For the past few decades, women’s positions improve significantly due to feminist movements, which can be presented through contemporary films. Instead of focusing on male-only heroes, an increasing number of filmmakers tend to create female heroines. Nevertheless, women have not yet achieved reproductive rights. In other words, different from men, who can freely express themselves, female’s actions are still limited by societal norm. Thus, female characters, as a reflection of contemporary females in society, demonstrate the fact that females are attempting to challenge gender stereotypes under societal pressures. Katniss, the heroine in Hunger Games, is presented as a role model. However, Marieme, the working class girl in Girlhood, seems …show more content…
From some perspective, Katniss indeed challenges gender stereotypes. After the death of Katniss’s father, she takes his role as a breadwinner. As a great hunter, she breaks the stereotypical roles that require female to be submissive and passive. Moreover, Katniss can be considered as aggressive comparing with her sweet sister due to her impatience; she has no tolerate of being disrespected, and can hardly control her emotion while being angry. When Haymitch Abernathy ignores her words, instead of patiently repeating one more time, she throws her knife to catch his attention. In addition, she does it again in the scene where she presents her abilities to the judges. These two scenes highlight the hegemonic masculinity within her, which challenge gender stereotypes that require females to be well …show more content…
Without being portrayed as a loving and caring girlfriend, Katniss can hardly survive. According to the film, the controllers set a fire purposely, which has large possibility of killing Katniss. If Katniss continues to be “boring”, which means she doesn’t kill anyone but hiding, it has large chance that the controllers would set another fire until they hear the term of “young love”. “In terms of narrative progression, this project of ‘feminization’, launched in part as a strategy to enhance Katniss’ chances of survival in the Games, is complete at series’ end where Katniss’ main role is that of wife and mother.”(Guanio-Uluru ,123) Therefore, she has to take advantage of her sexuality and behave in the way that others want to see. Even though she preciously fights with Peeta for putting her into a “weak spot”, she follows Haymitch’s advice and behaves like a little girl who is madly in love. “Katniss is put under pressure by several male characters to perform emphasized feminity and the male characters are not required in the same way to appear physically attractive to the audience, prevailing rather through displays of strength and physical prowess” (Connors, 150) Thus, regardless of the fact that Katniss’s dress on fire does somehow show their rebellion by not following the rule of dressing like their district, the most important purpose is to be remarkable and to impress
It is not often that a strong and significant female character is introduced in a movie and/or book as the main character. Pan’s Labyrinth, though not the typical fairy tale, introduces the viewer to three females that prove controversial and necessary to the plot, which passes the Bechdel Test, designed to identify gender bias in the media. There is Carmen, the loving mother, Ofelia, the supposed princess/innocent girl, and then there is Mercedes, Captain Vidal’s maid and rebel spy. These three women show different portrayals, different characterizations, of how women should defy the gender bias in films.
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).
Feminist of today are coined as third-wave feminists, which focus on abolishing gender roles through the actions of assertiveness, power and control of their own sexuality. Everywhere in pop culture women are hypersexualized and cast into their predisposed gender roles. At first glance, Games of Thrones appears to be one monopolistic fantasy after another, naked beautiful women and men holding all the power in society. Under the constant oppression of a society dominated by men, the women of the Seven Kingdoms have risen from their oppression and slowly began taking over power in the sixth season. From Arya Stark fending for herself to Daenerys Targaryen conquering city after city, the women of Game of Thrones are breaking through their gender confinements. The female characters in Game of Thrones represent modern day feminism and hold more power than men.
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.
In a not-too-distant, some 74 years, into the future the United States of America has collapsed, weakened by drought, fire, famine, and war, to be replaced by Panem, a country divided into the Capitol and 13 districts. Each year, two young representatives from each district are selected by lottery to participate in The Hunger Games; these children are referred to as tributes (Collins, 2008). The Games are meant to be viewed as entertainment, but every citizen knows their purpose, as brutal intimidation of the subjugated districts. The televised games are broadcasted throughout Panem as the 24 participants are forced to eradicate their competitors, literally, with all citizens required to watch. The main character throughout the series is a 16-year-old girl from District 12 named Katniss Everdeen.
In our Society when you don't follow the rules, you become an outcast to the rest of the society. Suzanne Collins’ novel series, The Hunger Games criticizes our society and its demands for people of specific genders to act in certain ways and become certain things. Stereotypes concerning gender are prevalent in our society and all over the world. However, The Hunger Games gives a very refreshing tone of “mockery” to these stereotypes. Katniss Everdeen isn’t your typical 16 year old girl, and neither is Peeta Mellark a typical 16 year old boy, especially when they are fighting everyday just to survive. The Hunger Games is a work of social commentary, used to convince us that there can’t and shouldn’t be any defined “roles” based on gender. A mixture of “stereo-typical” gender roles within a person and their actions is what people need just to survive in our world that is changing every day.
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.
Katniss lost her social interaction with many of citizens by just staying at her own distance, not leaving her bubble of safety. Katniss really did not have a problem with personal space, but she did not like being around others. She preferred the wilderness where she could do what she wanted to do, without having to deal with others. In that ...
Katniss’s ability to boost the morale of her allies at times of weakness is one of the key reasons why her character plays a pivotal role throughout the entire film. On the contrary, her character is displayed as one that is unsuitable for making swift decisions, as in the case of Gale’s capture where he begged her to kill him. According to Peeta “Our lives were never ours, they belong to Snow and our deaths do too. But if you kill him, Katniss, all those deaths, they mean something.”(The Hunger Games: Mockinjay Part 2). The character of Peeta Mellark has been going back and forth like mood swings. However, there is huge support for Peeta as he tries really hard to recover his lost memories, displaying a strong and supportive character. Moreover the character of Finnick was refreshing and lovable, his character added a little humor to the intense plot. For instance, the scene in which our heroes initiate the infiltration Finnick says“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the seventy-sixth Hunger Games.”(The Hunger Games Part 2) was humorous.
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.
Every fan likes to praise the so-called ‘strong female characters’ in fiction, whether they’re wielding pistols in an action movie or twin daggers in a fantasy movie. These characters are often seen as the ‘solution’ to the damsel-in-distress trope because they can defend themselves, all while making sassy comments. But people should not praise these characters as feminist icons. While feminism seeks equal representation and appreciation for feminine and masculine qualities, film and television writers portray strong female characters as redeemable only for their masculine qualities, namely physical prowess. This comes from the misconception that since men are biologically stronger, then “masculine traits produce a strong character” (Stenberg
...present powerful characters, while females represent unimportant characters. Unaware of the influence of society’s perception of the importance of sexes, literature and culture go unchanged. Although fairytales such as Sleeping Beauty produce charming entertainment for children, their remains a didactic message that lays hidden beneath the surface; teaching future generations to be submissive to the inequalities of their gender. Feminist critic the works of former literature, highlighting sexual discriminations, and broadcasting their own versions of former works, that paints a composite image of women’s oppression (Feminist Theory and Criticism). Women of the twenty-first century serge forward investigating, and highlighting the inequalities of their race in effort to organize a better social life for women of the future (Feminist Theory and Criticism).
The Hunger Games, a film based off of a novel written by Susan Collins, was released in March of 2012. The film, and the book it was based on, chronicles the struggles of a girl named Katniss Everdeen, a girl who lives in a poverty stricken province or “District”, until untimely circumstances forces her to play in the Hunger Games, a gladiatorial like contest where children between the ages of 12 and 18 are forced to fight to the death. A contest that was set up by an oppressive and authoritarian government, and has thus far been sustained via the forced obedience of the rebellious Districts, the brainwashing and conditioning of Districts 1 and 2, and the conditioning of the residents of its Capitol. The movie has a variety of messages, most especially in regards toward social control and social conditioning. With these ideas in mind, a case could very well be made that The Hunger Games, throughout its two hour long run time, shows a very realistic look at a socially conditioned society and what humanity can become with the right amount of conditioning and control by an authoritarian force.
Feminism is a movement that supports women equality within society. In relation to film, feminism is what pushes the equal representation of females in mainstream films. Laura Mulvey is a feminist theorist that is famous for touching on this particular issue of how men and women are represented in movies. Through her studies, she discovered that many films were portraying men and women very differently from reality. She came up with a theory that best described why there is such as huge misrepresentation of the social status quos of male and female characters. She believed that mainstream film is used to maintain the status quo and prevent the realization of gender equality. This is why films are continuously following the old tradition that males are dominant and females are submissive. This is the ideology that is always present when we watch a movie. This is evident in the films from the past but also currently. It is as if the film industry is still catering to the male viewers of each generation in the same way. Laura Mulvey points out that women are constantly being seen as sexual objects, whether it is the outfits they wear or do not wear or the way they behave, or secondary characters with no symbolic cause. She states that, “in traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote it-be-looked-at-ness.”(Mulvey pg. 715). Thus, women are nevertheless displayed as nothing more than passive objects for the viewing pleasure of the audience. Mulvey also points out through her research that in every mainstream movie, there is ...
When women are little girls most of them wanted to be princesses, to be rescued by their handsome prince and be carried off to a land far, far away and live happily ever after; as women grow up and their idea of happy ever after changes so does their ideal heroine. Times changed with the suffrage of women and equal right movement so did everyone’s perception of the modern woman. Soon there was nothing females could not do; no dream to big, no star to high. These changes in attitude were also seen on the big screen. “Fictional characters are of great value in the ongoing process of creation and serve as building blocks for the development and expansion of our culture.” (Kurtz, 2013) Lead female roles took on a stronger action role; no longer are the princesses waiting in the tower now they are rescuing Prince Charming. Today’s female action heroine is nothing like her former incarnations. Even Rothman notes that Hollywood has gone “heroine chic” and today’s female action star is smarter and stronger than any “totalitarian regimes”. She is without fear, but is still a woman at heart who has to save humanity (2014, pg.52). She has goals and strives to reach past them; she is not willing to stand by holding the torch so the man can read the inscription. The new female leads in Hollywood are solving the mysteries, stopping the bad guy, and saving the world. Even though most of the earlier female heroines could not reach their full potential without their prince or some mystical source, today’s female heroine is more focused, more independent and even more popular than her predecessors.