Male-Female Equality

It is a relatively rare thing to have a woman join the man in the center of the frame without her being sexually threatening, bizarre or infamous. This can be due to the fact that the female has top billing - on the left, the film is actually centered around the female character played by Rossana Podesta, and on the right Jane Mansfield had her own star cachet. In these posters the women gain a prominence they have lacked in previous examples, becoming a kind of partner to the hero, standing beside and on the same visual plane as the male. Indeed, their relationship and interaction is brought to the fore while the physical action is relegated to the background. The pose also hints at the film’s happy conclusion: the hero unchained, triumphant, heterosexual and monogamous. While these films and their posters regularly offer fantasy, adventure and thrills, sexual and otherwise, the typical resolution of the plot as suggested here is orthodox and conventionalizing. Evil is defeated, and the hero settles down with the good girl - or sometimes sets off on another adventure - there has to be a sequel, after all. In other words, these movies and their posters are morality plays which rely on immorality to attract customers.