In this paper I am going to argue that the directors of the movies portrayed women in the earlier years of  film either as symbols of sex or as unintelligent help but later showed a more complex and “real” portrayal of women.

In Cabiria the women characters in the movie are nurses or servants. This movie made in 1914 is set when women were still mainly viewed as homemakers and mothers. In the early 1900’s which is when this movie was made women still didn’t have many rights and the movement to get them was still in progress. Women hadn’t broken down all of the gender barriers yet. Although the titles of the movie is Cabiria which is the name of the little girl who is abducted and sold by pirates her role in the film is primarily getting carried around and thrown around with not much emotion or character complexity. We never really get a insight into the feelings or emotions of the little girl as well as any other women in the film. Surprisingly enough even small roles like that of the lowly innkeeper become developed over time. The innkeeper is a role played by a male character.

Women slowly start to get larger roles also in the earlier films men were usually the main characters. In the later Ben Hur Esther plays a larger role in the story and influences Ben Hur. She is more of a support and caring person than just being someone to “lure” him in.

Finally 50 years later come Cleopatra where the main focus of the movie is the female role of the ruler of Egypt, Cleopatra. Although she is sometimes portrayed as a temptress who uses her sexuality to “lure” in men, we also see insight into her emotional thoughts and get to connect to her more.

In conclusion, you can see the transformation of how men directors portrayed women as the years have passed. They have slowly transformed from minor roles with little screen time to more major roles. Over time the women stopped becoming the negative influences and started being the supportive force in the relationship as illustrated in the remake of Ben Hur.