I Went Go See Was Cineastes : Les Homes

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

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.

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

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

Still today in the film industry women are paid less than men and often portrayed as supporting rather than leading roles (Haskell,

There has to be a reason as to why some films can have controversial language, physically inappropriate gestures, sexist comments are exceptional. In a recent research it gave a simple explanations towards why this is. Modern sexism is a multidimensional construct comprising covert attitudes supporting the unequal treatment of men and women(65) Most of what humans are taught in their morals is during childhood. In this chapter 3 called Gender roles, describes that humans are taught to stereotype gender since birth. an educational film about parenthood describes how to handle an infant differently because of the sex. A female infant is picked up automatically once she begins to cry compared to a male infant.

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

Further, Mulvey claims--and the majority of feminist film critics agree with her--that in mainstream films the woman is the image to be looked at and fetishized, while the man is the "bearer of the look" and the fetishizer (33). This is what allows the male spectator to have an active pleasure in the movie, since he can (and is

¨How Movies Teach Manhood¨ ,by Colin Stokes, Filmed on November 2012. The Topic of his speech is that movies do not send positive messages to boys, but do to girls. Stokes aims his speech towards parents and towards people who enjoy films. He is addressing these adults because he wants to show when a man defeats a villain, it should be the same as someone defending a women. He is arguing that many of the top movies we have today do not show women being as capable of doing things that men do.. Stokes uses ethos and some pathos in his speech. He uses a lot of these appeals because it helps show that the movie industry is using mainly men and by targeting people’s emotions and using credibility.

Film has always been a part of society since it’s popularity in 1920s. The influence and effect it can have on people through the roles men and women played on film is ever growing as the roles evolve into several categories for both genders through time. But many filmmakers take advantage of that notion by portraying images of some of the stereotypes that have been posted on women and men to present to audiences so that they can recognise and relate to it. Throughout film history, women and men have mostly been type casted to a societal role. This applies more accurately to women than men, as men have the ability and luxury to be portrayed as a dominant force in the film such as a hero or a villain, all whereas women were mostly given the

The first research entitled “The representation of gender roles in the media - An analysis of gender discourse in Sex and the City movies ” was constructed by Therese Ottosson and Xin Cheng in 2012.

In my college class, I have learned that women in films are usually portrayed as a prize for whoever saved the “damsel in distress,” relegating women to the role of love interest waiting to be rescued. And I have never thought of that issue before but since I’m taking a college class about Culture and Gender in Films right now, the informations about female in films helped me for my second concentration. Sometimes people don’t notice what films have portrayed women and how different it is for men.

I think the topic that will garner even more attention from contemporary feminist critics will be “the role of film and other popular media in the construction of the feminine gender” (Brontë 451). I remember the very first article our class blogged on about how people are reading less. With more people now turning to other forms of entertainment like watching movies, the creators of movies add their opinions in them and help shape the public’s ideas. Oftentimes, the public isn’t even aware that the shaping process is occurring. Feminist critics, then, will carefully examine these newer and more popular forms of entertainment and make serious efforts to raise the public’s awareness of underlying patriarchal ideology.

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