| Chapter 1: | Sex as Cinematic Capital |
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Plate2. Dinner at Eight (MGM, 1933).
As in many films of the period, such as Gold Diggers of 1933 and Dames, the central characters represent the archetypal American nouveau riche that were rapidly replacing the more traditional, semi-aristocratic and monopolistic American captains of industry, who, through the severe financial strains of the Great Depression, had fallen into steep decline. Thus, the film explores the economic pressures of the times through the lives and, more interestingly, the sexuality, of its characters.
Central to the film is the positioning of the hyper-feminine woman, Kitty, whose only place in life appears to be in a bed (which she also surreptitiously shares with a lover, her family doctor). Suggestively dressing her for the viewer's pleasure, the film foregrounds the young beautiful blonde, Harlow, almost entirely in reference to her sexuality.