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Women portrayal in movies
Sexism in films essay
Women's role in Islamic society essay
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Gender issues have drawn attention from thespians over the past few decades with most movies revolving around this topic. Gender roles and the discrimination of women have been the main topics of concern in most movies in the recent past. This paper analyzes the movie, The Stoning of Soraya M., which revolves around a woman, who is stoned to death for allegedly being promiscuous. The movie shows women as inferior to men as illustrated by the differentials in the roles and the decision-making process.
Gender issues
In the movie, discrimination against women in the Islamic society is evident. The protagonist, Soraya, is stoned after allegedly involving herself in extramarital affairs with her employer. Justice in the Islamic society is one-sided. In a just society, the man deserves a similar punishment given that he is also involved in an affair with a 14-year-old girl whom he wants to marry. For a man to marry another wife, he should first divorce his first wife. Therefore, the man may be said to have committed a similar sin by engaging in love affair with a 14-year-old girl.
The disregard for women is further exemplified by Ali 's decision to take his sons and leave the daughters with their mother. Ali avoids the responsibility of helping his daughters by claiming that his wife is in a sexual relationship with a widower. His intention from
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Most movies today revolve around gender inequalities as they occur in society. This paper discusses the main gender issues that can be seen in the movie, The Stoning of Soraya M. Some of the outstanding gender issues in the movie include the inferiority of women, injustices, overreliance on men, and the contribution of women to the escalation of their troubles. Nevertheless, at one point, Zahra, a female character, stands her ground to challenge the misconception that men 's decisions should not be
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.
Similarly, the issue of gendercide is seen in the film “It’s a Girl”. Gendercide is not only executed through feticide, but is also present in older, usually married women through dowry and other forms of gender based violence. The film takes place in patriarchally structured India and China, and opens by disclosing the ratio of boys to girls in the world, 105:100, and then specifies that ratio in nations that value male lives, which is 140:100 (0:05). Parents in these nations often kill their young female children, justifying the act by noting that the children will die in one minute (usually via asphyxiation), rather than suffer day by day existing as a woman in a male-privileged society (0:08). When women in India get married, their families
In the story “In Camera, Saadawi illustrated how women were treated by the legal system in Arabic country when they did something against the system. The protagonist, Leila Al-Fargani, who was a young woman on trial for calling the “mighty one”, which is a respective title for the President of their country, a stupid man. Moreover, during the time she was waiting for the court date, she was brutally beaten and raped by ten men who seem to be the guards. At the time she was in the court, she was still suffering from the pain both in physical and mental way, but she did not collapse. When the time the judge and those with him declared that ten men raped Leila and also her father’s honor got trampled. (This is the way we torture you women- by depriving you of the most valuable thing you possess”). For the response she said: “You fool! The most valuable thing I possess is not between my legs. You are all stupid. And the most stupid among you is the one who leads you.” In one hand, this quote completely showed that the man thought this sexual violence was totally right when the woman had committed a crime. In anther hand, it also showed that in the very deep of Leila, the...
These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).
The theme of gender oppression is greatly shown throughout the story. Making it easier for the reader to comprehend the roles that were expect of women in Egypt. This theme is greatly shown when Abboud Bey and Samia’s father are discussing wedding arrangements. Abboud asks Samia’s father “And the beautiful little girl’s still at second school? She lowered her head modestly and her father had answered:” This shows the lack of respect males have for women in their society. Viewing women merely as a pretty face, incapable of answering simple questions. This also shows that Abboud views Samia as naïve and innocent by referring to her as “little girl”. He seems to be taken by her
American commercial cinema currently fuels many aspects of society. In the twenty-first century it has become available, active force in the perception of gender relations in the United States. In the earlier part of this century filmmakers, as well as the public, did not necessarily view the female“media image” as an infrastructure of sex inequality. Today, contemporary audiences and critics have become preoccupied with the role the cinema plays in shaping social values, institutions, and attitudes. American cinema has become narrowly focused on images of violent women, female sexuality, the portrayal of the “weaker sex” and subversively portraying women negatively in film. “Double Indemnity can be read in two ways. It is either a misogynist film about a terrifying, destroying woman, or it is a film that liberates the female character from the restrictive and oppressed melodramatic situation that render her helpless” (Kolker 124). There are arguably two extreme portrayals of the character of Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity; neither one is an accurate or fare portrayal.
Some people might say that these movies provide entertainment and transport families into the lives of princes and princesses. Many critics have said that the films have amazing soundtracks and have detailed and interesting plots. Still, however entertaining the films may be, the way women are viewed and treated outweigh any enjoyment that a viewer could have. The subliminal lessons young women learn from these films have lifelong repercussions and negatively affect the female
Gender and the portrayal of gender roles in a film is an intriguing topic. It is interesting to uncover the way women have been idealized in our films, which mirrors the sentiments of the society of that period in time. Consequently, the thesis of this essay is a feminist approach that seeks to compare and contrast the gender roles of two films. The selected films are A few Good Men and Some Like it Hot.
Both el Saadawi and Al-Shaykh both show how perception and expression are both affected within the confines of politics, social opportunities, and male privilege depicted in their stories. Whether the reader is a follower of the feminist movement or not, it is very clear and easy to see that these women are not being treated with the respect that any human being deserves. The misogynistic stranglehold on society, especially in this part of the world, is excessive and avoidable in today’s world but it is very likely that the traditional, conservative ways of the past will continue to control and inhibit women from being able to be fully treated as equals for many years to come, perhaps even after this generation has
Ahmed’s mother is the first to fall into playing her stereotypical social construct after her husband; Hajji Ahmed beats her for not supplying him with an heir, a son. “One day he struck he struck her, because she had had refused to subject herself to a last, desperate ordeal…” This act shows Ahmed’s mothers weakness, a gender normative of women, compared to her husband. However instead of lashing back she accepts the fate she has put herself into. She punishes herself similar to the acts her husband acts onto her. “She, too, began to lose interest in her daughters…and struck her belly to punish herself.” At this point in the novel, it is evident that Ahmed’s mother is adjusting her own belief to match that of Hajji. His reoccurring distaste for his seven daughters has rubbed onto his wife. This compliance to accept her husband’s belief fits into that mold that says that women are not assertive and follow with what their husbands want. The next section femininity is seen in it’s natural essence is seen at the end of chapter three when Ahmed has been attacked and his father confronts him about his girlish ways.
It is the purpose of this essay therefore to demonstrate that there is a profound influence in the use of sound and language in relation to the discrimination of women. By showing that the manipulation of sound and language in regards to the films’ narrative structure is responsible for this apparent persecution, a clearer understanding should be gained as to why the figure of the female is observed in this form.
Sofia Coppola’s movie, The Virgin Suicides, 1999, brings to the forefront the reality of what life is like for five oppressed teenage girls living in suburbia in the mid-70’s. After examining numerous articles, a few of them made an impact on my perspective. The first of many articles is Todd Kennedy’s piece, Off with Hollywood’s Head: Sofia Coppola as Feminine Auteur. Kennedy discusses how Coppola has a tendency to lean toward directing films that cater toward females’ interest, either because of the visual imagery or women’s feelings of connectedness with the characters. The author reveals that The Virgin Suicides portrays women as becoming dominated by the environment surrounding them. The author gives an interesting point of view when he claims, “The film tells a story of the five Lisbon sisters whose identities exist only insofar as they are defined as the objects of the masculine desire” (44). Furthermore, the Kennedy asserts how the film serves as a prolonged exploration into the degree to which female characters are idealized, objectified, and defined by the image that the film- and their society- imposes upon them.
This time, she used a new medium, the feature-length film, to express her feeling of Iranian society, and she declared that the film is telling a story rather than conveying a concept (754). In this way, the film Women Without Men tells four women’s story in islamic society, and Neshat tired to use these four emotional and sad stories to reflect women’s status in islamic society. Shirin Neshat separated the film to different sections, and each section tells a single story of each woman (754). All of them are from different social classes and backgrounds, and they meet each other in a garden where they try to live safely during the difficult time in 1953 coup (754). Zarin is a young woman from the lowest social class who is unwilling to be a prositutue, and her struggle was shown when she lost herself in brothel (754). Munis and Faezeh represent two positions of women in middle class; Munis cares about political events, however her brother always prevent her from participating in political events (Danto 223); in this way, Munis’s struggle emphasize a gender issue in Islamic society that women has to right to participate in political events. On the contrary, compare to Munis, Faezeh is a very traditional woman, however, this character in the film reflects a serious issue in Islamic society, which is sexual assault (215). Unlike other
Also, the film revealed women empowerment and how superior they can be compared to men. While demonstrating sexual objectification, empowerment, there was also sexual exploitation of the women, shown through the film. Throughout this essay, gender based issues that were associated with the film character will be demonstrated while connecting to the real world and popular culture.
The patriarchal cinematic ideology detailed by Laura Mulvey in “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema” is pervasive in Stanley Kubrick’s film Eyes Wide Shut. The women in the film all eventually become the passive sexual objects that Mulvey has described in her paper. There are times in the film that women attempt to defy these strongly enforced gender roles, but they are always punished and returned to their positions as objects of the male gaze.