Summer with Monika: Sexual exploitation or women's liberation?

Feminist film theory puts the politics of representation in the front and center of film analysis, pushing our understanding of how groups are represented in media and forcing us to consider how it is that we make sense of these representations (Gray 2010:71). The Swedish film, Summer with Monika (1953), directed by Ingar Bergman portrays a story of the trials and tribulations of young love, the desire for excitement and freedom, and the beauty of the Baltic region. The film sparked controversy at time of release due to its frank depiction of nudity and sexuality with regards to the main female protagonist. Further the film reveals a controversial representation of the female role, one that I argue is a celebration of female power and rebellion. While others may feel this sexualization of the main protagonist only works to perpetuate the exploitation of women in the film, her confidence and strong willed character type speaks otherwise.

The film's story begins in the bleak working class area of Stockholm. Harry and Monika are both in dead end jobs when they meet, Monika works in a stock warehouse, a nice-looking girl of about 18-years-old. She is constantly besieged and harassed by other boys and an ex boyfriend. Harry works at a crockery warehouse, packing all kind of dishes and glasses, at first he seems content with his job, but upon meeting Monika, his attitude changes and he is fired. When Monika is having a few domestic problems with her father, who always arrives drunk to the house, Harry steals his father's boat, and he and Monika spend an idyllic summer in the Stockholm archipelago. There, Harry and Monika spend some joyful days together making love and frolicking on the beaches, until food begins to run out. The adventure ends up as a sad experience, without a job, money and having to steal some food to survive. Harry and Monika decide to return to the city, to get married and start from the bottom. It is clear that Monika is pregnant, and while Harry accepts responsibility for the child Monika is unsatisfied with her role as homemaker. She again yearns for excitement and adventure, which finally leads her astray, and she leaves Harry and her child behind.

In the traditional exhibitionist film role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to fulfill a role in the film catering to mens desires. They also, in the traditionalist sense, play a passive, victimized role, constantly in need of a strong willed, male savior. Often women are at the same time innocent and naïve while paradoxically portrayed as sexualized objects for male dominance and control. While Monika is definitely fulfilling a role as sexualized deviant, she could hardly be seen as a victim. She is the spark plug, pushing Harry to quit his job, spend an exciting summer with her, and in the end leaving him to pursue her own interests once again. Further, the traditionalist subordination of women, and portrayed innocence is completely relegated in the role in favor of a strong woman whose sexuality is, I would argue, celebrated in the film. Although the integration of her nudity in the film may have been originally intended to draw in a larger audience and create controversy, her nudity was not one that I found offensive or demeaning. Rather, she appeared comfortable and confident with her body, walking poignantly across the screen, fully nude to take a dip in the warm water of the Baltic Sea. Although I do not advocate for Monika’s harsh treatment of Harry, nor abandonment of her young child, she is notable in representing an unconventional kind of female, one that displays female strength and aggression not usually presented in film, especially during the 1950’s. Her stubborn and selfish attitude is an unfavorable character flaw recognized by the audience, however the actions she takes to move away from the harassment and domination in the beginning of the film and her constant emphasis on the importance of establishing her own freewill presents a representation of the female that to the audience is more empowering than exploitative.


Citations:


Gray, Gordon.
2010 Film Theory in Cinema: A Visual Anthropology. Oxford, UK: Oxford International Publishers, Ltd.


Ingar, Bergman
1956. Summer in Monika. AB Svensk Filmindustri.