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The Portrayal of Solo Female Travelers in Modern Media Essay

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From an early age, women are ingrained with the idea that traveling presents a danger to them; they risk their safety, their morality, and their purity. The traditional fairy tale “Little Red Riding Hood” imparts a wise piece of advice to young women who wish to travel alone: “As long as I live, I will never leave the path and run off into the woods by myself if mother tells me not to” (Grimm). The general consensus among the population is that female travel is very different from male travel. There is a strongly held belief that women who travel without a man are more susceptible to attacks, while solo men travelers are at far less risk. Furthermore, women have more romantic motives for traveling, while men do it for the sake of …show more content…

In the case of Indiana Jones, the flirtatious banter and occasional romantic moment is vastly outweighed by the chases, fights, and treasure-finding that fills the rest of the movie. In fact, it takes four movies and a combined running time of 482 minutes for Indiana Jones to marry his “love interest” presented in the first movie (“Raiders”). James Bond, on the other hand, is presented as a suave lady killer who has a new romantic interest in each outing, resulting in more than 50 “Bond Girls” (“Girls”). Although these women do play a significant role in the movie, they generally only serve to further Bond’s adventures and image as a lothario who cannot be tied down to anyone. Both of these men are often faced with dangerous situations, but they are never truly in danger. They have the wits and strength to either defeat or escape danger, oftentimes saving their female companion in the process. These are only two examples of male-centered travel films but they are considered iconic classic films and they exemplify the tradition of males traveling for reasons less romantic and more daring. Indiana Jones and James Bond are action heroes, however, so perhaps this tradition does not cross genres and males are in fact allowed to be portrayed as having different travel motives. The film The Motorcycle Diaries is less of an adventure movie and more of a semi-biographical account of the origin of a

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