Gender Binary Themes

When taking gender into consideration, there is one person who is responsible for many radical ideas, that is Judith Butler. Butler argues that gender is socially constructed and that instead of being either male or female from birth, gender is a product of repeated performance in everyday life. (Butler, 1999).

The different roles women and men characters play in the stories are also largely influenced by the society’s views. Women are portrayed

In the media we see today, and movies that are continually coming out all have a central idea in common. They all show and represent the idealistic perspective of male versus female in society. From cartoons to chick flicks to romances and comedies we notice identifiable differences and trends represented between the two genders. In the movie I watched, “Clueless,” there are many examples illustrating male superiority over female, ideas of what femininity should be, and female appeal towards the male figures in the film.

Men and women and their actions, thoughts, and behaviours have been at the centre and focal point in several types of literature. The relationships between one another have been portrayed in various ways, each one representing each gender differently. The representation of women has been a common and controversial subject. The female gender roles depicted in each time period have always been present in literature throughout history. These traditional female roles that society has placed on women have not always been evident. Even with different time periods, there has always been a break in the traditional female roles. Traditional female roles have

The lack of male presence symbolizes their disdain in the women’s lives. As portrayed in the book, the protagonist and other major characters are all females, suggesting self-sufficiency. The author writes about the women being left by their husbands, but moves on, depicting male triviality. The female characters also develop their independence when they rely on each other during difficult times.

What is gender? The answer to that is not so simple. “Gender is what culture makes out of the ‘raw material’ of biological sex,” (Unger and Crawford, 1995). Also, there is a difference between what is gender identity and what is a gender role; a difference which seems to be even more difficult to differentiate between than the words “gender” and “sex”. Media and other parts of our culture seem to believe they know the difference, yet up until a certain period in time, the same stereotypical characters were portrayed and used as role models for others in most media. Women characters being the helpless victims, while the strong men would come to save them (including television

We’ve studied three fictional novels throughout this course, all of them having to do with plague or epidemic. These books all fits into the genre of dystopian. One of the themes that seemed prominent throughout all three books were the roles of the female protagonist or antagonist or the male counterpart of it. In Matheson’s book, I am Legend. The protagonist is a masculine man named Robert Neville, he is the last surviving human on the planet, living with only vampires around him until he meets what presumably is another human that is a feminine character. We find out later she is the reason he meets his demise. In contrast, James’ novel The Children of Men, the female character of Julian plays a huge role in saving humanity from the health crises they are facing in their world. The role of gender plays a huge part in these two works of literature, the health of both genders in both books determine the outcome, Julian being healthy, and Neville being able to survive by himself, they both represent an exceptional idea of masculinity and femininity. But the meaning of gender changes because of the epidemic of crises they are facing, for Neville’s case seeing a woman for the first time in three years, or Julian being pregnant, these changes the importance of gender.

Throughout Wool, The dispossessed and Pattern recognition, we are exposed to many female characters in these novels. Although science fiction has long been defined as a genre dominated by men, it is so surprising to see that women character has played dominate roles in these novels. The impact of women on these novels can be clearly observed, but each book depicts women character so differently that made me curious about knowing further about women’s status and roles play in society and how they change over time.

However, SF uniquely rewrites the narrative “from the unexpected and ‘alien’ perspective” (Wolmark 54). Readers are able to reshape their expectations of patriarchal norms due to the unfamiliar elements provided by SF narratives. It is necessary that authors retain recognizable social structures (Wolmark 55). SF is able to present alternatives that re-construct gender roles, rather than mimic them. Cognitive dissonance provides a new context for individuals to re-evaluate normative gender roles. With the introduction of different alien races, time travel, or strange, new technologies provides instability to the narrative (Wolmark 55). This instability provides momentum for re-constructing conventional gender roles and relations. While SF narratives tend to be able to effectively redefine and combat hegemonic standards, it is important to consider how the genre can inspire change in the real

The history of the world is a complex arrangement of happenings and occurrences that have shaped the current state of civilization. At a fundamental level, history is the driving force behind every element of society that exists today. Within history, there are several factors that have and continue to determine the way in which our society functions. One of the most significant of these factors is gender. Today, conceptions, viewpoints and ideas surrounding gender are always changing. It is this fluidity of thought that ultimately allows society to progress forward and create change. However, gender has not always been as openly discussed. Tracing back through history, gender has consistently been a point of identity among humans.

Sex is the anatomy that a person is born with, while gender is the way each sex is expected to act in society. In “She Has No Idea. The Effect She Can Have”, Jessica Miller compares masculine and feminine gender roles in both modern society and Panem, and how these characteristics can shape great heros, warriors, and caretakers.

Women were strictly confined to their roles so controversy over this standard would have been shocking. Throughout the story there is a constant separation of the men and women such as gender roles. The attorney talks about how the kitchen is the women’s domain while adding “a little laugh for the insignificance of kitchen things” (394) and gives some pots and pans a “disdainful push on the foot” (396). Minnie Foster, Mrs. Hale, Mrs. Peters, and women in general, are consistently being degraded and limited to their gender roles of that time. The reader is meant to feel sympathetic towards Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters from the very beginning as victims of men’s sexism.

“ You cannot talk about genre without talking about gender.” Initially, this would appear to be a simplistic statement. On closer analysis, however, one fact becomes evident. It is the representation of gender which informs the genre of the text. Ismay Barwell , in her essay ‘ Feminist perspectives and narrative points of view’ states that “ Every text is gendered since every act of narration…..involves a process of selection….and the nature of that selection implies certain values” ( p.99). She makes the point that “ The desires, attitudes and interests which guide any choices made must be either male or female”( p.98 ). It is within this frame of reference, that the two texts will be analysed.

This movie is representing typically gender stereotypes and American culture stereotypes, too. The film shows a depiction of the majority of social gender roles. Women are displayed like soft, kind, gentle, and appear as a pretty picture. Women are taking care of the cleaning, cooking, take care of children, and they are expected to be on every single request of their husbands. On the other hand, the man is described as hardworking and strong (The_Stepford_Wives_Reflection , n.d). Through this movie, they could be representing how the American culture is showed to others. The Stepford wife is produced by Paramount Pictures in 1975, based on the book of the same name written by Ira Levin. Like many of Levine's work, it deals with the way in

The task that has been given to me for this critique is to talk about three key concepts that were used in these two films, “Lara Croft: The Tomb Raider” and “The piano”. I am to discuss the attitudes towards the gender roles that are in both time-lines of these films and the way in which these notions of gender are made and shaped by the historic and economic events. Both roles in the films are seen as completely different, Lara Croft as a highly intelligent and beautiful women, she’s described as a rich English girl who ventures into ancient tombs and ruins around the world. Ada as a female in the 1950’s who has an arranged marriage by her father; she is placed in this vulnerable, feminine position where she is used for profit by her own