Feminism in Hard Candy
After watching the film multiple times, listened to the commentary of the director and writer of the film, and researched various websites, I have come to the conclusion that feminism is demonstrated as the core theme of the movie, Hard Candy. As you might know already, the movie surrounds an interaction between a pedophile and a young girl that later leads to an unsuspecting turn of events between the two. It is through the control of Hayley over Jeff and the film's elements that this core theme is demonstrated.
Hayley In Control...
Feminism is represented throughout the film Hard Candy through Hayley's, the main female character's, control. She controls over the other main character, Jeff, both physically and mentally. She also controls the visual representations of the movie in various ways.
...Over Jeff's Body
With the Jeff, the male role, being in constant supervision and manipulation by Hayley, the female role, feamle dominance is demonstrated. From the beginning of the movie, Hayley's objective is to make Jeff realize the error of his past crimes. She begins by knocking him unconscious with drugs slipped into his drink. While unconscious, she ties him to a chair. While tied, she searches all throughout his house to hunt for further evidence of his crimes even with his disapproval. She even tells him to stop using the word "don't" from the very beginning because she plans on "doing whatever [she] wants." There is also many visual representations where Hayley is "above" Jeff. One of these moments is from the beginning of the film where Jeff is kissing Hayley's feet, reflecting his eventual submission to Hayley. Here is a picture of that scene:
Through this physical supremacy, Hayley represents a strong female role who is able to overcome a male perceived dominance.
...Over Jeff's Mind
Even with the physical torture Jeff endures, Hayley manipulates him mentally as she gives him the sense of helplessness and inevitability of his fate. While the two engage in intense dialogue for the majority of the film, it is through Hayley's questioning where Jeff reveals more about the evils that he has done. But outside of the dialogue, Jeff goes through gripping torture as Hayley uncovers the worst of his crimes. Through the process of these tortures, Hayley breaks Jeff down to his normal despicable self in the end of the film. One of the biggest motives for this breakdown is the thought of escape/hope appearing then disappearing through many moments of the film. These moments included moments where Hayley would leave him alone for a few moments only to return to him to unsuccessfully escape his entrapment. Even with the possibility of escape, he still chooses to remain with Hayley to enact his vengeance before attempting to flee. It is through his guilty conscience and Hayley's preparation and past experiences where she eventually emerges victorious over Jeff. While Jeff is forced to accept his fate, Hayley has won her war in making him understand what he has done is wrong and justice must occur.
...Over the Movie
Throughout the movie, Hayley is not only taking control of Jeff physically and mentally, she controls the camera from which the audience views their interaction. One way she does this is through coloring of the film. It is exhibited at various parts of the film that her mood controls the colors of the film. For example, when Jeff wakes up from being unconscious for the very first time, the first time we see Hayley's true side, she is shown lecturing him about his past crimes surrounding his preferences of women and what he does with them. During this conversation, Jeff is confused and eventually realizes that this entrapment Hayley developed for him is malicious. As Jeff is strapped into the chair, Hayley explains to him the reasons for his capture and how she has been luring him for quite some time via webchats. Throughout this interaction, she exhibits much emotional anger towards him. The moments when she is emotionally stable, the coloring returns to its warmer colors but as she becomes furious, the coloring becomes cold. Compare the two scenes below, the first one shows the coloring warm when she is in control of her emotions and the second is the one mentioned previously where the coloring is cold. (Warning for headphone users: Video 1 gets obnoxiously loud at 2:09 and Video 2 at 2:22)
A better visual of a transition from warm to cold coloring is found during this scene below. The transition is from the beginning from 0:00-0:06 :
In the second video, the colors were not cold because her anger was faked to mislead Jeff into believing he won over her emotions. Along with the film's coloring reflecting Hayley's emotions, she also has coloring on her face to reflect certain key quotes that foreshadows impending events. The biggest example of this, stated in a commentary of the film by the director, is when Hayley and Jeff are conversing in Jeff's photo studio and Hayley says, "Carpe Ominous." Translated from Latin, the phrase roughly translates to "Take It All" which refers to her state over her war with Jeff by the end of the film. The video of this is moment is below. It occurs exactly at 0:42.
Along with the coloring of the film, Hayley also controls all of the movie's scene shifts. A scene shift is when the movie cuts to black as it enters another scene. While Hayley is performing some sort of action, such as slamming against a wall or shutting a drawer, the screen cuts to black and transitions to another scene. It is through Hayley's directions for the visual representation of the film that she not only is dominant over Jeff, but also dominant over the film that we, as the audience, perceive how the plot unfolds.