Traditional Patriarchal Roles In X-Men Films

In 2016, the film X-Men: Apocalypse directed by Bryan Singer was released worldwide. The X-Men universe is, ”governed by male rules” and in which” no woman could ever hope to ascend to the top” (Kaklamanidou 72). There are many controversial and heated arguments regarding the previous X-men films being patriarchal. Despite the fact that the savior in the film X-Men: Apocalypse is a female character, there are many instances in which a patriarchal society is displayed. Males are shown to dominate the female characters within the X-Men universe throughout the film, for instance, the X-Men universe is shown as the world which is only ruled by males, females and their powers are controlled and guided by males, lastly the heroism of females in the X-Men universe is always concealed as male characters receive more screen time as well as all the credit.

Superman does not have to prove to anyone he is ready to be a superhero whereas Wonder Woman has to prove herself first before being allowed to be a superhero. In addition, O’Reilly’s article talks about how Wonder Woman gets punished for rebelling against an authority figure while a male computer genius is praised by his superiors for showing strength and resolve against their wishes. Popular children’s entertainment also demonstrates how females are treated as found in the article The Smurfette Principle. The basic premise behind this article is that fact that in children’s movies and television shows, boys take a more central role while girls are stuck at the periphery.

Men run countries. Men are sports heroes. And in the movies, women are reliant upon

In today’s society, its similar. Men aren’t looked down upon, but it is unusual for them to be upset, nervous, or even crying. Superheros are a perfect example of what men should be. They are strong, powerful, and not

Society always keeps the idea of heroes alive through media. Girls inspired by movies or television shows dream of knights in shining armor saving the day. These same shows often represent the women as weak and dependent on men. Men fight the bad guys and save the day while the women work behind the scenes giving information to the men. The gender stereotype of men protecting the women often reveals itself in television shows, especially in one episode of a television show called The Flash. The episode from The Flash titled “The Flash Reborn,” illustrates the gender stereotype of men as the protector of women and this negatively shows a stereotype of beautiful women that cannot take care of themselves.

Moving onto gender roles and ideas, these characteristics in genders are needed in any sort of story to suit the values and attitudes of the people of that time. Gender stereotypes are a major piece to the puzzle of a film. Women are generally seen as less dominant, pushovers, the cares of everyone and that they have no independence. Whist men are seen as the more dominant, masculine, heroes, brave and courageous. This is across all genres of movies, the girl is the damsel in distress and the boy ends up saving her at the end of it.

Considering men are usually taller, heavier, and contain more muscle mass than women, this could be where the idea of gender roles stems. Similarly, in Becker’s The Heroism of Men and Women, Selwyn W. Becker discusses how even in mythical stories, Gods were more prevalent and well known than Goddesses. Instead of having gender roles that date back to mythical times define society’s definition of heroism, society should look past how heroes were once viewed. Instead, society should view the roles of both genders equally when it comes to deciding who is a hero and who is not. The definition should not consider the possible likeness of men to be “disposable” but forget the idea of who needs to risk their life to be hero and focus on other ways of being

Women are continually demeaned on television and are shown as the inferior gender. Hypermasculinity causes problems like gender inequality in our society, leading to the mistreatment of non-masculine characteristics in our culture. By presenting hypermasculine traits on television, this stigma is spread throughout society for everyone to indulge, creating mass conflict. More often than not, female characters are the victims or damsels in distress and the men are heroes that come to their rescue, usually expecting sexual favors as an award for their “manly” acts. This is the case for a multitude of superhero dramas that have surfaced recently over the years.

More times then not the idea of a “strong” male character is portrayed, and then there is a “week” female charter as well. This is the main problem people are talking about, stereotyping genders into a few repeated set of characteristics that don't fully portray the ability of that gender. In cinderella, a poor girl has to look pretty to attend the ball, at which point she and the prince fall in love, seeming

The movie included only one women superhero- the black widow, compared to most all male cast. In fact, in this entire film, only 3 women were given some type of speaking role, all which had really minor importance to the film. Most of these women were shown helping the male characters, helping them enhance their powers or providing a moral reasoning. While Black Widow’s combat skill were credential, she was essentially a superhero due to her manipulation skills. I find this super power not worthy of breaking gender barriers. This power plays with the mind and carries a feminine aspect to it considering that many regard women as highly emotional. Furthermore, the Black Widow was not given enough screen time to develop her character. In one of her scenes where she is found alone with uncontrollable Hulk, she was the only one that was shown defenseless where the fights between other superheroes are shown to be equally matched. The construction of the cast of this movie supports the opinion where the society fails to see women super hero to be empowering. Many of the fans consider the females presence in the action series to only be aiding the main masculine hero and providing romantic

In today's age, gender norms have become a topic of conversation. It is clear that society has made some progress throughout the years when it comes to the irregularity of them and thankfully it is starting to show in mainstream media. It's no secret that the most successful of movies that involve superheroes revolve around a male protagonist. It is because of this, that most assume only men are capable of such roles and therefore gain the title of being labeled as stronger and superior. However that is not always the case.

“Males were more powerful, muscular, violent, and evil while women were more attractive, thin, sexy/seductive, innocent, afraid, and helpless… Compared to males’, females’ clothes (both costumes and non-costumes) were more revealing on both the upper and lower bodies….male characters are more likely than female characters to have more than one special ability and use more than one weapon….Males were significantly more likely to use fighting skills, fire/flame weapons, and guns than females.” (Gender….Movie Superheros’ roles….) They express that for women to be as much as a hero as men, they need to look, act, and fight a certain way.

Throughout the world women are depicted to be oversexualized among forms of media such as video games and comic books. The idea of oversexualization towards female characters is that they have been often drawn and animated in hypersexual ways. Even going as far as viewing them as a sex object, their revealing body images are eye candy through the eyes of men. Hence women found in comic books and video games are frequently emphasized by their excessive physical appearances, objectification, portrayal, and character role.

Frequently, most superheroes in cinema are portrayed by male characters rather than women, creating a distinction between gender roles. Indeed, through the passage, “These results may suggest to viewers that women are less important, knowledgeable, and capable than men – and less likely to be a hero” (Miller et. al) women are much less likely to be featured as the hero within the film, and more likely to be featured as the “damsel in distress” of the story. Furthermore, women are much more likely to be depicted in a sexualized fashion, even when displayed in the role of hero. This feature of women with a lack of dominance defies feminism, as they lack roles in superhero films and they are portrayed with the sole purpose of boasting

Filmmakers use traditional gender stereotypes to produce characters audiences can easily identify with by portraying conventional images of a person with identifiable characteristics. In previous years, the dominant representation of a women in film has been the passive, subjugated protagonist. However, through the development of female empowerment and added feminist representations of film, the female heroine transformed to become strong and independent women in her own right, as an individual character.