Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Females in science fiction movies
Gender in science fiction
Analysis of science fiction genre
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Females in science fiction movies
In his article “Star Trek Rerun, Reread, Rewritten,” Henry Jenkins addresses the function of fandoms, more specifically the writing of fan-fiction, and further in the context of the Star Trek fandom. He claims that fans are “textual poachers” who take pieces of the original text that they deem as worthy, and rework, or improve areas that they find problematic or contradictory to the overall purpose of the piece. This “poaching” that is transformed works into fan-fiction are heavily written by females, at least in the Star Trek fandom. Jenkins states that this is due to the fact that women have a rather limited and highly stereotyped portrayal in science fiction. Thus, in writing fan-fiction, women are able to express themselves and their own
At first glance, women's films or family melodramas such as Now Voyager seem to reverse such spectator roles as one is made to identify with a female protagonist. Yet as E. Ann Kaplan suggests, by using psychoanalysis one can deconstruct these films in order to show how they only work to reinstate the dominant patriarchal order of man as subject and woman as object. She suggests that "the family melodrama, as a genre geared specifically to women, functions both to expose the constraints and limitations that the capitalist nuclear family impose...
Society continually places specific and often restrictive standards on the female gender. While modern women have overcome many unfair prejudices, late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century women were forced to deal with a less than understanding culture. Different people had various ways of voicing their opinions concerning gender inequalities, including expressing themselves through literature. By writing a fictional story, authors like Charlotte Perkins Gilman and Henry James were given the opportunity to let readers understand and develop their own ideas on such a serious topic.
conceptualizations of gender in literature are situated in a culture and historical context ; the
The journey for equal opportunity and respect for both women and men has raised consciousness that "liberation from stereotypic and destructive roles" in children's literature is vital (Rudman, 179). Although factors such as television, radio, movies and comics have an impact on a child's eye view of the world, Researcher and educator, Masha Rudman agrees that "children's books continue to produce traditionally stereotyped programs, situations and characters (Rudman, 177)." But she continues to assess the fact that it also "reflects the growing awareness of the change in gender role definitions and behaviors (Rudman, 177)." While earlier studies (1930-1950) on gender stereotypes concentrated on battling personal characteristics of men and women such as nurturance (wom...
There is no doubt that the literary written by men and women is different. One source of difference is the sex. A woman is born a woman in the same sense as a man is born a man. Certainly one source of difference is biological, by virtue of which we are male and female. “A woman´s writing is always femenine” says Virginia Woolf
Reading literature, at first, might seem like simple stories. However, in works like William Faulkner's “A Rose for Emily,” Katherine Mansfield's “Miss Brill,” and Kate Chopin's “The Storm,” the female protagonists are examples of how society has oppressive expectations of women simply because of their gender.
Greven, David. Gender and Sexuality in Star Trek: Allegories of Desire in the Television Series and Films. Jefferson, NC: McFarland &, 2009. Print.
In ‘Gender in science fiction’ Helen Merrick explores the depictions of masculinity and femininity. She illustrates how SF is proficient in examining gender issues, noting texts that have assisted in going against standard sociocultural norms. This chapter is only a brief discussion of the pioneering work of feminist SF writers (particularly the emergence of female SF writers), however, Veronica Hollinger deliberates the topic further in ‘Feminist theory in science fiction’. In Merrick’s chapter her overall point is that the SF genre is a means for investigating gender and humanity and ridding the mind from the austerity of standard norms. What thi...
Fan Culture is something that has been around for a while, but it the last twenty years, since the introduction of the Internet, it is also something that has changed dramatically. A fan is an enthusiast of something and now the Internet is a good home for fans to gather and build together a community of fans, a ‘Fandom’. The turn Fandom means a community of a group of people who all enjoy them same thing and the Internet has created a place for online communities. Fan Culture has irreversibly changed the media industry because of the ability share information and fan made created content. The creation of these online based communities have meant that people from all over the world can talk about the latest TV shows, movies, books, comics and other forms of content and create groups dedicated to them. The Internet has also become a platform for the creation of a collective community, where individuals who all have shared interests can go. “Fans uses of technologies bring a sense of playfulness to the work of active reading” (2010; 12). Digital Fandoms are user-led forum of content creation, the fans create a number of things; fan fiction, fan blogs, fan made videos, fan art work, wiki leaks. The fans create a whole new life, another side of the TV show, film or book, that is complicity run and used by the fans. These fan made creation do not have to stick to what is canon in the show and can do what they wish with the character and the storylines. However is this an okay thing to do, Henry Jenkins refers to the fans who create these things are ‘Textual Poachers’. Those fans are now active interpreters instead of passive consumers. In this view the fans are poaching the created content of the writer. The fans have power to create t...
Although fan fiction has always been created by fans of numerous works it was not always called “fan fiction.” However, only until the 1920s did fanfiction become “fan fiction,” meaning that all the previous fan written stories were considered literature. The stories began popping up on the pages of fanzines. Fanzines are fan made magazines. Fanzines were created and maintained by and for the fans. Many people wanted to see new stories with their favorite characters of novels. They circulated through fan conventions or by mail so they only had a small audience. Some fanzines were specifically dedicated to a particular fandom. For example, a popular fanzine called “Spockanalia,” was dedicated to Spock in Star Trek. As technology advanced, especially in the 90s, fan fiction transitioned from the pages of fanzines to the pages of the internet. The internet gives an easier platform for fans because its accessibility and interactivity. Fan fiction has become so popular over the years that online communities have been created to support the ever growing fandom. The most popular of these communities is fanfiction.net, which hosts several million works ranging from the Bible to Halo (the video game). There are about 2.2 million users on fanfictiction.net with stories in 30 different languages. This shows how fanfiction is more than just books that are being further explored but is also video games, manga, tv shows, graphic novel etc. The most acclaimed sections on fanfiction.net are Harry Potter, with 676K stories, Naruto with 355K stories, and finally Twilight with 215K stories. The range of fan fiction has widened so much over the last two decades. Fan fiction has a great history but it's future is immeasurable. Technology is only g...
Although graphic novels and comics have long been associated with and relegated to a predominantly male audience, there exists a complex and sometimes antagonistic history between female readers and representations of them in comic form. In recent years, as there has been a revival of graphic novels aimed at young adults, there seems to be a movement towards repairing this relationship with female readers by calling into question the pervasively rigid gender binary structure. To do so, these contemporary YA graphic novels utilize the interplay of image and text to provide a unique space for the adolescent reader to both uncover and deconstruct these traditional notions of gender. This movement has especially taken form with contemporary female
Research on this particular fan community is somewhat limited in my understanding due to its recent emergence into popularity. The academic research that does exist about the Brony community does not delve deeply into the fan tendencies that this dissertation wishes to explore. Numerous research articles discuss various aspects of the fandom; what Bronies mean for media consumption or how fans are portrayed in the media by those on the outside looking in. Research articles
Romance writers and readers are themselves struggling with gender definitions and sexual politics on their own terms and what they may need most from those of us struggling in other arenas is support rather than criticism (p. 76).
In Paul Scheuring’s 4 season thriller there is no Gods you need to sacrifice for but rather the bond of family worth doing anything for. In Prison Break, protagonist Michael Scofield would go any extent for his family. Michael had his life together with a masters as a structural engineer while his brother was just a high school dropout. However when Michael finds out that his brother was accused for killing the vice president’s brother and put on death row, Michael gave up that future of his filled with opportunity to save his brother. How far would you go for others? Michael got a full body tattoo and got himself incarcerated in order to break Lincoln, his brother, out. He did this for him because he loves his family. Although Scofield is
Many female writers see themselves as advocates for other creative females to help find their voice as a woman. Although this may be true, writer Virginia Woolf made her life mission to help women find their voice as a writer, no gender attached. She believed women had the creativity and power to write, not better than men, but as equals. Yet throughout history, women have been neglected in a sense, and Woolf attempted to find them. In her essay, A Room of One’s Own, she focuses on what is meant by connecting the terms, women and fiction. Woolf divided this thought into three categories: what women are like throughout history, women and the fiction they write, and women and the fiction written about them. When one thinks of women and fiction, what they think of; Woolf tried to answer this question through the discovery of the female within literature in her writing.