Gender And Feminist Stereotypes In Films

For this paper, I am going to be discussing gender in the institution of films. Specifically, I am going to be discussing femininity in coming of age films. I am going to discuss how gender is represented in coming of age films in regards to femininity. Coming of age movies set an expectation for teens and young adults it lays out what they should fear and what they should thrive to be in order to transition to adulthood successfully. The media defines cultural and gender norms that are often very stereotypical (). The cultivation theory suggests that exposure to stereotypes in the media can lead to adopting these beliefs in their real lives (Giaccardi et al., 2016). In the media, masculinity is often portrayed as aggression, power, dominance,

Although Miranda and Charlotte end up with children, they, especially Charlotte, retain their feminist behaviors.

Children first begin to learn their gender identities between the ages of two and six. With this, they also begin to recognize activites, traits, skills, and other stereotypes associated with each gender. During this period of time, children are vulnerable and impressionable, imitating the actions they see happening around them. Children begin to act according to how their gender is portrayed in society, and the media is playing a larger role in daily life now than ever before. Binary gender stereotypes are continually advertised in the media through movies, television shows, advertisements, music, etc. Unfortunately, a message seen far too often within

Kill Bill, Volume 1 was vital in the purging, even eradicating the female stereotype in films. “Wiggle your big toe.”  The toe doesn’t move.  “Wiggle your big toe.” (Tarantino)   It doesn’t move.    The Bride played by actress Uma Thurman is really Beatrix Kiddo, but is known as Black Mamba as well as Arlene Machiavelli; her real name is bleeped out during Kill Bill, Volume 1 as she recounts the situation which led her to being in the back of a vehicle in a hospital parking lot with her legs in a state of atrophy whispering, “wiggle your big toe.”  As she begins recounting the story of Bill’s assassination attempt using the Deadly Viper Squad, being shot in the head by Bill,

This film to me lacked women of color completely as I view it with my women of color lenses it makes me search for someone that looks like me and there was no one in the movie that looked like me at all. The movie itself had a lot of strong stereotypes and I felt that as a young women of color this movie would not help me or make me feel good about myself. What is the role media and to what effect do gender portrayals have? Research indicates viewing teen movies reinforces negative stereotypes among females and watching televised gender portrayals has an effect on individuals’ real-world gender-based attitudes, beliefs, and behaviors (Behm-Morawitz & Mastro, 2008, p. 131).

There are over 1,100 films that in one way or another vilify Arabs and Muslims-not to mention other minorities such as African Americans, Jews, LGBTQs, Latinos, Asians and Native Americans (Baird). Movies and shows stereotype Arabs and Muslims, which often times cause hatred and discrimination towards certain races and religions. Stereotyping in movies and shows cause bias discrimination towards minorities, which lead to terrible consequences. Even though movies and shows are mainly fictional and mainly used just for entertainment, these forms of media lead to discriminations such as Islamophobia because they vilify Arabs and Muslims portraying them as a violent and dangerous group.

Name one action movie that has not used women as a sexual object to attract the attention of the audience. Movies and television producers use women as a hook for the audience, action plus a beautiful woman, it is the perfect combination for a great movie. Women in general are seen as a sexual object in the modern society, partially because that is how they are portrayed over tv. Nowadays a woman is judged based on her physical appearance more so over her personality. No matter how one may act or portray herself she can be scrutinized for her every move, the way she walks, the way she talks, the way she moves. It is also a known fact that women can account for only a third of the roles in movies worldwide. Even as they are sexualized women

Media affects how we shape the way we view and understand the gender constructs. It gives us an outlet that we are surrounded with during our everyday lives. Whether, it is on film, in a song, or through the radio. They are all able to construct this mold of what society wants us to believe about gender. You will notice things like ads directly targeted certain genders, and in movies girls being unable to do what men can, men needing to be a hero, women looking for the affection of a man, or even the girl needing to be saved by the male character. A way to view media’s use of normalized gender roles is through Feminist media criticism. The piece of media I wanted to take a look at a movie that I had grown up watching called She’s the Man. A movie about a girl named Viola who’s High School women’s soccer team gets cut and she was not allowed to join the men’s because girl’s are not as good as boys. Viola then decides to take her brother’s spot at his boarding

“Many movies tend to demean half of the human race,” (DavidVonPeinChaneel2). Movies people usually hold people to a certain expectation. In Kelly J. Mays’ book “Norton”, it says, “Moreover, these theorists claimed that gender and sexuality are performative and malleable positions, enacted in many more than two varieties,” basically when they make these movies, directors want you to go in by already thinking of women in an inferior role, men being really masculine and etc…

Disney tales portray gendered messages in their films that suggest that some gendered characteristics are not acceptable for the prince or princess to portray. Feminine behavior and characteristics that imply loss of power and hopelessness that includes beings ashamed and crying are not permissible for the prince to show. In contrast, the princesses hardly possess characteristics related to gaining position of power, which includes being a leader, inspiring fear, being unemotional and performing a rescue. Disney films specifically have been shown to portray some stereotypical depictions of gender. In Ursula’s song, Poor Unfortunate Souls, the expectations of the female gender are described. Ursula explains to Arial that it is acceptable for

I believe that the pattern in which humans develop sexual arousal physically. Psychologically I think it varies from different cultures, religious perspective, sexual orientation and other learned behaviors that were reinforced by positive sexual experiences and what each person considers what is attractive or sexual in another individual.

I have to start and apologize for my cynical view. It is difficult for me to separate emotional stimulus from a purely analytical approach. Without using Carl Sagens Baloney Detection Kit at my side I easily diverge from logical analysis approach and immerse myself in my emotional defense. What I want to do is pull two separate and different works together and focus on the impact of gender in media and film. First I will summarize my position then address the two selected works. One work is from noted Marxist Louis Althusser where he points out eight different Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) of which I will focus on two for this writing, the family ISA and the culture ISA. The second is from noted Canadian activist and trans-gender

Gender Stereotype is a Generalisation made towards a specific gender. Gender steriotypes in theatre are generally wrong and are over exadurated to help portray a story and the ideas of the author or director to the audience. But sometimes they have positive connotations and help tell another sub text story about the character.

The issues of women’s rights have been a hot topic as of late, especially in regards to how women should be viewed and portrayed. It is an incredibly complex and difficult topic to discuss, particularly because it is quite subjective and there is not a set standard of what proper portrayal is. Ideally, the best way to view women would be through the eyes of women themselves, and there is no better medium to showcase this than through film. However, there are very few women in the industry, and the stories told about women are regimented to stigmas and placement roles. A growing body of evidence suggests that films may play a pivotal role in deciding how the general public perceives women. Thus the

In continuation, the Hollywood industry reinforces gender stereotypes through various forms of media. The films and advertisements that construct gender stereotypes are perpetuated by the media. The stereotypes include that men are powerful, successful, and employ women for films and television shows, whereas women are fragile, underrepresented, and need assistance in order to become successful. For example, Weinstein was able to manipulate several women that he could give them a career and help them succeed in the industry in return for sexual favors and his advantage was his powerful position as a man in the Hollywood industry. In continuation, Trump used his position to degrade women, for example he called a famous actress Heidi Klum unattractive and not a ten on his scale of attractiveness. Trump considers his right to be surrounded by beautiful women and cannot distinguish between a women’s value from her physical appearance. After Trump and Weinstein were accused of sexual harassment, people on social media started a campaign called #MeToo which allowed women and men from all over the world share their stories about sexual assault and harassment. The campaign consisted of speeches, protests, and awareness of how many people are dealing with and experience harassment on a daily basis. The purpose of the #MeToo movement was “simply an attempt to get people to understand the prevalence of sexual harassment and assault in society and to get women, and men, to raise their