Feminist gender expression and camp in Daisies (1966)

By Paige Daron Irwin  |  November 10, 2025

In a society run largely by patriarchy, femininity is seen as a weakness. Femininity in any gender or sex has been deemed something of less value than masculinity, and more than that, something of weakness that should be eradicated when present in somebody who is not a cisgender woman. Even so, paradoxically, the femininity of women is also scrutinized while maintaining its place as the expectation of female behaviour. It is here that we discover that the essential truth is, there is no “right” way to appease the patriarchal gaze. Somebody who presents as what is thought to be the ideal feminine is satisfactory, yet still lesser than and exists solely to be gazed upon and used as an object for male satisfaction. Somebody who is doing an unsatisfactory job of performing femininity may be assaulted with accusations declaring that they are not able to identify as a woman at all, that in order to identify as feminine, they must be performing what patriarchy understands to be femininity. As many people grow up seeing their own femininity as a weakness, and that weakness being a definitive part of their identity a way of finding power in this is to exaggerate and perform femininity. Reclaiming the power in something that patriarchy has defined as a necessary weakness. Performing femininity to the extent to which it could be considered camp is a powerful act, and in films such as Daisies (1966), women are presented figuratively as “dolls” in order to present this concept and find power in femininity. This film can be described as having a camp mentality that furthers the idea of performative femininity and gender performance in the name of rebellion.

The description of the “perfect woman” by the average male misogynist would amount to the description of a doll. Lifeless, controllable, without flaw, and perfectly feminine in a way that’s only purpose is to serve the male, and uphold patriarchal ideals of womanhood. The film Daisies, released in 1966, a work created during the Czechoslovak New Wave movement, poses the question of what if women really were dolls. Presenting the protagonists as dolls themselves, feminizing them to the point of abjection and the total deterrence of the male gaze. The protagonists named Marie I and Marie II are immediately identified as dolls in their first appearance on screen “In our first glimpse of them, the young women sit side by side, sunbathing in bikinis, but their slumped posture, their backs against a fence and their arms and legs akimbo suggest the limpness of dolls or puppets who cannot stand for themselves and thus need to be propped up against a wall” (Cua Lim 11). Even the manner in which these girls move is robotic, their speech is calculated and lifeless, and they are ultra-feminine in a way that removes any and all humanity from the characters. Throughout the film, Marie I and Marie II use the performance of exorbitant femininity to their advantage. For example, at one point in the film, Marie I goes on a date with an older man, Marie II then arrives and begins to order copious amounts of food and mocking the date and his flirtatious behaviour towards Marie I. Marie I continues her performance, pretending that she is quite embarrassed by her “sister” Marie II’s behaviour. At the end of the night, Marie I pretends to get on the train to go home with her date before jumping off and deserting him to be with Marie II. Though Marie I initially pretends she is embarrassed, in truth, she is enjoying watching the man be humiliated by Marie II’s lack of performative femininity, and entranced by her performance. Here, they have gained power over men, and in a more superficial way, they have also gained free food and a night full of fun. Bliss Cua Lim’s description of the girls as “Doll-like abstractions of women” (Cua Lim 16) is further evident in a scene in which Marie II attempts suicide.

The suicide attempt of Marie II reveals much about the meaning of the way in which these women are portrayed, and its pure absurdity brings forth the theme of camp which will be discussed further. The film lacks a true narrative structure and can instead be defined as a series of events strung together through repetition, this provides context for why the scene in which Marie II attempts suicide is so abrupt, as well as brief. During a scene which begins at 20:10 and diverges to new topics with exceptional speed at 21:00, Marie II attempts suicide by filling the apartment with gas from the stove. Marie I walks in on the scene, and with disdain informs Marie II that her attempt is fruitless as she forgot to close the window. Through the method of her attempt and failure, the caricature of her femininity saves Marie II’s life. The reason why her method of attempt is so imperative is due to its inversion of masculinity, and faithfulness to the feminine ideal. If the stereotype of the male love of cars and their connection to masculinity is considered, suicide by gas inhalation from a car could be considered a very masculine method. Marie II’s method is a complete inversion of this, as she is a doll the only gas that she would have access to or an understanding of would be the gas from the kitchen stove, a stereotypical hallmark of where women belong. While committing suicide in a way that acts as the feminine counterpart to masculinity and an acceptance of patriarchal femininity, she forgets to close the window and fails. The perception that women are simply not capable of possessing as much intelligence as men is another aspect of femininity on display here. This forgetfulness, a simple-minded silly mistake is something characterized as feminine and this here is what saves her life. In this instance, her femininity and her status as a “doll” save her life. This gives immense power to the idea of the feminine, as is the goal of this performative femininity.

Camp is something that is famously hard to define, it can be described as an attitude, a way of being, or even a sensibility. Yet, the mentality and some features of camp as defined by Susan Sontag, prolific writer of Notes on Camp, are ever-present in the act of performative femininity. Daisies contains many aspects of camp in it’s portrayal of women as dolls in order to represent this act of reclaiming the power in femininity through performance and exaggeration. An integral element of camp is it’s artifice “All camp objects, and persons, contain a large element of artifice” (Sontag 5). This artifice often-times comes in the form of performance, as camp is not simply an act or a moment in time it is a way of being in which performance is key. For example, in Daisies the protagonists themselves as well as the audience are acutely aware of the fact that their behaviour is artificial. Marie I and Marie II are actresses themselves, playing the role of the doll, of the ideal woman to empower themselves and find benefits in ways of being which they have been told are of little value. This aspect of performance and the camp mentality of artifice and fantasy is palpable during a scene in which the girls question their existence when they are not recognized by a group of men. At 52:01 - 52:14, a group of men on bicycles drive by the girls, even passing in between them acting as if they do not even know they are there. Marie II then declares “Nobody’s paying attention to us!” This occurs directly after the girls have stolen many cobs of corn, and were chewing and spitting out pieces directly on the street. These are masculine behaviours, women are expected to be polite, be clean, rarely eat, never make a mess, and most definitely not spit on the street. At the moment that they are not actively performing the male standard of femininity, they are ignored by the men and then believe themselves not to be real. Here the film seems to be saying that men wish for women to not exist unless they are performing femininity, that men expect women to feel invisible when not seen by men as if men are that important in any respect. This moment also says that since they are using men to their advantage, and winning them over with performance; that men do not recognize women as they truly are but only as they wish to see them. At 54:37 after being re-assured that they do exist by seeing the shells of the corn they shucked earlier, the girls begin a celebratory march-like dance! Why? Because what else do women do when they are excited but dance in perfect unison? The gravity of the assumptions that the Maries come to when ignored by men embody the theatrical nature of camp. As well as their immediate switch to exaggerating their femininity once they realize they are in fact real. Though the film itself could easily be defined as camp, it is also important to discuss how gender performance as rebellion is camp in itself.

Though objects can be camp, films, songs, pieces of clothing, and even furniture, this does retract from the truth of camp which is that it is a sensibility, a way of being, thus it makes it’s way into our lives in many ways. In Notes on Camp, Susan Sontag wrote that “Again, Camp is the attempt to do something extraordinary” (Sontag 10). The performance of hyper-femininity in which the girls of Daisies represent is an attempt at the extraordinary. Women reclaiming their femininity which they have been told their whole lives by endless sources is a weakness and exploiting it for feminist gain is absolutely extraordinary, and absolutely camp. It is not simply a way to use misogyny to your advantage, it is a way to redefine the self. To take performance, artifice, exaggeration, fantasy, theatrics and more to help you live your life exactly how you want to without any external ideals of who you should be holding you back. This is the heart of camp, being undeniably who you were meant to be in the loudest way you can.

In conclusion, there is a definitive crossover in the two worlds of feminist gender expression and camp. The film Daisies demonstrates this crossover excellently by portraying the protagonists of the film as dolls, caricatures of women. The performance of gender as an element of camp of course is in no way exclusive to women, it is a key element of camp across genders. The topic of the performance of femininity through drag and the performance of femininity in the daily life of women is a broad topic that must undoubtedly be discussed at length, however there are simply not enough words in this essay to do so. As time goes on, I am hopeful that Women will continue to embrace their femininity and use it as a tool, to bring the joyful essence of camp into their lives.

Works Cited

Sontag, Susan. Notes on camp. Penguin UK, 2018.

Lim, Bliss Cua. “Dolls in fragments: Daisies as feminist allegory.” Camera Obscura 16.2 (2001) Daisies, Vera Chytilova. 1966