The 1938 film Bringing up Baby, is an American-made screwball humor film known for Katharine Hepburn’s role. Even though this movie was made and released in 1938, I’m pleased with the way in which women were portrayed in the film. In order to fully support this, the genre of screwball humor needs to be accounted for, otherwise, taken at face value, we see female characters who are dumb and artificial. In screwball humor, things the characters say and do are obviously not meant to truthfully portray how the real-world works. It’s meant to be humorous and entertaining to the audience. However, I was pleased with the way in which Howard Hawks still managed to successfully portray women in this genre without losing its entertainment value.
Specifically speaking, the fiancé of David Huxley (Cary Grant), Alice Swallow (Virginia Walker), was clearly the “boss in the relationship.” In the opening scene we see her role as personal assistant and lover to Huxley. She kept Huxley’s schedule and made sure he did things he was supposed to, including reminding him of the million dollar deal he was attempting to get donated to the museum. This strong portrayal of the female character taking care of business can be contrasted with the usual submissive female roles typical in the early 20th century. The relationship that was held between Huxley and Swallow was obviously female dominated because of Huxley’s short mindedness and dumb-wit. However, once Susan Vance enters onto the scene, Huxley is no longer the screwball, but we now find humor in Vance’s actions and dialogue.
Even the role of Susan Vance (Katharine Hepburn) can be considered a strong female character. The character never once cared what anybody else thought about her and she was made out to be air-headed, but independent. In this genre, there are always going to be characters who do things stupidly, including the male lead character of Huxley, but the way in which Hepburn was portrayed was satisfyingly refreshing and powerful for a female role. This is specifically shown in the jail scene when Vance convincingly portrays a shady character who is going to undermine the others to the police in order to escape and save everyone from jail. Hepburn’s performance in that scene was fantastic in comparison with her other portrayals of Vance throughout the movie. Her voice and the way in which she carried herself successfully convinced the police offers of her role, and successfully entertained the audience because we knew otherwise.
Another example of this is when Vance decides to chase down Huxley to complete their love relationship at the end of the movie. Here we have a female character going after what she wants, even after making a terrible mistake. It is not the typical man chases woman, but instead we see woman chases man. Throughout the film, Hepburn convincingly portrayed Vance to be air-headed, independent, humorous, feminine, and powerful; an impressive feat for a screwball comedy.
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