Promising Young Woman as a Social Problem Film (2020)

Introduction: Defining the Social Problem Film

As Doles (2023) points out, "social problem films (sometimes called social-consciousness films, message movies, or other similar phrases) are films that dramatize some set of concerns, which they depict as broadly representative of the conditions of their historical moment" (n.p.). In essence, a social problem film can be conceptualized as one that fuses a wider social conflict with the conflict — at the individual level — between the various characters depicted therein. The larger social conflict in the case of Promising Young Woman (2020) is victim blaming and the failure to respect the choices and wishes of vulnerable women. Rape culture continues to be perpetuated by the failure to bridge the gender power gap in matters of decision making, and it is this power gap that promotes the oppression of women. It is this same power gap that leads some men to believe they are justified in taking advantage of vulnerable women.

The Public Power Gap in Promising Young Woman

This larger social conflict has been integrated into the conflicts occurring between the film's characters through the encounters that Cassie has as she approaches thirty. Cassie finds — or inserts — herself into numerous scenarios where her apparent vulnerability (feigning drunkenness) serves as a motivating factor for certain men to pursue sexual contact with her. Examples include her encounter with Jerry and her encounter with Neil. The social conflict highlighted here also ties to Cassie's resolve to change the narrative while simultaneously seeking justice for her friend Nina.

It can be argued that the maintenance of male privilege and power over women effectively obstructs attempts to secure justice for female victims of violence. This is clearly illustrated by Dean Elizabeth Walker's failure to properly investigate Nina's reported assault and her decision instead to side with the perpetrator. It must also be noted that a woman's agency must never be used as justification for oppression or violence — including rape — in any of the scenarios recounted in this film.

In the film, "the public" can be understood as the situations women must navigate in both public spaces and behind closed doors, because it is in those contexts that their devaluation occurs. Lip service is paid to women in public, but what society truly thinks is revealed when events transpire in private. In this respect, the film resembles — and differs from — the situation faced by Jews in Gentleman's Agreement, where Jews are denied work, housing, and basic courtesy in public, yet receive private sympathy (as seen in the scene between Kathy and David near the end). In Promising Young Woman, what happens to women occurs behind closed doors, is shrugged off, and women are blamed for what befalls them. The dean herself makes precisely this argument in the film.

The film's opening scene is set in a bar — a public space where this issue frequently emerges — and is further developed through the disturbing dialogue of men who observe the protagonist appear heavily intoxicated. This scene contrasts with the dean's office at a college, another public institution where sexual violence occurs at disproportionately high rates. The dean, rather than challenging this culture, becomes part of it by deflecting blame onto victims. Cassie forces her to confront this complicity by making her empathize with the protagonist's traumatic past.

References

Doles, Steven. 2023. Social Problem Films. Oxford Bibliographies.

Fennell, Emerald, director. 2020. Promising Young Woman. Film Nation Entertainment. 114 min.

Maland, Charles. 1998. "The Social Problem Film." In Handbook of American Film Genres, edited by Wes Gehring, 305–328. New York: Greenwood Press.

Schatz, T. G. 1976. Hollywood Film Genre as Ritual: A Theoretical and Methodological Inquiry. The University of Iowa.