Gender Inequality : The Case Of The American Superhero Film Industry

Katniss Everdeen of The Hunger Games may not be perfect, but one thing she succeeds in doing is breaking many gender stereotypes. Women in media, such as movies, are hyperseaxualized and are not a real representation of real women. Whether it be women still having traditional roles or them having unrealistic body types, women are not properly represented in the media. In four diverse studies on gender and children’s entertainment done by Dr. Stacy L. Smith and Crystal Allene Cook they prove the need for more males in movie and television entertainment aimed at children.

In Hollywood film women 's roles have varied quiet considerably between genres, geographical placement, and period settings. These factors contribute to the different representations of women 's roles in the film they are present in. The roles are diverse going from the traditional maternal role to that of manipulative murderer. Women 's roles in movies can be almost equal to the male roles, and the co-stars are not given the majority of the acclaims just because they are male. Society has set certain standards that women are supposed to follow. The most common image of women is that they are very passive and try to avoid conflict in any situation. More and more in society women are breaking down the social barriers that confine them to their specific roles. The films Rear Window and Resident Evil show women in roles that are untraditional for our society. These two movies help to show how women are rebelling against social norms and that they are taking more active and aggressive roles. In film noir’s we can see women represented as the femme fatale, a woman whose mysterious and seductive charms leads men into compromising or dangerous situations. In action movies we see the heroine who is strong both physically and mentally, and has the ability to use weapons. Women seem to be more trapped than men because they are supposed to live up to society’s standards dealing with beauty and size, which are more physical characteristics. These specific guidelines have been set by

In contemporary film women's roles in films have varied quiet considerably between genres, geographical placement, and between

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

The issue of female representation in Hollywood is one of the biggest issues in the film industry. Sexism, discrimination, and a lack of jobs for female filmmakers has been a problem in Hollywood since its early days, and recently this problem has been analyzed using many different genres. The Women of Hollywood Speak Out is an editorial written by Maureen Dowd of the New York Times. It is about difficulty for female filmmakers to break out and direct big budget films for Hollywood. Celluloid Ceilings: Women Directors Speak Out is a video created by Bloomberg about the issues with sexism and discrimination that female filmmakers have faced. These two pieces will be compared to discover how this topic can be discussed using different genres

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.

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

In 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report: Flipping the Script, Drs. Darnell Hunt and Ana-Christina Ramon takes a hard look at the statistics of women of color involved on television, in movies, and behind the scenes. In 2013, cable scripted television programs had approximately 62.9% lead male roles and 37.1% female lead roles – of that 80.7% of lead female roles were white and 19.3% were Asian, Latino, Indian, and black women of color – a slight increase of 4.6% since 2012. It was in 2012 that women held the most female leads in the history of film: 30.8% – of these 15.1% were women of color; however, in 2013, the percentage of female leads dropped to 25.3% while increasing in minority roles to 16.7%. Furthermore, it is seen that female television writers and directors make up approximately 30% with 30% of these women being minorities. Oscar winners by gender was an even 50% in 2012, and increase of 32% since 2011. Of these female actresses, 25% of them were minorities – an increase from 0 in 2011. Drs. Hunt and Roman admit to studying these finding in an attempt to shed light on the “Hollywood race and gender problem” (Ramon). The increase and decrease of gender roles and minority roles is proof that Hollywood has the capacity to correct the problem when it comes to discrimination and prejudice, but seemingly refuse to do

Horror movies throughout history have been known to have their cheesy storylines or continuous bad acting. Especially horror movies. People nowadays could easily spot the flaws in a film and judge them drastically in reviews. Yet, little do people notice the ongoing discrimination between genders. Horror films tend to portray males and females substantially differently because of stereotypical views. There seems to be a pattern in which each gender takes a certain role in a movie continuously. Females are shown to be “objects” such as sex and emotional symbols, while males are shown as strong or powerful and moreover as the main bad guy. Although some of the newer edition films of the horror genre are displaying each gender more and more equal throughout the ongoing years, the gender discrimination dilemma still exists and can be seen by the statistics in the movie industry in general.

In order to get the best possible answers to the questions we asked, we used various sources such as a TED talk on the topic of sexism (TEDtalksDirector). It is of relevance, due to its knowledge of the data behind Hollywood’s sexism.

Since the 1940’s, movies have predominately portrayed women as sex symbols. Beginning in the 1940’s and continuing though the 1980’s, women did not have major roles in movies. When they did have a leading role the women was either pretreated as unintelligent and beautiful, or as conniving and beautiful: But she was always beautiful. Before the 1990’s, men alone, wrote and directed all the movies, and the movies were written for men. In comparison, movies of the 90’s are not only written and directed by women, but leading roles are also held by older and unattractive women. In this paper I will show the variations and growth of women’s roles in movies from the 1940’s though the 1990’s.

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 primarily that 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. In terms of jobs, women were given mostly family roles and rarely were shown outside of their homes, while men had successful careers and did many activities outside of home. “Women were shown doing housework and men were the beneficiaries of their work” (“Women’s roles in the

Movies are a true reflection of society and they show, and sometimes exaggerate, social values and ideals. When watching a movie one can see more clearly how society is and how it is viewed. Major social issues such as gender, race and ethnicity, social class, and sexuality are among the things that are portrayed in movies. “Race, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, and class are socially constructed abstractions along with relationships are organized. These constructs are reflected in social institutions, public practices, and individual identities including the choice people make, their options, and opportunities” (Walker, 342). With the changing times also comes changing social values. These changes can be seen when comparing movies from two

Filmmakers use traditional gender stereotypes to produce characters audiences can easily identify with by portraying conventional images of a person with identifiable characteristics. In previous years, the dominant representation of a women in film has been the passive, subjugated protagonist. However, through the development of female empowerment and added feminist representations of film, the female heroine transformed to become strong and independent women in her own right, as an individual character.

on society and culture. But since the beginning, there has been trend of male dominance in entertainment. This has contributed to gender inequality by not giving young girls strong role models in movies. It has also created ideal gender images that young children and adults feel obligated to follow. In more recent years, with the rise of feminism and gender equality, many have begun to push for changes in movies and Hollywood. Gender inequality in film can be reduced by creating more roles for women, avoiding gender stereotypes such as the damsel in distress, and avoiding oversexualizing women.