Representation of Women in Action Films

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Throughout time much has been said about the film roles of women. Everyone from scholars to bloggers has an opinion on the significance in society of how women on the big screen are portrayed. For me all of this debate only detracts from what the true focus of a film should be; an artistic expression of a story that reflects the values of the time in which it is written. Pauline Keel a respectable critic for the New Yorker once said “Movies of the past are like samples-swatches of cloth-of the period in which they were made” (Kael). The purpose of this essay is to analyze lead female roles in one action film from each decade starting in the 1940’s up to today to see if they do in fact reflect the current ideas of society.

1940’s

The 40’s was a pivotal decade in the rethinking of the American woman. With all the men gone to war the country counted on woman to take up the slack and perform not only their designated roles of mother and housewife but also as a good percentage of the workforce. This is the beginning point where traditional ideas of the roles of woman were questioned and society started to understand that women were capable of doing much more than originally thought. However this new awareness did not reflect in most of the movies portraying women in the 40’s. Most of the roles were either maternal dramas or showed woman as the desire (or fear) of the male protagonist (A. S. Walsh). Of course let’s not forget the film noir style of dark shots and undertones of mistrust, cynicism, and despair. Although film noir depicts women as dangerous, manipulative, and needing to be exterminated it still confines them to the traditional roles and their behavior is a display of them rebelling against a situation forced on them by a...

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...wer Point.

THE SAGA OF THE VIKING WOMEN AND THEIR VOYAGE TO THE WATERS OF THE GREAT SEA SERPENT. Dir. Roger Corman. Perf. Abby Dalton. 1957. Online.

Velding, Victoria. Gender & Society in the Classroom: Media Representations. 2012. Web. 09 April 2014.

Walford, Michael. Women & Film: the Representation of Women Today. 23 September 2007. Web. 09 April 2014.

Walsh, Andrea S. Women's Film and Female Experience, 1940-1950. New York: Praeger, 1984. E-Book.

Walsh, Kenneth T. The 1960s: A Decade of Change for Women. 12 March 2010. Web. 09 April 2014.

Wilson, Natalie. Hollywood’s War on Women. 15 May 2012. Web. 14 April 2014.

Wloszczyna, Susan. Film females join the fight club. 07 July 2012. Web. 24 April 2014.

Wonder Woman. Dir. Vincent McEveety. Perf. Cathy Lee Crosby. 1974. Online.

Zurko, Nicholas. Gender Inequality in Film . 25 November 2013. Web. 09 April 2014.

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