A Woman's View

Basinger knocks this one out of the park. Her thesis: Hollywood movies of the Golden Age not only dictated female conformity, but more importantly, did the exact opposite: they depicted women breaking all the rules, hence making audience members' dreams reality. This is why women's films were so popular among women. Before the perfunctory “happy ending” moral-of-the-story of marriage and children, these films showed women doing everything—and everyone—else.