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How female power in society has developed over time
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Recommended: How female power in society has developed over time
In our current age women's rights have made some huge steps. Discrimination against women faces a huge amount of backlash, there are more qualified women in positions of power, and there are more and more women in movies and the like. Nevertheless, there is a long way still to go. One of the big issues is the numerous problems with the way women are shown in publications. Women's portrayal in those things has never been particularly favorable; be it one-dimensional female characters, underrepresentation in media as a whole, and the messages that young kids get due to the last age of sexism are all prevalent issues of the times. There are many depictions of women that are not accurate to the real world. Women often struggle to be portrayed in a good light, much less any light at all. In lieu of that, the trope of ‘strong female characters’ is prevalent throughout modern media. In and of itself, it has become a negative device. In the article I Hate Strong Female Characters, Sophia McDougall says, “Sherlock Holmes gets to be brilliant, solitary, abrasive, Bohemian, whimsical, brave, sad, manipulative, …show more content…
The Bechdel itself specifically focuses on women. In order to pass, the film or show must meet the following criteria: It includes at least two women who have at least one conversation about something other than a man or men. While it’s not inherently bad if a movie fails this test, when applied to modern media it is startling how few movies pass it. That is the main problem, looking at the statistics, (graph below) a concerning forty-two percent of movies (out of seven thousand five hundred and eleven tested) did not pass, or only had one or two of the needed elements. The test is not doctrine, but it does do a good job of seeing if there is representation of women who are not simply for men in a movie no matter how badly they are
The Bechdel Test has three seemingly simple requirements. First, at least two women have to have a significant role in the work. Secondly, these two females need to talk to each other at least once about, thirdly, something other than a man. To a reader, these needs are pretty easy to pass, however it can be shocking to find out how few movies and books actually pass the Bechdel Test.
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.
Miss Representation, a documentary film produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom released in 2011, presents a contemporary issue which is the misrepresentation of women’s portrayal in mass media. The media is powerful in shaping audience’s belief in how to be feminine. Women are expected to be beautiful, attractive, and even sexual on the media to attract audience’s attention. Also, the film points out the existence of social system in which men are considered more powerful and dominant than women. Finally, the film tries to increase the awareness of female real value including capability, educational achievement, and leadership. Consuming the media wisely to eliminate gendered stereotypes can help young women build their confidence and be successful.
In the current era of progressive feminism, a hotly debated topic has been what constitutes a strong woman, whether fictional or real. One side of the discussion argues that women must be shown as equal to men and therefore display manly or ‘macho’ traits. On the other hand, some women contend that, instead of filling the mold of what society deems strong (which often happen to be traditionally male traits), women should instead break that mold and redefine strength. In Elizabeth Alsop’s article, “Why TV Needs ‘Weak’ Female Characters,” she describes how female characters in some specific television shows today prove that other traits, particularly vulnerability, are just as important to display as strength. Alsop discusses how television shows
Furthermore, Goodman randomly surveyed 70 movies “only 17 had any large female characters at all in the script, most of whom represented the standard domineering mother figure, the comically unattractive woman, the whore figure, and Bates as her Misery psychopath character.... ... middle of paper ... ... Each appeal focuses on a different subject or idea. Logos is based on facts and reason, pathos is based on emotions, and ethos is based on character.
movies are about men’s lives, and the few movies about women’s lives, at their core, still
...he main character and the portrayal of women; however, when I asked males for their opinion about the film, they had nothing but praise for the movie stating that it was “inspiring”. The ability of the film to be interpreted various ways also fits my personal definition of art because I believe that upholding multiple interpretations and not having a clear right or wrong interpretation is art’s defining factor. Lastly, the surrounding space heavily influenced my judgement because the theatre’s massive size filled with multiple individuals magnified my uncomfortableness due to the film’s abundant use of nudity which directly influenced my judgement. My uncomfortableness affected my judgment negatively and highlighted more of the aspects I disliked such as the sexism in the film instead of positive aspects such as the superb and diverse background music that was used.
As Jane Fonda states in Miss Representation, “media creates consciousness and if what gets to be put out there that creates our awareness is strong minded by men, we’re not going to make any progress” (3:14). One of the main issues that is discussed and put under lens here is that women have been and endure to be constantly defined, portrayed and (mis)represented by men. Although women make up 51% of the total U.S. population, there are a small amount of women that are in fact writers, producers, directors or legislatures in Congress. The point that I am demanding to make here is that while images of women in U.S. media have transformed through past and women as a minority group in U.S. have achieved certain rights and privileges, no real change or progress has been made. The imageries altered, but women are still massively show stereotypically and distorted.
For example, when the documentary showed the band members and how they were symbolizing women. The band members had the woman against the wall with either no clothes or just undergarments on and throwing slices of meat at her. A lot of films and music portray this message that women are just a piece of meat and that they are only good for sexual experiences. Another example was Snoop Dog’s lyrics in his film, Diary of a Pimp, “you gotta break these hoes for Snoop” learning the lifestyle of a rapper and a pimp illustrating prostitution of women. Dreamworlds documentary also mentioned this when talking about the lives of women when a man is not present in their life. It illustrated scenes of sadness and loneliness. Women are not creatures who desire sex all the time and the purpose of the film was to teach us that how women are presented in music videos is not right. Women are more than just their bodies and do not need to continue to be objectified. Every media production should follow the Bechdel Test in communication of women and their actions. Women in music and films should not always be talking about men or living their life under the control of a man. Media acts as if women can’t be independent. If media continues to show women getting treating as objects and knowing that media influences society, then in society people will continue to think as if treating a woman as such is acceptable. Treating women as objects is not acceptable at all. However, what we see from media shows
The aesthetic approach, also known as the masterpiece approach, involves solely looking at movies as a whole. This approach coincides the movie to its own director. For example, the Auteur theory explains how the director is also the author of the film. Film as a social history approach includes issues such as, gender, racial, political, and environmental. For example, the feminist film theory conveys a negative approach toward women. As shown in movies, women are considered eye-candy, sexual, dumb, and have no authority. Laura Mulvey even coined the term that women are the “male gaze” of cinema. In result, the Bechdel Test was created; if a movie did not have at least two major female characters that interacted besides talking about men,
It is shocking to see the digression in humanity’s morals and values over the past decade. As cliché as it sounds, the media is the center of it all. The way women are being represented, from our television sets, the radio, pornography and even art has pushed beauty to the top of the list of controversial and widely debated topics around the globe. “Whenever we walk down the street, watch TV, open a magazine or enter an art gallery, we are faced with images of femininity,” (Watson and Martin).
I for one think that this representation of women is harmless, partly because it is only a fictional character. It is a representation to be regarded only in entertainment.
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 ...
Media representations of women remain wrong. However, the status of women has changed significantly. Representations of women across all media tend to highlight the following: beauty (within narrow conventions), size/physique, sexuality, emotional (as opposed to intellectual) dealings and relationships (as opposed to independence/freedom).
...f women & individuality, the sense of fashion, and the passion in a sexual act distinct it from being sexually objectifying. Similarly, this type of film also needs a higher cognitive skill that could reason and reflect upon the tricky features in the entire picture.