High Noon, Little Jo LJ

I couldn't help but think of Citizen Kane because of the protagonist's name in High Noon. Marshal Kane in High Noon is the last defender of innocence in a town rife with corruption. Unlike most alpha male he is someone who supports the town and law. The film also introduces two women, Kane's wife and his ex-lover. Amy is a quaker and therefore committed to being non-violent. At the end of the movie however, she foregoes her religious views and their constraints and kills a man. Like how we've seen cowboys be urged to express themselves and break from their silence, this shows a woman breaking away from the restraints of faith to do what she feels is right. Helen Ramirez, the former lover, feels like a tomboy, but only because she is able to command her own presence among cowboys. She is the one who is more secular and thus accurately chides Amy for her failure to support her husband in a time of trial. Ramirez is also notable for the way she USES her womanhood to her advantage.

Little Jo for me is a very feminist message. Women have dressed and acted like men in order to serve as soldiers in conflicts of various historical times. Like the story of Mulan, the fact that the story of overcoming male biases and misogyny makes the film an argument for womens rights and equal treatment more than anything else. It's almost as if the protagonist had always fought to be left alone, but the men in her life offer frequent obstacles. The only real man that Jo confides in after she is banished in the beginning of the tale is a minority, someone that can understand the oppression she is going through.
Both films make statements about the growing prominence of women in the 1950s to the 1960s. One would think that "the prostitute" would be portrayed in a negative light whilst the pure and innocent quaker would be portrayed as good. However High Noon portrays Helen as the more flexible, able woman whilst making Amy the one who is faithful to a fault (Though she changes her mind). This brings to the forefront that Helen's job is not so important as her influence over the town and highlights the bias one creates about her as soon as we find out she is a prostitute.