ABSTRACT
One of the most conspicuous ways in which Darren Aronofsky's 2014 film Noah adapts the biblical flood story is its introduction of speaking female characters. Many critics commented positively on Connelly and Watson's performances and applauded Aronofsky's creative treatment of the flood story's female characters. Masculinity is not the same thing as the biological category of maleness any more than femininity is equivalent to the biological category of femaleness. Noah is perhaps best described as a hybrid of cinematic genres, each of which has conventional ways of portraying masculinity and femininity. Female vulnerability is also a key feature of femininity in the film. The film introduces Ila as a young girl who is injured and recently orphaned. Naameh and Ila become an active part of the story. While Naameh and Ila have the voice that is denied to their biblical counterparts, they remain very traditional female characters.
