In recent news headlines, there has been a pattern developing in which powerful movie and television actors and producers are being accused of either sexual assault or sexual harassment. Hundreds of women have come forward to share their devastating accounts in order to put a stop this issue. I was exposed to the world of movies and television at a very young age. While children went outside to run around the playground and or stayed inside to read books, I dedicated my time to movies and television. I was intrigued by the way in which actors could portray different people and tell stories about anything and everything. As an introverted child, I imagined myself being a wealthy movie producer. I wanted to choose what stories to tell in my movies …show more content…
They are not acceptable and should not be condoned under any circumstances. Unfortunately, there are people in this world no one can trust. Lying is a part of human nature. Many women have come forward to accuse both Weinstein and CK of sexual misconduct. These women’s allegations are valid due to the fact that both men have come forward and admitted they are guilty. However, we cannot always assume that sexual misconduct allegations are valid. “Critics argue that reports of rape should be treated with more caution, since men’s lives are so often ruined by women’s malicious lies” (Newman 1). In addition to allegations against Weinstein and CK, Ed Westwick has been accused by two women of rape. I have followed Westwick’s work since he appeared on the hit TV show, Gossip Girl. He played Chuck Bass, a suave male character that all the girls in school used to craze over, some of which still do today. I have watched plenty of interviews with Westwick and he seems like a very kindhearted and respectable man. It is difficult to stand by and watch someone you look up to be accused of such harsh allegations. Westwick planned to be starring in a new BBC show called Ordeal by Innocence but will have to wait patiently and see if the show will ever air. Unlike Weinstein and CK, Westwick has denied all allegations. Westwick recently posted on social media regarding the allegations saying, “I have never forced myself in any manner, on any women. I have certainly never committed rape” (Caron 1). Westwick even denies meeting the women. These sexual misconduct allegations against Westwick are a prime example of why many people question the validity of sexual misconduct allegations. When there is no evidence, who do we
This case involves a sophomore at a high school named Christine Franklin, who alleged that she was sexually harassed and abused by a teacher and sports coach by the name of Andrew Hill. These allegations were occurring from 1986-1988, a total of two years. These allegations included Hill having explicit conversations with Franklin, forcing her to kiss him, and forceful intercourse on school grounds. Franklin claimed that she let teachers and administrators know about the harassment and that other students were going through the same harassment. The result of telling the teachers and administrators was that nothing was done about the situation and even encouraged Franklin not
Decades ago Katha Pollitt realized there were not enough women is the television industry and preschool aged children were the ones being effected the most. From Pollitt’s article the Smurfette principle was developed and spread worldwide. This principle has helped lead the way for women in the media, but has it been enough? In her dissertation about how female characters are represented in Hollywood, Reema Dutt (2013) points out that “Animated children’s films tend to focus on male characters, with females as ancillary accessories...” Young girls are the most impressionable at the preschool age, yet Hollywood allowed men to dominate the big screen for so many years. Dutt (2013) goes on to explain “This is particularly disappointing given the fact that these films target impressionable children, who are being fed normative and antiquated portrayals of women at a young age.” Pollitt’s outlook was not erroneous, however the differences in television between 1991 and 2016 are astounding. There are twenty three years between Pollitt’s article and Dutt’s dissertation and many aspects still hold true. Over those years there has been much headway made for women in television. According to a study in HuffPost Women Nina Bahadur (2012) reported that “…44.3 percent of females were gainfully employed — compared with 54.5 percent of
While it is true that Hollywood has taken strides in order to mend and prevent these prejudices, it’s taken many years with heavy doses of pressure from society for any form of action to finally take place. Because of this, one should question and challenge the sincerity of the industry on whether it truly realizes the implications of its ignorance or if it feigned sympathy in order to benefit from the issue, publicly, financially or both.
For example, Detective Shannon Mullins, is crude, loud and abrasive, and we all love her for it. Not only does McCarthy not once wear makeup in The Heat, she also dresses in baggy attire. She’s one of the boys. Hollywood’s beauty standards can not touch an unruly woman, nor can the constant pressure to be seen as the ultimate sexual symbol. Mulvey pointed out that, “in Hollywood films, a woman’s power is associated with her ability to use her sexual allure to arrest the narrative action” (237).
“Movie stars are supposedly nothing like you and me. They’re svelte, glamorous, self-possessed. They wear dresses we can’t afford and live in houses we can only dream of. Yet it turns out that –in the most painful and personal way-movie stars are more like you and me than we ever knew.”(Zacharek .34). Zacharek explains that movie stars have the luxury of money, but they relate to us because they are sexual harassment by their higher-ups’. Sexual harassment has been known to be in Hollywood, but many people don’t understand how serious sexual harassment can get. Many of these actors are afraid of losing their jobs. The #MeToo movement is a movement that was created to help women fight against sexual harassment. Many actors and lawyers want to end sexual harassment and to bring justice to their harassers. I believe that the #MeToo movement is benefiting everyone and should be justice to higher-ups that harassed actors.
“How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?” Hollywood actress Ashley Judd recalled thinking when invited to movie producer Harvey Weinstein’s Beverly Hills hotel room for a business meeting. Upon entering the room, Judd was met by a bathrobe-wearing Weinstein who asked if he could massage her or let her watch him shower. Judd’s story was featured in The New York Times’ bombshell article earlier this month, which revealed that Weinstein was responsible for sexually inappropriate behavior that had resulted in his settlement of least eight legal sexual harassment cases spanning the past three decades. Weinstein, initially threatening to sue the Times for libel, was fired from his own company on Sunday,
Noted in Yvonne Tasker’s Working Girls: Gender and Sexuality in Popular Cinema, Goldie Hawn says this about women's role in the film business “There are only thee ages for women in Hollywood: Babe, District Attorney and Driving Miss Daisy” (1998, p. 3). While Haw...
In recent years, there has been a gender shift in crime dramas on television. In the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, the viewer saw the lead characters to be heavily male dominated with a woman thrown in for mostly sex appeal. Nowadays, most crime dramas are either gender balanced or even female dominated. As this shift has occurred, many new issues began to spawn. Having female lead characters in these types of dramas allow younger female viewers to see that females are capable of working in a usually heavily male dominated workplace and hold positions of power and leadership. However, women in these roles seem to be giving an unrealistic image of women in this type of work environment. While crime dramas can provide young female viewers with strong female role models, the unrealistic image portrayed by these female leads often undermines the realities of motherhood and being a woman in the workplace.
Mini-Lit Review: Crisis PR in the Hollywood Sexual Abuse Scandals The ongoing sexual harassment scandals that have been occurring in Hollywood has quickly unfolded into a chain reaction, with more accusations coming to light each day. Allegations against Harvey Weinstein, a famed movie producer and film studio executive, started these discussions, with social media users coining the situation “The Weinstein Effect”. Celebrities involved in the scandal all have different approaches to tackling their responses. Many social media users actively voiced their opinion on how Weinstein and his company are handling the scandal.
Led by Laura Mulvey, feminist film critics have discussed the difficulty presented to female spectators by the controlling male gaze and narrative generally found in mainstream film, creating for female spectators a position that forces them into limited choices: "bisexual" identification with active male characters; identification with the passive, often victimized, female characters; or on occasion, identification with a "masculinized" active female character, who is generally punished for her unhealthy behavior. Before discussing recent improvements, it is important to note that a group of Classic Hollywood films regularly offered female spectators positive, female characters who were active in controlling narrative, gazing and desiring: the screwball comedy.
He was the undisputed champion for every progressive cause that is the life blood of Liberaldom. Democrats have always covered for their party’s Bill Clintons and Ted Kennedys’ abuse of women. Weinstein is no different. According to one report, the New York Times sat on this story since 2004, which is no surprise as the mainstream media has no issue with covering for a powerful liberal activist.
A movie is supposed to be a reflection of the reality. If it is a fictional movie, it may portray human’s desire and should be towards the good deeds. According to the book, movies influence the society in terms of social, cultural and morality. Research has shown that people can remember a surprising amount of what they had seen in movies as movies place a distinct impact on the society. In this paper, I discuss the movie Wonder Woman and how it changed the stereotype of women in the film industry.
Victims often find that they have to deal with a lot of harassment even after being shamed. For example, some men will come onto girls who have a reputation of being ‘sluts’ because they think the girls are going to be ‘easy’ and ‘into it”; thus, slut shaming can ruin how people, especially men, perceive and treat a woman. Slut shaming can also increase rape culture by discrediting a women’s allegation of rape due to her sexual history. In so many cases where rape is reported, officers and lawyers attack the victims by questioning how they were dressed prior to being rape, how they acted, were they being ‘promiscuous’, or were they flirting with their rapist; if any of the above questions were answered “yes” they would claim the victim was “asking for it”. In the Steubenville rape case, a 16 year old girl was recorded being raped by two football players at a party. The footage was later sent to other classmates and quickly spread throughout the whole school; as a result of the “stigma surrounding sexual assault, she [the victim] was labeled as a slut and viciously tormented by her classmates,” (Nelson, 3). In cases like these, girls are slut-shamed for being victims of sexual
Sexual violence is a national issue that permeates every aspect society. Sexual assault and rape is an ongoing problem, evident by the troubling statistic that roughly 20 million out of 112 million women (18.0%) in the United States have been raped during their lifetime (Kilpatrick, Resnick, Ruggiero, Conoscenti, McCauley, 2007). Despite the continuous push for gender equality, the current culture of society perpetuates victim-blaming tendencies towards innate cognitive processes and media influences.
Movie stars. They are celebrated. They are perfect. They are larger than life. The ideas that we have formed in our minds centered on the stars that we idolize make these people seem inhuman. We know everything about them and we know nothing about them; it is this conflicting concept that leaves audiences thirsty for a drink of insight into the lifestyles of the icons that dominate movie theater screens across the nation. This fascination and desire for connection with celebrities whom we have never met stems from a concept elaborated on by Richard Dyer. He speculates about stardom in terms of appearances; those that are representations of reality, and those that are manufactured constructs. Stardom is a result of these appearances—we actually know nothing about them beyond what we see and hear from the information presented to us. The media’s construction of stars encourages us to question these appearances in terms of “really”—what is that actor really like (Dyer, 2)? This enduring query is what keeps audiences coming back for more, in an attempt to decipher which construction of a star is “real”. Is it the character he played in his most recent film? Is it the version of him that graced the latest tabloid cover? Is it a hidden self that we do not know about? Each of these varied and fluctuating presentations of stars that we are forced to analyze create different meanings and effects that frame audience’s opinions about a star and ignite cultural conversations.