Rosemary's Baby Sociology

The role of the patriarchal society and its impact on the oppression of female characters

Correspondingly, Barbra’s character shrieks the stereotype of a hysterical housewife, a helpless, naïve blonde woman. She is weak and reliant on the others, incompetent and oblivious to the concerns at hand. Her lack of prowess when the ghouls infiltrated the farmhouse consequently led to her death. While others were pitching in to devise a plan to combat the slew of ghouls drawing near the farmhouse, Barbra was in a state of bewilderment due to Johnny’s death and was unmindful of the plan to defeat the ghouls; therefore, she became a hindrance to the others. Robert Hass’s film criticism of Carol J. Clover’s work in Men, Women, and Chain Saws: Gender in the Modern Horror Film, declares, “Women are usually helpless victims in the horror genre” (Haas 67). This essentially summarized Barbra’s character in such a manner that the viewer would infer that Barbra enacts the stereotypical female role of a horror film.

In conclusion, the film She’s the Man shows the audience how gender gets represented in films. It shows the traditional femininity as well as the traditional masculinity. This illustrates that gender has impacts on power and gender relations to contribute gender inequality. Gender norms are enforced in films which maintain the power inequality difference between both genders. These issues confine the way modern films represent gender and gives a direct effect to the

As explained in Judith Lorber’s excerpt from “‘Night To His Day’: The Social Construction of Gender”, gender is a socially constructed concept that everyone unconsciously adheres to (Lorber). As a socially constructed concept, representations of gender roles can reinforce or challenge the stereotypical images. In Killing Us Softly 4, Jean Kilbourne analyzed the advertisement industry’s representation of women and argued that the media plays a huge role in shaping gender formations (Kilbourne). Although objectification of women is still a prevalent issue, Kilbourne acknowledged that there are efforts nowadays that challenges the unrealistic representations of women and femininity (Kilbourne). Inspired partly by Killing Us Softly 4, the project is my way to reflect on how the Disney movies I had watched as I grow up represented gender.

One of the key concepts detailed by Pringle (2007), is the idea of hegemonic masculinity, which was originally coined by Connell (1995). Connell suggest that the concepts of hegemony and masculinity have been intertwined, which has created a social form of a masculine ideal, developed around male dominance, power and patriarchy over groups who are deemed “weaker” such as women and homosexual men. Hegemonic masculinity is essentially a socially elite or desirable status, with which the “performance of ‘masculinity’” can be legitimately practised within society.

Popular culture is often a reflection of society; both literature and the media have the capacity to cement ideas in the minds of readers and viewers. In many cases, the notions and stories glorified by the media refrain from sharing a true depiction of society and are narrow-minded in their focus. Recently, the feminist movement has denounced popular culture for its ignorance, fighting for a more realistic portrait to be painted by those with the power to reach millions. Specifically, both Roxane Gay’s Bad Feminist and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “The Danger of a Single Story” share how the classic gender stereotypes seen in popular culture are unable to capture the full spectrum of stories that define society, and are limiting in their portrayals of women. Moreover, both authors share personal stories, reference prominent world figures, and cite relevant statistics in their works. Therefore, in both Bad Feminist and “The Danger of a Single Story”, Roxane Gay and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie appeal to readers pathos, logos, and ethos in order to construct the argument that the single story of women in popular culture is stereotypical and restrictive.

The Siskel and Ebert Halloween Review from 1978 shows how they like how the movie shows how the female character is seen as intelligent, brave and smart. The way the two men spoke about how they felt about the film gave a feminist critic. They were able to put them self in her shoes and think about how they might of felt in that scenario. They see the film as up and positive and see the movie for the film qualities other than the depressing killing. The film focused on film qualities, where the mood, lighting, music and camera angle all played roll in creating the feeling where one can feel that the female actor out smart the bad masked man.

The first section of Gender and the Media addresses gender representations and the beginning of feminism. During the late 60’s and early 70’s, women’s rights movements were first introduced with the challenge of the media, prompting them monitor the way the media portrayed women. This portrayal starting in the late 1970’s has seen many transmissions since. Gil states: “I use the term feminism to signal a concern with enduring gender

Rosemary's Baby (1968) starts a string of American horror films which proceeds well into the 1970s, cantering its regard to an adult demographic. These movies turned out to be considerably more daring as it began to handle disputable social issues, such as rape, abortion, and nudity. All of which are evidently clear to find in Polanski's directorial debut in the field of horror. The film assumes a tone that is profoundly established around satanic evil, Catholicism, and mankind's shortcoming to the extraordinary satanic witchcraft while enlivening the thought of a strong and undisputed oppressed female protagonist named Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow). (Some text here to back up what the idea of “the other” is). Polanski's way

Sheila Jeffreys, a feminist scholar and political activist, writes in her book, “Gender Hurts: A Feminist Analysis of the Politics of Transgenderism,” that “men’s ideas about what women are have been formed from their ruling caste position, and have assigned women characteristics that would most advantage their masters, as well as justify men’s rule over them. They do not represent ‘truth’ but have been promoted as if they were” (Jeffreys 7). This statement by Jeffreys supports the idea of female misrepresentation and inferiority in the world, extending to various mediums of entertainment: literature, cinema, art, television, etc. Exploring two passages written by Ian Grey and Joanna Russ, I examined the purposes and arguments of both writers. Their

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley is a horrific novel that avoids strong and independent female leads. It is hard to believe the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, an important feminist, could write such a thing. Within Frankenstein, it seems as if Mary Shelley is demoralizing women by keeping them fairly absent and focusing upon men in the novel (Behrendt 1). Shelley acts against women by making the three main narrators of Frankenstein men. Robert Walton, Victor Frankenstein, and the monster all narrate this haunting tale. However, these central characterized men make plentiful mistakes throughout society. One may think, therefore, that Shelley’s treatment of Dr. Frankenstein and Walton actually acts as a female critique of male ambition since the characters both possess an insensitivity that leads to their downfall (Aldrich and Isomaki 3). Perhaps, in her novel, Shelley is actually showing how women are instead a backbone to society. Mary Shelley makes a truly feminist point within her well-known literary classic, Frankenstein.

Media keepers are very strategic in the ways in which they aid in the projection of certain cultural ideologies through the media. It can be agreed that women have yet to experience full equality in comparison to their male counterparts. Cultural values and beliefs have projected the idea that men, in supposed fact, are superior to women. It is no wonder that cultures around the world place emphasis on the life of man. This infatuation with the male capability is responsible for the amount of power placed into the hands of men. In the hands of men, are every aspect of society and lifestyle, including media. On camera, women, as well as objects are sexualized to appeal to the eye of the heterosexual male. This method of filming is referred

This essay will explore studies by Van Damme and Biltereys, Meyer and Wood and Haslop. Each of these three studies uses qualitative research, such as focus groups or interviews, to determine how sexuality and its hegemonic discourse plays a role in identity construction for media audiences. Discourse has previously been defined as a “…form of power that circulates in the social field and can attach to strategies of domination as well as those of resistance” (Diamond and Quinby 185). I aim to substantiate this claim by illustrating

Thesis: In recent years during the 21st century more and more people in the media have been calling out fairytales for their anti-feminist attitudes with sexism, body standards as well as societal comments about women being dependent on men.

Dating back to the 1920’s mass communication mediums of film, television and print have all been means that act as powerful tools of propaganda and thus play an integral role in the lives of individuals. It is for this reason that it is often widely accepted that the media is to be used as a tool, which represents a common public interest. Men and women are represented through forms of media in different ways, which create images depicting stereotypical traits and characteristics. The problem brought fourth by this is concerned with the issue of gender or the ‘discourse’ of gender and how individuals perceive themselves (Gauntlett, 2008) As the media is such a big part of everybody’s lives, there is not doubt that when this powerful function is synthesized with the medium’s capacity to accentuate present day realities on our screens the result tends to elicit a dominant ideology; which in turn presents an argument for major ethical implications in regard to public stigma and subsequent prejudice. This essay shall critically consider gender representation in Sex and the City (HBO, 1998-2004) and the extent to which these characters challenge the patriarchal privilege.