Stereotypes In Movies

In Black Widow’s Wardrobe, Gloria Damasco as a Chicana detective transgresses into a traditional masculine profession proving that women are capable to do an equal or better job than men. Historically most protagonists of the detective novels have been male, while female characters are portrayed ether as hysterical or as the damsel in

The Hardboiled Detective genre is one that depicts the previously established concepts of masculinity and femininity within film and flips them on their head. In direct contrast to others, this genre tends to depict women as capable and powerful, and these characteristics normally make the males within the films feel threatened. The pioneer of this genre, The Maltese Falcon, highlights the characterization of the main character, Spade through the femme fatale, Brigid. This continues on within later films of the genre with the 1974 film, Chinatown, as it continues to use the femme fatale, Evelyn, to characterize the main character of Gitties. Within The Maltese Falcon and Chinatown, the female archetypes of the femme fatale, respectively Brigid and Evelyn, help characterize the films’ main characters, respectively Spade and Gitties. Further, these femme fatales last in the public conscious which allows the archetype to become iconic and continue appearing in today’s films.

Thanks to actors like Chloë Grace Moretz, Shailene Woodley, & Ansel Elgort, the young adult teen genre is alive and well on the big screen. However, this is not a cinematic category that’s without its criticisms - as films of this nature tend to cater heavily to a young female demographic.

In many films and modern tv shows there are a lot of gender stereotypes, but many of the racial stereotypes are in front of our faces and we do not even notice. For example, in the movie “Caucasian Chicks” directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans most people do not notice that the main characters are trying to be a stereotypical Caucasian female. When you watch the movie for the first time, you may not notice all the racial stereotypes in the movie; you just see a comedy movie starring two African-American males. What we don’t notice is that the movie is based on the stereotypical Caucasian female and how they act, how they are more “privileged” then everyone else, and the portrayal of their beauty standards.

This novel problem with women patriarchal misogyny through the prism and so they need the male role of author and audience they will not really need to develop role-playing games. In spy, female data as leaves for sex and initial barriers and spied the curious/acquisitive know as ultimate resource. Such as romantic interests despite priority given to such services gender and knowledge and secondly knowledge and power middle row shows vulnerability (Hammett 111).

Throughout the film, another important part of its cinematography is the vibrant colors included in the shots. For numerous night scenes in the film, the shots feature flamboyant red, and fluorescence, which strengthen the dynamics that is going on between Travis and the scene. For example, in a scene that takes place outside a diner, where these cabbies usually hang out, Travis is talking to another experiences cabbie named Wizard about his frustration. The main light source of this particular scene is the red light from the neon signs outside the diner; it envelopes the two figures who are having a conversation about cabbie and life, and sets out an eccentric feeling to the dynamics between the characters. The neon signs and the traffic lights

Hitchcock uses camera shots and breaking the stereotype of his characters to intensify the film’s plot.

There are women in classic film noir with a similar defiant attitude, to whom the male hero often experiences a sexual attraction: the femme fatale. These women are studied as symbols of ‘peculiar’ power: carrying guns, smoking cigarettes, and going after what they want, similar to the men in these narratives (Gledhill, 1998, p. 24). The femme fatales are mysterious, ambiguous and most significantly: deadly. These women and their power are however mainly defined by their sexuality and the men often still hold the voice of authority – mainly through voice overs and flashbacks (Gledhill, 1998, p. 24). They are both desirable and dangerous to men (Kaplan, 1998, p. 16). The film noir’s femme fatale has for a long time served as a record for anxieties about female sexuality and power, which will be discussed more deeply later in this chapter. The femme fatale fights against the male domination and often ends op losing her life or freedom. “The resistance of these femme fatales are always fatal, if not to herself, it will be to the men who fall for her” (Wager, 2005, p. 4). With the dangers that her sexual performance causes, the classic genre exposed the limitations of a female heroine. It suggests that terrible things would happen if men let these sexual women distract them from their quest, and that the power that these particular women hold, is profoundly dangerous. The sex and gender issues that derive from the femme fatale’s presence supposedly trigger the inevitable demise of herself and the hero, but it is nonetheless important to notice that these early film noirs offered audiences a female character that, although destructive, is not weak, but

Furthermore, there are a few scenes throughout the film where three females are shown together, and they are seen drooling over the beloved Gaston. These girls are an example of women who are stereotyped by gender. In her article, Butler utters that "When the relevant ‘culture' that ‘constructs' gender is understood regarding such a law or set of laws, then it seems that gender is as determined and fixed as it was under the biology-is-destiny formulation. In such a case, not biology, but culture, becomes destiny" (Butler 8). In the movie, we see how Belle breaks away from these stereotypes.

Imagery throughout history has been a big factor in creating social norms and acts as a site of conflict. Throughout time, we have used art pieces such as stories, mythology, paintings and movies as a way of conflict, to get a point across, or to tell a story. A big theme presented over time has been the ideologies of women and their role. Through time, we are able to see the way in which the roles of a female has been continuously constructed and reconstructed over and over again. This paper will look at the portrayal of femme fatale throughout history showing the lack of progression when it comes to gender stereotypes.

The gender representation in the James Bond franchise are displayed quite differently throughout time. The 1964 Goldfinger, written by Ian Fleming, portrayed women as sexual objects that were there for one plain and simple reason: amusement. Whereas in the modern 2015 Spectre film, directed by Sam Mendes, women are presented with a lot more empowerment and strength, which was absent within the 1964 film. Women in Goldfinger were objects that were used for Bond’s entertainment. On the other hand, women in Spectre were different, and they became strong characters who had a clear purpose in the film.

In many societies, many people are oppressed due to their genders, races, religions, sexual orientation, and many more classifications. Although, for women it seems that no matter what race or ethnicity or sexual orientation they are, they are always oppressed as women. As stated by Fyre (1983), “Women are oppressed, as women…but men are not oppressed as men”, for men can be oppressed by their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, financial status, but they are never disadvantaged by being oppressed as men. Women have, and are still climbing a long up-hill battle to achieve the same goals that men get due to different privileges. Men already have a privilege over women due to first and foremost their gender.

There is no doubt that in the majority of films directed by the renowned Alfred Hitchcock, women play a significant role. Many of Hitchcock’s films feature a blonde, rather than brunette, as the female lead because Hitchcock considered blondes “a symbol of the heroine” and “less suspicious than a brunette”. Hitchcock’s heroines are externally immaculate, but full of deceit and weakness. They have mother-like tendencies and are often portrayed as proper and obedient towards their male counterparts, as most women were expected to be in Hitchcock’s era. It is safe to presume that Hitchcock had severe mummy issues, which many of his films make apparent by severely punishing even the slightest of deceptions. The central dynamic in the majority of

The crime film genre is largely dominated by men. In contrast, Spy is a 2015 crime-comedy film directed by Paul Feig that features two female leads and many females in supporting roles. Women are portrayed as powerful villains and protagonists who are not afraid to use violence, including guns, to do what they want. In addition, characters in the film continually value female friendship and solidarity. Spy opens with Susan Cooper being a desk-bound and trustworthy CIA analyst for her big-shot partner Bradley Fine. After Fine’s death, Cooper convinces her director to let her go undercover in the field to take over his mission. Cooper manages to avenge Fine by capturing Rayna Boyanov, Fine’s killer and dealer of nuclear arms, thereby saving the entire world from destruction. Spy did an adequate job of disrupting the normative and traditional gender roles that are generally depicted in film and larger media.

In film noir, the principal characters are almost always male, whereas females are still central to film noir storylines and plots. Women in film noir are generally either the social ideal - dutiful, reliable, and trustworthy or they happen to be a trap, a dangerous associate who conceals murder with her attractiveness. These stereotypes of dangerous women in film weren’t anything new, although the classic femme fatale took risk, crime and danger to completely new heights. There are essentially three main, each different and unique female character archetypes, as each serves a different purpose to develop and unravel the plot and to set the mood and tone of each film. They are the “Femme Fatale”, the “Good Woman”, and the “Marrying Type”.