Benjamin Reyes
Professor Keith
Composition 1102
2 December 2014
The Females in Film Movies are an adventure. Whether it’s a fictional galaxy far far away or a true tale of the modern day hero, film has the ability to tell an intriguing story unlike any other medium. Unfortunately, most of these stories told have a similar problem circulating around the demotion of female characters to male characters. Female characters are more often than not othered by their male counterparts and their roles, personality, and purpose in films reflect it. This problem isn’t specific to one genre, nonetheless it’s a cancerous disease spreading the body of work that is film. The first movie genre highlighted is animated films. Many animated films have strong female characters but most still fall under the similar plotline of a girl needing her hero to save her in whatever situation she is in. A few examples are the film franchises Shrek and Finding Nemo. In the series Shrek, a recurring theme throughout all three films is
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In most of the movies made today, “men predominantly call the shots in cinema – as studio executives, directors, writers, crew leaders, etc. – translating into male-dominated and male-centered cinema that focuses primarily on men, their stories, and their points of view, and rarely incorporate women as major characters or as crucial to the plot. (Tasker & Negra 170). For the most part, men write and direct the majority of films and as of 2006 only 7% of the directors of top grossing films were women. (White). Women are lacking power and influence behind the camera and it is showing in front of the camera. If females were given more opportunities to helm these movies, maybe we could more strong female characters or even great female lead movies, but unfortunately this isn’t the case with modern day
Today’s filmmakers have three areas to focus on: the event or theme of the film, the audience who will be watching the film, and lastly, the individual characters and the roles they play and how they are portrayed and interpreted. Many of these films bottom line objectives are to focus on the “erotic needs of the male ego.” The focus on fetishistic scopophilia tend to slant the view such that we see the world as being dominated by men and that woman are
This genre is typically modern, perky and upbeat, but the common narrative in all of them is that it features a woman who is strong and she overcomes adversity to reach her goals. There is also a message of empowerment that also struggles with a romantic predicament and using comedy to poke fun at the male characters. Industries are still producing soppy romantic comedies for the female audience but the divide between the standard chick flick and romantic comedy is slowly disappearing. Similarly to the beginning of this essay it is evident that institutions are moving in the direction of women’s place in culture in relation to this film genre; women are usually shown as the super power since they are made to appeal to the female audience. However
Shrek is a movie that is very different from any movies that one could see so far. It is a computer-animated American comedy film, directed by Andrew Adamson and Vicky Jenson, and starring the voices of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and John Lithgow. It was based on William Steig's 1990 fairy tale picture book Shrek!, and was produced by DreamWorks Animation. Clearly displaying its difference, Shrek was the first film to win an Academy Award for Best Animated Feature in 2001. Looking at all the three movies that have been produced so far, on can see that the characters of Shrek, who is an ogre and his love Fiona, who is originally a beautiful princess but then becomes an
Unlike most Disney animated films, which have been criticized for decades for their stereotypical female leads and traditional representations of gender, all the major features released by Disney's Pixar studios since 1990 have featured masculine protagonists. These male plots are remarkably alike, and together, we argue, they indicate a rather progressive postfeminist model of gender. Beginning with alpha-male traits in common, from emotional inaccessibility to keen competitiveness, the stars of these stories follow similar bildungsroman plots. In this article, we chart the pattern of masculine development in three of these films—Cars, Toy Story, and The Incredibles—noting that Pixar consistently promotes a new model of masculinity. From the
Although, I do not agree with this. I feel that there are many films today in which women play the biggest roles and are the main character. For example, Julia Roberts plays a huge role in all of her movies, being a very strong, independent women. Many people may agree that all 'chick-flicks' are women film based as well. Not only 'chick-flicks' have women that play important roles though. Angelina Jolie plays in plenty action packed, adrenaline rushing movies. For examples; Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Tomb-Raider, Wanted, and Changeling are all movies Jolie has played major roles in and been successful. She represents a very strong and independent women in each role she plays in all her movies, showing that she doesn't need a man to accompany her in her films to make them better.
Let’s use the superhero boom of big budget films as an example for the rest of Hollywood. Even with pushing out about three pictures a year on average since the turn of the millennium, there still has not been one directed by a woman. Ava DuVernay recently dropped out of Black Panther due to “creative differences”. Michelle MacLaren, known for her work on Breaking Bad, also did the same for
The film industry has created the conventional gender roles of society into their movies; A majority of films have supported some of the male and female stereotypes. In the history of the film industry, the role of men is primarilythat of the stereotypical working class man or hero, while the roles of women are primarily portrayed as being somewhat inferior to men. In the 1930s through the 1970s, men held the leading roles in films while women played smaller roles. Men were typically employed, successful gentlemen, while the woman’s only job was a housewife. The film industry was mostly dominated by men. In terms of jobs, women were given mostly family roles and rarely were shown outside of their homes, while men had
“Women are still underrepresented in the film industry, which overwhelming relies on the blockbuster formula and its target audience of young males”. (Dominique).Gender roles have affected the way a film succeeds, making most successful films based on male led roles, putting down the female lead roles. The film industry for women is complicated and in order for them to succeed, they have to already be well known and have experience. Other women have to play stereotypical roles in order to have a place in the film industry. Some films have female led roles that show how women are powerful such as Legally Blonde and Mean Girls. In the film Legally Blonde, Reese Witherspoon plays a young woman who finds herself chasing down the man of her
Delve deeper, action movies for generations have ingrained restrictive roles for women to society. In 2016, only 27 percent of the dialogue came from women in the top ten highest grossing movies (Syfret 1). Yet, speaking less often in
Frequently, most superheroes in cinema are portrayed by male characters rather than women, creating a distinction between gender roles. Indeed, through the passage, “These results may suggest to viewers that women are less important, knowledgeable, and capable than men – and less likely to be a hero” (Miller et. al) women are much less likely to be featured as the hero within the film, and more likely to be featured as the “damsel in distress” of the story. Furthermore, women are much more likely to be depicted in a sexualized fashion, even when displayed in the role of hero. This feature of women with a lack of dominance defies feminism, as they lack roles in superhero films and they are portrayed with the sole purpose of boasting
In film and media, there are “a slew of stereotypical roles for girls and women to
Action/adventure movies being very popular among youngsters, especially girls, should avoid hyper-traditional representation of gender with hidden agenda and include more objective portrayal of women alongside with her traditional gender role. An objectification will act as the starting point for young people in the formation of accurate cultural perceptions regarding gender values in society. Consequently, stereotype-free movies with balanced gender representation will help to build
In contemporary film women's roles in films have varied quiet considerably between genres, geographical placement, and between
Not many companies can influence the childhood development of many Americans like the Walt Disney Company. Disney, named after their founder, began as just an animation studio called The Walt Disney Studios, which the company describes as “the foundation on which The Walt Disney Company was built”. Today, Disney produces various items targeted at children like toys, clothing, and animation (“Company”). In the paper, Images of Animated Others: The Orientalization of Disney’s Cartoon Heroines From The Little Mermaid To The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Celeste Lacroix of the College of Charleston assesses the portrayal of female heroines from Disney animated films that depicts human main characters, examining the sexualization of non-European or the “exotic” others, and brings to light Disney’s strategy to instill an attitude of consumerism in children. Despite my memorable sentiment with Disney animations as a child, I agree with Lacroix’s assertion that Disney impose consumerism onto children, especially with DVD commercials, tie-in products and “apps” on smartphones and tablets.
The presentation of women on screen is another highlighted issue in many of the gathered sources. Because men were ultimately in control of what went on the screen much of what the audience perceived were women from the male imagination or fantasy. Bernard Beck elaborates in his article Where the Boys Are: The Contender and other Movies about Women in a Man’s World that, “…women have been used to dress up a male story or motivate a male character” (Beck 15). Women were often insignificant and trivial characters. Although, Kathe Davis disagrees to a point. In her article, Davis offers a dissonant opinion to the fore-mentioned insignificance of the female character. She instead describes many female characters as “predators,” and analyzes the roles of lead women in three prominent films of the nineteenth century. In each film, she finds parallels and similarities of cases of “female emasculation” and instances where “women are turned into objects of male desire” (Davis 47-48). Davis does not perceive female characters as being insignificant, just stripped of their power and misrepresented. She discusses how females of power are often portrayed as crazy