Female Directors Portray Female Characters

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How do female directors portray female characters within the Romance genre in relation to their portrayal as a whole?

In our modern day society, it would be fair to say that media has largely influenced our perception of ourselves and others. This global medium has for years showcased idealistic qualities and values and moulded the way in which the public functions, whether it is through print media, television, radio or film. With an estimated ---- hours spent watching movies a ----, it is hardly surprising that the film industry is one of the largest today, bringing in 9? million annually in the UK alone, and therefore playing the leading role in the unbalanced and unfair portrayal of women today. Apart from their dominance on screen, men also comprised 76% of all directors, writers, producers, cinematographers and editors in 2014-2015 indicating that there must be a link between stereotyped gender roles and the heavy male creative team. Therefore, understanding whether female directors challenge these gender roles by creating multidimensional, independent female characters can help conclude whether more females in the industry can fully eradicate these stereotypes.

In 2013, ------- Southern California University conducted a study in attempt to break down the 100 top grossing films of that year and decide whether the portrayal of women was fair and balanced. As concluded by similar studies they conducted in previous years this was not the case with only 29.2% female characters out of the 4,506 speaking characters studied. These figures suggest that the average ratio of male to female characters is 2.43 : 1 with only 2% of films featuring more female than male characters. It appears that the percentage of balanced casts, 16%...

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...fe back into ---, he teaches her about the "--- marriage" And it would be unfair to say that the two are simply friends or simply lovers as their relationship is an innocent and pure combination of both. They support and need each other during their 9sleepless nights but also deep down feel a connection with the other person.

On the surface, some would argue that Coppola has made a film that is "longer on atmosphere and observation than on story"( Ty Burr) and still portrats Charlotte in a way that supports the Male Gaze. The establishing shot consists of Johanson lying on her side in see-through underwear facing away from the audience, here the cinematography objectifies her and presents her as passive which is seen thorugout he film as Johanson walks around waring underwear and a tee-shirt. The costume choices aid to present Charlotte in her sexualtised form

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