Women, as Victims of Men, in Martin Scorsese Films

Women, as Victims of Men, in Martin Scorsese Films

My thesis for this paper is that director Martin Scorsese generally views women as victims of men. To illustrate this thesis, I will examine two of his well known films, Raging Bull, and Goodfellas.

Raging Bull is not a film about boxing but about a man who is extremely jealous and suffers from sexual insecurity. For Jake LaMotta (Robert DeNiro), what happens during a fight is controlled not by tactics but by his fears and drives. The punishment he receives in the boxing ring serves as confession, penance, and atonement for his sins.

For Scorsese, the life of LaMotta was an illustration of a theme present in many of his works, the inability of his characters to trust and relate with women. The emotion that drives the LaMotta character is not boxing, but a jealous obsession with his wife, Vickie, and a fear of sexual intimacy. From the time he first sees her, as a girl of 15, LaMotta is fascinated by the cool, distant blond goddess, who seems much older than her age, and in many shots seems taller and even stronger than the boxer.

Although there is no direct evidence in the film that Vickie has ever cheated on LaMotta, she is a woman who at 15 was already on friendly terms with mobsters, who knows "the score". On her first date with Jake, she shows herself to be a woman completely confident as she waits for him to awkwardly make his moves toward her.

Jake has mixed feelings toward woman that Freud famously named the "Madonna-whore complex."1 For LaMotta, women are unapproachable, virginal ideals until they are dirtied by physical contact (with him), after which the women become suspect. During the film he tortures himself with fantasies that Vickie is cheating on him. Every word, every glance, is twisted by his jealousy and suspicion. He never catches her, but he beats her as if he had; his suspicion is enough to be proof of her guilt.

Jake's sexual insecurity is shown early in the film when he sees Vickie in a one-piece bathing suit at a swimming pool. Knowing that his brother, Joey, has dated her, Jake grills him relentlessly.

Joey: She ain't the kind of girl you just f--k and forget about. She's not like that. You gotta spend time with her, get involved, you know....

Jake: Did you bang her?

Joey: No.

Jake: Tell me the truth.

Joey: I just told you the truth. I tell you the truth the first time. I always tell the truth. I took her out a couple of time.

Jake: You went with her and you didn't try to f--k her?

After marrying Vickie, Jake is preparing to fight Sugar Ray Robinson. His mixed feelings toward women is revealed in a passionate bedroom scene.

Vickie: You sure we should be doin' this?

Jake: Come here.

Vickie: You said never to touch ya before a fight.

Jake: Come her, before I give ya a beatin'.

Vickie: You said I couldn't. You've been good for two weeks.

Jake: Come here.

After some petting, he stops her: "I gotta fight Robinson. I can't fool around." Resisting sex with her to keep his boxing strength, he views Vickie as an obstacle in the way of further boxing victories. He chooses to make boxing and its violence a higher priority over sexual love with his wife.

Jake's out-of-control jealously is illustrated by scenes leading up to his fight with Tony Janiro. Vickie's remark about Janiro- that "he's an up and coming fighter, he's good lookin', he's popular," arouses Jake's jealousy and fears.

Jake: Excuse me, excuse me, what do ya mean, 'good lookin'?....Yeah, but what, who are you to say you are good lookin' or popular?....What, what are you an authority or what? Get out of here.

After ordering her out, he asks his brother how Vickie knew Janiro was 'good lookin'.

Jake: When I'm away, you ever notice anything funny going on with her?... I wantcha to keep an eye on her.

Jake is concerned that "anything's possible," and that she might be playing around because she is: "talkin' about a pretty kid--she says he's good lookin."

LaMotta's unfair mistrust of his wife is further illustrated by a scene in the Copacabana Night Club. Vickie's old friend, Salvy, greets and kisses her and invites her to have a drink with Tommy Como and some of the "old gang." Vickie is cruelly challenged by Jake when she gets back to their table. He is enraged in his fantasies that other men desire her:

Jake: Are you interested in him?

Vickie: No, why would I be interested in him.

Jake: You're sure you're not interested in him?

Vickie: Yeah.

Jake: In other words, you're not interested in him, but you could be interested in somebody?

Vickie: Jake, don't start, huh?

Jake: Hey, shut up, or I'm gonna smack your face.

In the actual fight with Janiro, Jake hits him with dozens of blows to the head and face. In a close-up, Janiro's face is almost destroyed-his nose broken and blood spurts from swollen bruises. After the knockout, Jake struts around the ring. In the audience, a view of Vickie shows that she is aware of the reasons for his revenge. Because of his low male esteem, Jake has vented his jealous rage on his boxing opponent. One of Jake's friends says: "He ain't pretty no more."

In another scene at a nightclub, Vickie tells Jake's brother, Joey, that she is getting tired of being treated like a prisoner in her marriage. She's tired of being watched-he has lost his sexual desire for her and won't have sexual intercourse.

Vickie: I feel