Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Women portrayal in movies
How women are portrayed by media
Gender Roles in Literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Recommended: Women portrayal in movies
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 …show more content…
Unlike Éowyn, she never rides into battle but she shows her strength in other ways. Throughout the series she has an established relationship with Aragorn, a Ranger and heir to the throne of Gondor. One of her most important decisions in the story is when she gives up her immortality as an elf to stay by Aragorn’s side. At first glance this may seem submissive and weak for her to give up such a great gift for a man. But further context proves this is a poignant decision as well as a meaningful sacrifice. By relinquishing mortality, Arwen also symbolizes “a bridge between the Third Age and the Fourth” (Enright 98) through which the elves of Middle Earth relinquish their dominion. The Lord of the Rings takes place during a time where many of the elves of Middle Earth are leaving the land to journey to the afterlife. And by giving up her immortality Arwen steps into a more feminine role, especially because she later decides to have children (Stenberg 3). Since she has given up her chance to pass into the afterlife, she is able to give this opportunity to Frodo, the main protagonist who has suffered major trauma during the events of the book. Arwen also gives him a pendant that will “bring [him] aid” (Tolkien 974) whenever he suffers from trauma. These actions helps to bring renewal and fertility back to a land torn apart by war. Her decision is one of healing, similarly to Éowyn’s.Once again Tolkien’s writing of women shows that femininity is a sign of peace, healing, and
The first time Rhiannon speaks in the first branch she immediately conveys herself as a respectful, strong and sure woman. ‘I will wait gladly, and it would have been better for the horse if you had asked that a while ago!’ (Davies 2007: 10) Rather than slowing when pursued, Rhiannon only stops when Pwyll himself addresses her. (Wood 1996: 71). This promptly displays her as a woman who has respect for herself and her status. It also show how she expects men to t...
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.
In the first paragraph of Laurie Penny’s essay “What to do when you’re not the hero anymore” she tells the reader how she recently went to see the new Star Wars movie. To her surprise a female character, Rey, fought off a bad guy as an equal. Hollywood has incredible power in how messages are portrayed in books, TV shows, and movies. It is no secret that media representation normalizes the reality of white male power. Penny explores how it is becoming more common to see a women lead in books, movies, and TV shows, rather than the stereotypical male.
Mainstream movies are about men’s lives, and the few movies about women’s lives, at their core, still also revolve around men (Newsom, 2011). These female leads often have male love interests, looking to get married or get pregnant. Strong independent female leads are still exist for the male view, as they are hypersexualized, or the “fighting fuck toy,” (Newsom, 2011). This depiction has created a culture where women are insecure and waiting for a knight on a horse to come rescue and provide for her as well as the acceptance of women
Throughout most of literature and history, the notion of ‘the woman’ has been little more than a caricature of the actual female identity. Most works of literature rely on only a handful of tropes for their female characters and often use women to prop up the male characters: female characters are sacrificed for plot development. It may be that the author actually sacrifices a female character by killing her off, like Mary Shelly did in Frankenstein in order to get Victor Frankenstein to confront the monster he had created, or by reducing a character to just a childish girl who only fulfills a trope, as Oscar Wilde did with Cecily and Gwendolen in The Importance of Being Earnest. Using female characters in order to further the male characters’
Leaper, Breed, Hoffman, and Perlman (2002) reiterates Junn (1997) findings that compared to women, men are overrepresented (Leaper, Breed, Hoffman, & Perlman, 2002). Leaper et al. conducted a time-based structured observational study by evaluating a total of 12 different child target television shows. They selected 3 shows from each of the following categories: traditional adventure, nontraditional adventure, comedy, and educational/family (Leaper et al, 2002). In addition, Leaper et al examined the number of characters in each film while also looking at the amount of time each character exhibited predetermined behaviors (talking fear, negative, physical aggression, victim, romantic, directive, politeness, and support) throughout the show (Leaper et al., 2002). At the conclusion of the study, Leaper et al. reaffirmed that female characters are underrepresented. In addition, however, Leaper et al. found that one genre, traditional adventure (“emphasizing a central male hero”) was more likely to contain gender stereotypical behaviors (Leaper et al., 2002, p. 1655). Ultimately, Leaper et al.’s conclusion can suggest to children that male characters’ overrepresentation in child-targeted media is because men are at the top of the hierarchy and are more important in society than women (Leaper et al.,
The two main approaches to this type of criticism are very different, but help make distinctions in the text. Essentialists focus on the biologically determined sex of a character in literature, while others focus on constructivism or the qualities determined by society as strictly male or female. Constructivists argue that patriarchal gender roles harm women’s confidence and assertiveness, promoting stereotypes and false binaries. Gender constructivism favors the idea that gender and sexual categories are a societal construct that prefers men and restricts women. The application of this literary criticism to a text looks into the character and their relevance to the plot. Focusing on how the character promotes or rejects the imposed gender roles is a significant part in the use of this lens (Hildreth January
For over 60 years, Wonder Woman has filled the pages of her magazine with adventures ranging from battling Nazis, to declawing human-like Cheetahs. Her exploits thrilled and inspired many young girls, including Gloria Steinem. Through all of this, she has had to pilot her invisible jet through territories that her male counterparts have never had to. She is constantly pulled in two directions; her stories must be entertaining and non threatening to the male status quo, while simultaneously furthering her as the original symbol of 'Girl Power.' She is praised for being an icon of strength to women everywhere, but chastised for wearing a skimpy costume and tying men up, as if she were no more than a male fantasy. No comic book character has had to endure as much scrutiny as Wonder Woman. That's because Wonder Woman represents an entire gender, at a time of important social flux. Although she was created by a man to influence a male audience, Wonder Woman has evolved into an important symbol of the feminist movement.
Throughout history, women were not always well regarded by men. Because of this, most societies treated their women as second class citizens. The stories from, Tales from the Thousand and One Nights, illustrate how the portrayal of women affected Muslim society in the Ninth century. Sometimes women were seen as mischievous, unfaithful temptresses. Other times they were depicted as obedient, simple minded slaves looking to please their master. With the use of charm, sex and trickery, they used the labels that they were put in, to their advantage; demonstrating that women during this century were clever, smart, and sly.
Tough women are always attractive, scantily dressed, with plunging necklines, and extremely tight leather and spandex. Such is shown in marvel’s Avengers, Black widow is among all male counterparts, she is a russian assassin with a troubled past. She wears a black skin-tight jumpsuit with a low neckline, her physical capabilities and prowess isn’t enough she has to appeal to the male view. Black Widows strength and performance as a strong fearless woman, cannot be seen as progress. Such performance portrays a deep doubt towards female struggle for equality. “The tough woman is testament to a still male-dominant society’s own contradictory responses to women’s demands for equal treatment, equal pay, and equal status. The tough girl is nearly always stripped down (often literally) to what lies at her core, her essential, biological womanliness, her essential subordinate position to man.” (Byerly, Carolyn, Ross
For one, Tolkien is not a sexist because he illustrates his female characters as growing individualists. Three of the most prominent of these female characters are Eowyn, Galadriel, and Arwen from the Lord of the Rings trilogy. Once Eowyn is knocked on her back from the rejection of Aragorn, she “must search for healing” (Enright 93). Because Eowyn is forced away from a companionship, she must learn to become an individual in order to be successful. The power of leadership is a motif throughout the stories of the Lord of the Rings and “Galadriel is a stronger embodiment of this power than her husband Celeborn” (Enright 93). In this time period, this is looked upon as a rarity, but back in the time period where Tolkien wrote it, it must have been an absolute outrage that a female character could be more dominant than the male king of a society since women did not have much power or choice. With the third character, Arwen, she is able to overcome the separation between herself and...
Surprisingly, there were a few instances where the researchers found traditional gender role stereotyping. On the other hand, when it comes to defining what a superhero consisted of, traditional masculine terms were being used. The article clearly shows that the media portrays males as superheroes as opposed to females. This is mostly our society’s traditional thoughts, but is that really true? A woman can be a superhero if she has the qualities of a superhero because by definition if anyone has superpowers and he or she uses it for the betterment of others and for the society are considered as a
“Tears aren’t a woman’s only weapon. The best one’s between her legs. Learn how to use it.”
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 ...
Women have made progress in the film industry in terms of the type of role they play in action films, although they are still portrayed as sex objects. The beginning of “a new type of female character” (Hirschman, 1993, pg. 41-47) in the world of action films began in 1976 with Sigourney Weaver, who played the leading role in the blockbuster film ‘Aliens’ as Lt. Ellen Ripley. She was the captain of her own spaceship, plus she was the one who gave out all the orders. Until then, men had always been the ones giving the orders; to see a woman in that type of role was outlandish. This was an astonishing change for the American industry of film. Sometime later, in 1984, Linda Hamilton starred in ‘The Terminator’, a film where she was not the leading character, but a strong female character as Sarah Connor. She had a combination of masculine and feminine qualities as “an androgynous superwoman, resourceful, competent and courageous, while at the same time caring, sensitive and intuitive” (Hirschman, 1993, pg. 41-47). These changes made in action films for female’s roles stirred up a lot of excitement in the “Western society” (Starlet, 2007). The demand for strong female characters in action films grew to a new high when Angelina Jolie starred in ‘Tomb Raider’ in 2001 and then in the sequel, ‘Tomb Raider II: The Cradle of Life’ in 2003 as Lara Croft. Her strong female character was not only masculine, but was also portrayed as a sex object. Most often, strong women in these types of films tend to fight without even gaining a mark. At the end of each fight, her hair and makeup would always be perfect. The female characters in these action films, whether their role was as the lead character or a supporting character, had similar aspects. I...