardner in The Killers (1946).
Gilda's famed rendition of "Put The Blame On Mame" showcases Hayworth doing a cabaret and jazz-inspired choreographed number centred around a glove striptease. The scene cannot help but frame Gilda as eye candy for audiences to gawk at, leading to unfortunate ramifications on Hayworth's image in the media. Dubbed by the press as "the love goddess", she was hyper-sexualised to a point of no return.
Not only was she revered during the 1940s after her visage was famously painted onto an atomic bomb used for testing because of her "bombshell" status, fifty years later, she was still deemed a stunner, appearing in The Shawshank Redemption (1994), where the inmates are watching Gilda and hollering at her introductory scene. Hayworth's legacy is cemented by her looks, not her acting.
Hayworth should be given more praise for her characterisation of Gilda. Let's take her performance during "Put The Blame On Mame" for example. When you pay attention to her mannerisms throughout the dance, Hayworth harrowingly depicts how broken and defeated Gilda has become. To the world, Gilda is a temptress, chewing through man after man for her own pleasure, but in reality, this inaccurate perception has caged Gilda from the freedom to live life the way she wants to. Hayworth treats the sequence as a begrudgingly performative act rather than a razzle-dazzle spectacle, adding more depth to Gilda than people give her credit for.
In contrast, Gilda's previous dance number to "Amado Mio" showcases a completely different side to her. Hayworth approaches the dance with more controlled and intentional movements, looking visibly comfortable and genuinely happy to be performing. The difference here is that this time, she is doing the routine as a means to fund her independence whilst she is fleeing from Johnny in Montevideo, Uruguay. Two musical renditions evoking two contrasting personas to Gilda which is a testament to Hayworth's portrayal of the character.
In the 21st century, the femme fatale archetype has been reinvented to allow for more complex leading ladies in cinema. We can have cut-throat, violent, vengeance-seeking women like Uma Thurman in Kill Bill (2003), calculated, vindictive women like Rosamund Pike in Gone Girl (2014) or silent, intelligent manipulation like Alicia Vikander in Ex Machina (2014). The possibilities are limitless for how women are presented in the film industry today. However, without women like Hayworth breaking the boundaries during a time where there was widespread narrow-mindedness towards the roles women played in society, we simply would not see women like this on our film screens.
As we remember Gilda 80 years on, we should focus on Hayworth's layered portrayal of the titular character and how, in an era that was determined to put women into societal boxes, she carved the way for more complex female characters to be represented in cinema today.
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