Hollywood Sexism

In action movies, many plots contain violent and dangerous scenes. Usually, females cannot burden such dangerous tasks in which even male characters usually get injured (Dargis, 2014). This phenomenon can be attributed to the division of work among females and males. In the long history, males are the ones who join in the army and participate in the war. Females are the ones who prepare supplies at home. Therefore, females seldom join in violent fights. Therefore, the sexualization of action movies is related to the social position of females in history. Fortunately, females are taking more responsibilities from males in action movies. For example, Michelle MacLaren is hired to direct the movie Wonder Woman, which is an action movie with female main characters. This is a breakthrough in the history of action movies and demonstrates a trend of De-sexualization in action movies. Also, female-led action movies like Underworld: Evolution show a direct response to decades of suppression of females in action movies as well as the society (Meslow,

Recently there has been a lot of controversy on social media over gender roles in America’s society. Since many have worked to change the way men and women are stereotyped in day to day life, it is almost expected to see the flexibility of women and men’s roles in films. Meaning there should be no defined role to one’s gender, or having one’s gender constrict them from having particular roles. And in many cases hollywood has changed their casts from a strong male heroine to a strong female heroine. Movies like Ghostbusters(2016 edition) and Kahaani become perfect examples of this. Yet the reality is that many hollywood film directors have not changed the traditional gender roles in their films. I viewed four of Quentin Tarantino films (Reservoir Dogs, Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, and Planet Terror) since many of his most critically acclaimed movies have also been heavily criticized for having male characters that are depicted as ‘too’ masculine and macho. From what I have seen Tarantino often depicts masculinity as violent, derogatory towards women, and is derisive to anything “weak” making the characters impenetrable to their feelings.

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

Another guilty party in the effort to maintain women to lower status is American pop culture, which predominantly portrays women as being nothing more than sex objects. This is only relevant in that it illustrates how "backlash" does not only apply on a government level, but also in entertainment. The younger generations (children through 18 years old, mostly) are far more influenced by pop culture than they are by the government. The messages conveyed by the industry hit at a rather impressionable age. Faludi only touched on this aspect, noting that the television and films generally portray career women as being high-strung and unwed. Furthermore, popular novels show these women as being bitter spinsters whom practically beg for marriage. In this all-too subtle way, the media mocks the independent woman. Rarely are happily married, working women featured. The film industry fails to equally represent females at all. In 2002, 77% of protagonists were males in their 30s and 40s. The mere 16% of characters whom are female are portrayed primarily in their 20s and 30s. Women over 40 accounted for 9% of all

In Hollywood films, the main protagonist of mostly all film are males showing how strong, smart, and how they are the perfect hero, yet woman are seen as the damsel in distress, soft, and weak. Women are seen as the girlfriend, the wife, or the mother. The value of the woman in films is determined by their male counterparts and their overall outer appearance. In movies women are seen as the same with all women are ditzy, dependent on someone, they need someone to hold their hand also that woman are too emotional, yet there are movies that show women as strong and dependent. Movies with female leads are growing and they show how woman are just as strong as male leads. Yeah, many women are strong in their own way; I know I sure am.

Many of these filmmakers, through the feminist movement, have taken Hollywood by storm. There are many individuals that believe the feminist movement is a woman’s movement — to further the female agenda — and while, it is true

According to an article called, “How Horror Films Are Bringing More Gender Equality to Hollywood” it states that, “University of Southern California communications professor Stacy Smith, who researches depictions of gender and race in film and TV, found that of the 5,839 characters in the 129 top-grossing films released between 2006 and 2011, fewer than 30 percent were girls or women.” This explains that males still have a dominating place in movie character roles in this generation. In general male figures in the movie industry could be seen as the more ruling characters as they are more

Sexism in the Media Society today is experiencing a bias and negative impact from the media; sexism against women. Women are judged by what they wear, say, or do constantly. Sexism has been going on for centuries because of the preconceived roles women have been forced within. Although women have been degraded in the media and almost every other aspect of their lives, there are many people starting to come together to fight against sexism and put a stop to women being humiliated in the media. Women in Hollywood face sexism daily by who they work for, their peers, and especially fans.

America is often called the land of freedom and opportunities, but many Americans argue that there is racial, gender and social bias occurring all the time. Recently, many people have been pointing out the social problems occurring around the country. Some of the issues happening include the Hollywood sexual and economic exploitations. In the article “Why Is Hollywood So Liberal?” Neil Gross discusses the desire for fairness and the public fight against sexism and harassment against women in the entertainment industry and in the USA.

Women both on and off screen have been portrayed in a manner that represent some

This proverbial mold of what a woman is, usually determined by her status as being motherly and staying involved in their children’s lives. The societal norm is often represented by someone who goes to every PTA meeting, every soccer game, and cooks every meal. Hollywood often provides society with the golden standard of what a mother should be like. The movie industry further promulgates this typical mold by typically portraying women in parts similar to these not only their parts but also the genre of movies women normally participate in. According to the Hollywood Reporter in an article about how “Movies in 2016 Featured a record Number of Women Protagonists”. In this article, it even went into to the cold hard facts where female actors are more likely to appear as protagonists specifically the genre of movies. According to their statistics, women would be most likely to land a leading role in a Comedy with the highest percentage of female protagonists in this genre at twenty-eight percent. In an unsurprising turn of events, the genre of films with the lowest percentage of female protagonists was the actions film industry with a reported three percent. Often times characters in action movies need to be portrayed as though they are serious and strong. If this is the case the implications of not portraying women in a more serious genre like action movies. This exemplifies that society and particularly writers and producers of Hollywood have trouble viewing women in strong leading

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

When talking about this topic a question comes to mind, if men were given these roles would there be a problem? Americans have been frustrated because women are just viewed for their looks, but there are also men in this world who are only given roles for their looks. If women did not want to be viewed as “the girl next door” or “the dumb blonde” then they should not have taken these roles in the movies. It was the 1940’s so it was not like women had no rights, in 1920 the nineteenth amendment was passed giving women the right to vote and more rights towards equality. Women had a voice during this time period and if they wanted a change they could have spoken up and tried to change their roles in movies. Other roles were given to women during this time period showing that women were strong and independent, women were not only given the role for their looks. As the film industry went on women started to gain more roles and have been looked at in some role as “strong women.” The term “strong women” caused more frustration because it shows the women are being viewed as not strong regularly. Even though women gained a lot more power

In society, women are often perceived as the weaker sex, both physically and mentally. In modern times women have leveled the playing field between men and women, and feminism is a highly discussed topic, but for years, women faced discrimination and prejudice both in life and in the workplace, due to their sex. This way of thinking flooded into the world of film. In their works, the authors of each of the various sources address the limitations and liberations of women both on and off the screen in nineteenth century Film and Cinema. Not every source is completely filled with information related to the research topic, but they do cover and analyze many of the same points from different perspectives. Prominent points addressed in each

The simplest way to increase gender equality is by creating more roles for women. According to 2007-2012 film statistics reviewed by the New York Film Academy, the “average ratio of male actors to female actors is 2.25:1.” With less females onscreen than males, men continue to be the majority in movies. It is important to portray realistic representations of everyday life in where “women comprise 50 percent of the population” (Green, Women In Film Los Angeles). It is also important for women and young girls to have a variety of role models to look up to. With more women in movies, young girls will begin to understand that being a woman does not limit what they can do. Organizations such as Women in Film were created to help by “promoting equal opportunities for women, encouraging creative projects by women, and expanding and enhancing portrayals of women in all forms of global