Gender Psychology in Film - Essay Example

Sex, Gender and Society Question Responses Frozen Response There is some degree of incongruence whether Frozen characters perform according to specific gender stereotypes and social expectations of gender. Elsa tends to conform to the typical female gender stereotype, especially noticeable when wearing a sparkled dress and tossing her blonde hair in delight over her sexiness when singing about “letting go” and transforming from an ambiguous and repressed royal to a sexy vixen. Anna, on the other hand, is showing buying merchandise for Kristoff, such as tools and a sled, which is typically the male role in society in relation to taking care of a helpless woman. Anna performs behaviors differently than Elsa in a way that is more male-centric, acting more like a prince than a princess, taking courageous steps to ensure the safety and well-being of her sister. Anna defies the gender stereotype, being the brave heroine willing to sacrifice herself to save her sister rather than succumbing to her romantic-based dreams seeking salvation from a dominant and powerful man. Anna also illustrates masculine behaviors when she punches the villain to save the day. Anna also does not show the same level of strong emotional attachment to the Prince Charming-like male character and, instead, illustrates a type of platonic love toward her sister that is much more akin to the male-male friendship. Anna also shows bravery and courage, often attributed to the social stereotype of masculinity, when she leaves Hans to maintain watchfulness over the castle to undertake the difficult task of finding her sister. Anna’s tomboy-like behaviors, such as jumping about, running, and acting playful are performances more attributed to the masculine persona. Toddlers and Tiaras Response When the boys in the pageant showed nervousness or stating they weren’t ready to go on stage, one of the mothers of the male children yelled at their child. When girls showed the same level of nervousness, parents were more empathetic toward the child and used encouraging language to change their children’s emotional states. This tends to show that parents believe male children should be more resilient and confident and choose to approach their child’s nervousness and apprehension with more forceful language and posturing. I think that the mother who criticized her son for not doing his best would have handled a female pageant child with more compassion and understanding to appeal to their emotional state. In another situation, the child dressed as Spiderman was told to “pow, pow, pow”, meaning to pretend to be fighting. This was quite different than the girls who were instructed to twirl about and blow kisses to the crowd. This tends to show that parents and judges would see beauty, for the female contestants, as typical of gender stereotypes and the same for boy pageant contestants who should be illustrating typical male behaviors. I think that the episode showed, clearly, that parents succumb to typical social stereotypes about gender and forced their children to act out these performances in order to gain the attention and interest of the judges. Even when Zander, the child in the Spiderman suit, won many awards (such as best personality), his mother was critical and showed no excitement to encourage her child. I think this shows that men and women believe, to win such a pageant, their children must perform gender roles congruent with social norms and prejudices. Madmen Response We see the female “expert” as a more masculine figure, having to be assertive and aggressive in order to be respected as an informant in a masculine-dominated environment. The German accent, associated with Nazism and aggression, serves as a means of reinforcing this belligerence and forcefulness typically associated with masculinity. She exerts none of the pleasantries and emotional attitude of women and even leaves the office without any gratuity, showing, again, her male-centric dominance. Peggy Olsen, the secretary, is introduced on her first work day and is immediately called, “honey” by a male visitor and he states it would not “be a sin to see her legs”. Immediately, the visitor, Mr. Campbell, tells Draper that she’s too young for him, assuming that they have some romantic relationship. She has make-up on and her hair in a typical female-centric ponytail which reinforces that she is a figure that should be dominated and exploited by men for their sexual attributes. We learn that this environment is one where pretty women should be seen as sex objects and discourse between men relates to this prejudice. We see the client with the pearl necklace, the businesswoman, as a dominating personality that is borne of wealth and education. While she maintains clothing and hairstyle typical of the traditional female, her attitude and posturing are more masculine as she attempts to exert her authority and power. The men, however, are turned off by this and criticize this attempt at social dominance when she criticizes the capabilities of the firm. Through this, we learn that the men of the firm do not like to be challenged by dominating women and believe that females should succumb to a passive role in society. Draper is much more responsive and exuberant toward the new girl who shows this passiveness and works toward reinforcing her boss’ sophistication and competency. When Draper caresses the image of his neighbor, it is because she represents the sexuality of typical femininity which underpins his typical prejudice of what constitutes female beauty: maintaining the physical attributes of femaleness. Presentation of Self Response It is difficult to apply the idea of giving off to gender. The article describes how we tend to alter our behaviors and actions to fit the motivation of a social environment, such as showing an approving look in a situation where one must encourage an informant’s information integrity. The waitress example of taking the menu from a customer allows her to clear the table when the customer sat down prematurely before the table had been cleaned, showing her dominance and ability to control customer behaviors. From a gender perspective, if the customer is a male, she uses a type of passive-aggressive action to show that she is dominant in this social situation while also showing respect; however still making it clear that she is the most influential. I think this type of situation defines how women can achieve social supremacy over men, using tactics and strategies to be autonomous without the type of challenge seen in Mad Men where the female client’s over-confidence was a major turn-off to the male ego. She appeals to this ego, using preventative strategies, knowing that first impressions are important. Overt aggressiveness or an attempt at showing authority, for some men, could be a long-term detriment about how men view this female social figure. It tends to show that both men and women conceal their true feelings and use false revelation to maintain a single, desirable face in society. While it is not all about dominance, it is about ensuring that others in a social situation build an instant, favorable impression that underpins saving face and ensuring that the self looks good among others of same or different gender. The concept of giving and giving off seems to show that men and women are more alike than different in how they approach socialization and pursuing social belonging. Then, post a substantive comment, of at least 200 words, in which you describe the gender performances of at least two characters in the film. Take into account both what they say and do, but also the way they are depicted physically in the film...gesture, expression, body language...all of these things are used to express their performance. Keep in mind also that many characters in the film are actively cultivating a performance. That is, they want to appear one way to others, but do not necessarily feel that way internally. So, you might consider the effects of intentionally being deceptive as part of their gender. Read More