Media present women as sex object - Essay Example

Her lack of a love interest is the primary concern of her mother and the dominant thought in her mind. She spends the entire movie trying to work out her life in an acceptable fashion, working to try to choose between two men that continue to enter her social sphere. However, it is only when she is under the right male influence that she is able to achieve any kind of the stability and direction necessary to move forward in her life. Her greatest challenge, then, is to determine which man is the right one to help her move forward.

All of her other accomplishments to that point have amounted to virtually nothing as a result of her flighty, feminine ways. Although one of the men in the story turns out to be just as flighty and directionless, this fact doesn’t emerge until near the end of the story, allowing both men throughout much of the movie to appear as though they are the quintessential man, strong and sturdy in their differing beliefs and goals and equally capable of providing Bridget with her needed stabilizing influence.

Examining the literature behind the portrayal of women in film reveals some of the significance contained within the portrayal of women in this late Hollywood film. Numerous studies have been conducted to determine the various concepts of women that were presented in mainstream films during a 50-year period spanning from the 1920s to the 1970s. Rosen and Haskell each adopted an approach to film as a reflection of current trends in society rather than shapers of it. Although they acknowledged discrepancies in their theories, moments when images presented did not match conceptions held in the popular worldview, they referred to these anomalies as “the industry held a warped mirror up to life” (cited in Hollows & Jancovich, 1995: 156).

Rather than being seen as an attempt to change the status quo or a means of shaping society