Barbarella

 This film is Barbarella directed by Roger Vadim and the theme is sexist because it objectifies the woman form and advertises sex as a pleasurable act that the men imply they want from her and she accepts this. This links back to when men had higher status and only their opinions and desires mattered. It felt like Barbarella was black mailed into this act to gain help reaching the dark city of Sogo which indicates that she was only desired as a sex object as women were often seen. This film was properly made for a male audience because of the sexual references in the personality of the characters and noises Barbarella makes when she is being attacked or her humming after the sex scenes. Another reason is because of the Dark Queen as in the film she is a lesbian which again plays within male's fantasies. "...flawed with a cast that is not particularly adept at comedy, a flat script, and direction which can't get this beached whale afloat." (Variety Staff, http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117788872?refcatid=31) this point argues that none of the elements of the film string together because the film fails on trying to convince the audience that it is believable.

The sets and props were all produced as models and through the angle of camera perspective made them seem bigger or further away. The space ship was typical science fiction as it looked futuristic and organic on the exterior but the inside was designed for a certain taste for the character of Barbarella because it was covered in shag pile carpeting and the computer had tiles that flipped with bright colors so was decorated as a feminine craft. The plastic sheet used as her bed implies the sexist theme because it tightly pressed her form to define her figure on display.  The labyrinth underneath the ice planet was maze of rock corridors that led to the dark city and it had a lot of structure in the cliff walls and the path looked like it could lead to many directions which implied the fear of being lost and straying away from the right path. "...dramatic difficulties and unlikely solutions, making for a galloping pace and never-ending opportunities for Mario Garbuglia's hallucinatory set design to dazzle." (anoymanous, http://www.celebritywonder.com/movie/1968_Barbarella.html) The evidence suggests that the sets are surreal and dream - like to match the situation of a particular scene which the characters react to as an obstacle or a solution.

The dark city of Sogo itself was uniquely impressive because the design of the organic structures was used a lot more to capture the idea of a different world. The space also captured elements of real life in the Club Boo Hookah scene because it was similar to night clubs in existence but was a more rebellious environment where women walk around naked or breathe in the 'essence of man'.  This describes the space as a club where women can have freedom and commit illegal acts but also links back to desire of male fantasy because the women are also prostitutes imitating the characteristics of the Dark Queen.

The character of Barbarella is also seen as an innocent small girl in the eyes of the over characters that feel they can take advantage of her. "The movie opens with a tasteful striptease by Fonda, who looks impossibly innocent and young..." (David Loftus, http://www.allwatchers.com/topics/info_16410.asp) this indicates that even her appearance and actions define her vunerability and naivety. The dark queen nicknames her 'Pretty, pretty', which immediately shows Barbarella to be a small person in the eyes of this character and that she is her possession instead of the independent mature woman that is buried beneath. Barbarella is attacked by nightmarish dolls and birds, she responds with girlish screams and young child - like terror because she was facing these opponents alone and in the eyes of a small innocent child this scenario would be terrifying. The Mathmos creature protects Barbarella in bubble because it can only feed off evil which identifies that the character has a good heart.  The angel was also wrapped around the themes of innocent and love because he is the symbol of them as he states 'An angel can not make love because an angel is love' indicating that the character only has good intentions because this is in his nature.