In the film The Marriage of Maria Braun by Werner Rainer Fassbinder, theprotagonist Maria Braun succeeds in adapting herself from a traditional Germanwoman into a sexual object when she deems it necessary in order to achieve hergoals in a post war German society. Her sex symbol appeal accomplishes more thanjust capital gain however, for combined with a steadfast enthusiasm for success itthrusts her into a position of power within a male dominated society. In the filmMaria transforms herself from a traditional woman, firstly into a sex object and secondly into a powerful business woman, which achieves her wealth, status andpower. In the same way that Maria manipulates her appearance and her lovers toachieve her goals, Fassbinder himself manipulates stylistic camera angles in order toaccentuate this transformation. Ironically however, all of Maria's personaladaptations to the new consumer based German society become overshadowed bythe inevitable manipulation of her and her goals by a patriarchal structure.
Maria's transition from a traditional german woman into a westernized sexsymbol happens very rapidly in the film. We see a glimpse of it as Betti fixes herhair into a "poodle" style by candlelight. This poodle hairdo serves to reveal Maria'sinitial adaptation to western style, as a western ideal of beauty will be beneficial toher success. Even Maria's features capture that of a westernized ideal of beauty for she is "white, young, even featured and slim"(Dyer 58). Maria's transition howeverinto a sex object is much more obvious in the scene where her mother is hemmingher dress. The first thing the audience sees in this scene, is not Maria as a whole, butrather Maria in body parts, masqueraded in clothing associated with sex. The cameraangle begins at table level revealing Maria's high heel shoes and then quicklyascends up her stocking clad legs. Merely for a second does the audience see Maria asa whole person, for the camera returns again to concentrate solely on her legs. Thecamera is at a fixed straight angle while Maria slowly turns herself around, as if on apedestal, advertising what will soon be for sale. It is as if the hemming of her skirtrepresents her transition from a traditional woman into a westernized, sexual and independent woman.
Maria's transition form a traditional young married woman to a sex symbol isreinforced again through the lens of the camera as she applies for a job. The camerais distant from both the subjects as they discuss the job, but the camera then zoomsin, gaining focus until finally Maria's hand and wedding ring dominate theforefront of the frame. This is significant because Maria is told she must take offher wedding ring when she works. The last shot therefore reminds the audience ofwhat she has decided to do. The fact that she must take her ring off reflects theunveiling of a new woman who must trade off her traditional values in order toprogress in the new German society in which she finds herself.
Maria's ability to adapt resurfaces again on the train with Oswald. Mariachanges out of her plain clothes and into her sexy black dress, thereby becoming awoman who will both intrigue and entice Oswald. Again she advertises andsuccessfully sells herself. Here however, not only does she use her sex appeal, butalso her dominance of the English language in order to impress Oswald. This is anexample of her growing business sense for a "good businessman is recognized by hisability to adapt to circumstances"(Fassbinder). Her adaptation therefore movesbeyond that of mere sex appeal for her mind is now playing an equal part to herbody in achieving her desired goals. As she states in the car to Oswald andSinkenberg, Maria is ready to begin "a new tradition" in German society.
This new tradition and hence new position of Maria is clearly shown throughcharacter positioning in the scene of the business deal with Oswald and Sinkenberg.Maria stands at the forefront and center of the frame, dominating the two men whoform the connecting two points of a triangle behind her. (The positioning of themen however subtly remind the audience of the inevitable existence of the maleinfrastructure). Nevertheless, although Maria isn't speaking, she silently seduces theAmerican business men with her eyes, planning the way in which she can achievethe companies, and hence her monetary goals. Here Maria not only shows off herability to use sex appeal and a business mind to her advantage but also recognizesthe potential success of this deadly combination.
The way in which Maria is able to change roles within the film is whatundoubtedly brings her success. She fights against the "law of life" described by hermother at the beginning of the film (that of "we women stick to one man") andchooses to direct her own path. We must here recognize the ironic ending whereboth the audience and Maria discover she has been controlled. However, speakingabout her Maria's realm, she does direct her own life by skipping to different loversand receiving various things from all of them. In keeping with her role playing,Maria fulfils a different need for each man; that of wife, lover, and business partner.By reversing the law of life, Maria receives money, sex, cigarettes and the Englishlanguage from Bill, freedom from Hermann and money, sex, a job and prestige fromOswald. Her relationship to these men mirrors the society in which she lives, for ina "bourgeois society all relationships have economic overtones"(Dyer 55). In thesenew economic relationships Maria needs to break free from tradition in order tosucceed.
Ironically, as Maria completes her transition in order to succeed in the newGerman society she becomes ostracized from the traditional society and evenunidentifiable to it. Her break or rather segregation from tradition is seen in thescene of the birthday party. As Oswald takes a picture of the whole family, Maria,although presumably present within Oswald's camera frame, is conspicuouslyabsent from the frame which the audience sees. Although Maria stands side by sidewith her family, her absence from the audience 's frame signifies her departure fromthe traditional role of a woman set out for her by society. Maria's adaptscharacteristics associated with men; assertiveness, sexually frivolity, andindependence for she is "playing a role in someone else's scenario, one composed bymen"(Rheuban 225).
It is not until the end of the film when Hermann returns and the audiencelearns of Maria's manipulation by Oswald and Hermann does Maria becomerecognizable again in a traditional women's role. She appears in the scene as weakand powerless in an innocent white dress. Unfortunately, even though sheprogresses from a traditional woman to a sex object to a powerful business womanin the film, in the end she remains in a position of domination by a patriarchalsociety. Maria's own short but successful reversal of roles during the film seemsonly to intensify the reversal of power and control which dominate the lastmoments of her life. Fassbinder finishes the film in a traditional hollywoodmelodramatic style, where the woman is returned to "a place, her place, from whichshe can no longer threaten society's sexual equilibrium"(Rheuban 218).
Bibliography

The Marriage of Maria Braun. Dir. Rainer Werner Fassbinder. 1978.
Kaes, Anton. "History, Fiction, Memory: Fassbinder's Marriage of Maria Braun."
Rayns, Tony. , ed. Fassbinder. Dyer, Richard "Reading Fassbinder's Sexual Politics"London:British Film Institute, 1976. 54-62
Rheuban, Joyce. "The Marriage of Maria Braun: History, Melodrama, Ideology."

The emphasis in this paper seems to center around the theme of transformation in The Marriage of Maria Braun, as the title suggests. Without a doubt, this is an important perspective in consideration of the film, and one which can lend itself to a clearer understanding of the film in its entirety. That is, it is a question which touches on the film's socio-political, historical implications, and perhaps most importantly, the viewer's identification with the plight of Maria Braun.

However, with a clearly outlined, personal slant on how the film portrays transformation, (more focussed and systematic), the paper would come closer to explaining the author's intent. The sentence structure was also awkward in points.

Although it is hard to be critical of someone of Fassbinder's stature, (as it might be hard to criticize a paper that leaves the reader with thoughts of Maria Braun's legs), this may be the direction you would want to lean to.