The film Blade Runner (1982) directed by Ridley Scott depicts women in a negative connotation. Blade Runner is considered a popular science fiction film and is seen to have shaped the genre, however, the film displays women as sex symbols and secondary characters, who are unimportant to the storyline. The film is centered around strong male leads who use their authority and power to abuse, belittle and sexualize women. The film’s misogynistic point of view gives the impression to the audience that this treatment of women is acceptable, which is offensive and completely inaccurate. A simple way of starting an analysis of misogyny in any given text is to look at the way the women are being represented. One should look at the depth of their characters, …show more content…
what happens to the characters, and how the characters function within the narrative (Simon H. Scott 2014). The genre of the film is considered a “Film Noir.” Film Noir has a specific undertone to misogyny what it means to be in a ‘male’ genre, a male fantasy or a desire as a collection. As demonstrated in the film noir, females are placed in a box of sexuality perpetrated by men to appeal to the hypersexuality of men. Blade Runner, especially in relation to Film Noir characteristics, depicts the moral corruption of the female characters, and sexual advances that trap the male protagonist in a web of deceit. Blade Runner is also categorized as a science fiction or “Sci-Fi” film. Similarly, the characteristics of a science fiction film that are seen in the movie include allegory which mirrors current time-periods and journeys that push male supremacy. Specific genres epitomize misogyny and sexism by signifying females as sidekicks that are ostracized from society to be degraded by male characters. Women are represented by a lack of character depth, especially with the prime example of female replicants depleted as pleasure toys, whereas male characters are portrayed as strong. Women are perceived as weaker beings, naive to love, unaware of the negativity beyond Deckard’s quest. There were many limitations: female roles were attractive if they held more importance than the bartender who was not as appealing as Rachel, Pris, and Zhora. We can identify geisha women on ads throughout the film, which were generally used for male entertainment purposes, and many issues of seduction. It’s not just rain-drenched streets and flashing neon signs that create significance to this plot. Just to compare these Film Noir characteristics with Blade Runner, we can take a look at the hard-boiled character, Deckard, and the way he has a gloomy persona with limitations when it comes to connecting with others. We can illustrate the sexism throughout this film with film noir characteristics, including corruption and female characters. This film makes the women feel like they are only worthy of certain things depicted by the male creator: work that is only easy enough for a woman, memories that will prepare them for the real world without emotions, and friendships that are simple. We have women working as secretaries and sex workers, friendships such as Pris and Roy who are partners in crime, and their relationship with Sebastian where Pris is just a persuasion tool. Almost all Film Noir movies either have a female who is shrugged off but ends up a hero or menaced women who are helpless without a man. The females in this film are literally controlled by a man, and even other male Replicants control their female members. Roy carries Pris around like a keychain, and Deckard saves Rachel only to take advantage of her later on. The female characters are psychologically and physically tormented. Compare any female to Roy and you will see the effort that was put into his character as opposed to others.
Deckard wants Rachel to think do and say what he wants. If she does not comply, she is hurt. Again, despite the push for sexism provided by genre qualities, these female characters were still sexualized. Zhora is an exotic dancer, Pris wears a tight outfit alone in sketchy areas to be rescued by Sebastian, who she then uses her body as a persuasion tool to get to the creator. Rachel has implanted memories from Tyrell’s niece, yet she is controlled by him and Deckard. She is Tyrell’s secretary/assistant and is pushed to feel different ways by both men. Think about when Pris gets this clever idea to disguise herself as one of Sebastian’s homemade robots. She is trying to save herself because she knows Deckard is bound to find her. But what reaction does she get? “Oh, you look sexy!” All the robots even grow googly eyes for her. Reflecting back on the introduction, it is obvious that this film was dated back in the 80’s when women were just starting to mean something in the business world, but as a reference to our current time period, it’s not far …show more content…
off. It has been argued that the portrayal of women in the film was due largely to the change in women's roles during and directly after the war (Simon H.
Scott 2014). For the first time in history, women became a threat in the job market to men. Ironically this period also has some of the strongest female roles in cinematic history, although such strong women characters usually do not win. However, it is arguable that the portrayal of the women in Blade Runner is genuinely limited; due to the way in which Film Noir seems to be a key focus of the film, it is difficult to see whether the film's misogyny reflects attitudes towards women, or attitudes to Film Noir's portrayal of women. This conflict becomes increasingly prominent later on when discussing the film in terms of postmodernism. Various scenes within Blade Runner also seem to suggest that the film is misogynist, and it is necessary to examine some of these more closely (Simon H. Scott 2014). Perhaps the most frequently criticised sequence within the film is the scene where Zhora is chased and eventually shot in the back. Thus it is relevant to concentrate on this scene, and to what effect it is used. Deckard appears at a strip-joint on finding out that a snake scale found in the bath of the Replicants' apartment was bought by the proprietor. He recognizes Zhora on stage and decides to speak with her in her dressing
room. In conclusion, it is simple to see the way in which women are portrayed in this film is not only sexist and misogynistic but also gives the impression that this sort of behavior is acceptable by society however this is not the case. The female characters in Blade Runner are sexualized belittled and abused and therefore this film should not be as popular or considered a classic. The depiction of women is not only inaccurate but does not aid in the storyline of the film. Overall, the film while being cinematically and visually appealing could benefit by using an accurate representation of the female sex.
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.
Picture a child sitting in front of a television watching the Wizard of Oz. To them, it is an assortment of magical beings, a land filled with wonderful places, with varieties of different colors. They do not picture it as something with far more meaning than just a plain fairytale. On the other hand, gender/feminist critics have been able to analyze the Wizard of Oz as well as Wicked, in order to find a more elaborate meaning behind the story itself. They have discussed what lies behind the story when it comes to the issue of sexism and masculinity towards the book itself as well as the characters. There are many concepts as well that help to further explain feminism and gender criticism. The four concepts that will be discussed later on are gender, feminist writings, patriarchal society, and gynocriticism. These concepts will then be reviewed as to how they play a part in the book Wicked.
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).
In the thirty years since its release, Alien has become a film of various debates amongst film theorists. Academic analyses of the film draw attention to many differing themes, most popularly with feminism. Most critiques, academic and otherwise, ultimately conclude that Alien is a feminist film because of its representation of the workplace as a home to equality and a place where traditional gender roles have been obliterated. What is ultimately revealed by Alien is the anxiety of men during the era of second-wave feminism in which the film was produced. This film provides a step forward for feminists, but imagines men taking two steps back in equality.
American commercial cinema currently fuels many aspects of society. In the twenty-first century it has become available, active force in the perception of gender relations in the United States. In the earlier part of this century filmmakers, as well as the public, did not necessarily view the female“media image” as an infrastructure of sex inequality. Today, contemporary audiences and critics have become preoccupied with the role the cinema plays in shaping social values, institutions, and attitudes. American cinema has become narrowly focused on images of violent women, female sexuality, the portrayal of the “weaker sex” and subversively portraying women negatively in film. “Double Indemnity can be read in two ways. It is either a misogynist film about a terrifying, destroying woman, or it is a film that liberates the female character from the restrictive and oppressed melodramatic situation that render her helpless” (Kolker 124). There are arguably two extreme portrayals of the character of Phyllis Dietrichson in Double Indemnity; neither one is an accurate or fare portrayal.
conceptualizations of gender in literature are situated in a culture and historical context ; the
Thelma and Louise turn these ideas upside down throughout the film by both reversing these social constructs and violently rejecting them. For example, when Thelma asks the police officer to get into his trunk, she takes on the, dominate, gun wielding outlaw, and traditional male role. Police officers are usually characterized as the epitome of macho, but in this scene the police officer adopts the traits of a usually feminine character. He cries and begs, using his wife and kids as a way to gain sympathy. Perhaps the scene with the most blatant mockery of female objectification is the truck driver scene. After waving his tongue at them and shouting obscenities throughout the film, the women lure him into a trap. They call him out on his behavior and ask him to apologize, he responds by calling them crazy and yells, “Fuck You!” In response they blow up his truck. Cooper claims, the behavior of the truck driver, both mocks the male gaze and demonstrates its latent sexism. Furthermore, had the truck driver narrative been more subdued, with perhaps a smaller truck, or less obnoxious language, the point may have been lost. Without exaggeration of things like male dominance and sexism, the exaggerated responses of the women do not seem justified (Cooper 44). In other words, critics who call out the film for being overly feminist or too violent are simply missing the
Sourced in Eagleton, M. (1996) Feminist Literary Theory: A Reader. Electronic Information Edwards-Capes, Kirsty (2012) Gender and Sexism in Charlotte Bront’s Jane Eyre, available from http://www.cbc.org/e http://kirstycapes.co.uk/post/19688269684/gender-and-sexism-in-charlotte-brontes-jane-eyre 18 th December 2013
The past decade feminism and sexism has played a major role in the literature and movie industry. In both stories women are seen as being lower class. In the movie ‘’Alien” it demonstrate a heroic women and an alien slayer but on the other hand it greatly shows the feminism side of things. Along with “When I was Miss Dow” they expose the alien when transformed into a female as being a sex symbol and stereotype the negative side of females.
This use of visual freedom led Ridley to have a highly artificial style that is often criticized by American film critics. For they often value plot and character development instead of realism and symbolism through visual style (Adams, 897). Ridley Scott, although a British director, appealed to the American film critic’s desires and directed the buddy love comedy Thelma and Louise. Although the film is still filled with beautiful shots, this funny film resonated with audiences more than Scott’s previous films, as it relied on the characters to drive the story rather than the background. It caused American film critics to claim that Ridley’s, “strongest quality all along has been an ability to create film myths that resonate in viewers minds
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.
...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).
Throughout literature, authors employ a variety of strategies to highlight the central message being conveyed to the audience. Analyzing pieces of literature through the gender critics lens accentuates what the author believes to be masculine or feminine and that society and culture determines the gender responsibility of an individual. In the classic fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, the gender strategies appear through the typical fragile women of the mother and the grandmother, the heartless and clever male wolf, and the naïve and vulnerable girl as little red riding hood.
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...