Genre Impact on the Representation of Gender and Sexuality - Essay Example

Genre impact on the representation of gender and/or sexuality Genre impact on the representation of gender and/or sexuality Genre has a considerable impact on the representation of gender and/or sexuality particularly in the modern films. The manner in which the media represent gender and sexuality transforms the general representation of the two. Gender and sexuality are the basic terms used to categorize human beings and are crucial in the issue of representation. The media has an impact on the people’s conception of the issue of gender. The visual media present several role models of both genders that influence people’s mind-set in the issue of sexuality. The media representation of women for instance centers on physical beauty and absence of strong and influential female role models (McCaughey & Neil, 12). Although the nature of women might have changed from emphasizing much on beauty or emergence of influential role models, the perception of people towards women remains as portrayed in the media. Conversely, media representation of men centers on strength, power and sexual charisma. Although this might not be true for all men, the media representation ensures that everyone perceives men in that line (McCaughey & Neil, 14). The diverse representation of different genders in films raises the issue of gender imbalance in films. Gender imbalance in films also has an impact of representation of gender and sexuality. A recent study revealed that more than 60% of the speaking roles in films are given to men leaving the lesser percent to the women (Nanthakumar, 2). Further, females in films are more than three times likely to be displayed almost naked or fully naked. The women dress in more provocative clothes than men do. This has influenced the representation of gender and has sparked complains among some female groups. The groups claim that women are viewed as sexual objects particularly after watching depicting them as so. According to the research report, close to 30% of the girls are depicted as attractive which has raised the issue of female characters being perceived as servants. The films portray women and girls as attractive and sexual objects. This makes them feel that they should always be mindful of their physical beauty and be submissive to the men. This has created a gender representation in which the women feel less important in the society because their ideas are opinions are not important according to the film. One of the films that have such a representation is the movie, “Twilight” (Douglas, 40). It was further discovered that men are hardworking in terms of movie production as opposed to women. This implies that there are more male movie producers, writers, directors or cameramen than women. The films represent men as physically stronger than women. In the action adventure films, the men usually dominate the scenes. The men usually the heroes are depicted as sexually striking, brave and physically stronger than women. They are also depicted as independent and confident. In these types of films, the opposite of the heroes are the villains. The villains are depicted as wicked and cruel. They are less attractive when compared to the heroes while their scary look makes the audience hate them. The films depict women as motivating characters and usually play a passive role. Most Hollywood movies portray women as frail and helpless. This has made the world perceive women as so (Dole, 87). The films are shot with the women screaming, sobbing and most of the time crying. Some movies however, portray the women as rowdy and aggressive. Some of the viewers of such films might change and start perceiving the women as violent and aggressive. The Watkin’s Chicago provides a good example of media representation of aggressive women. Some of the movies that portrayed women as aggressive include the film “noir femmes fatales”, “the vamps”, and the more recent ones such as “Monster” and “Million Dollar Baby” of 2003 and 2004 respectively (Cristian, 45). The portrayal of women as aggressive has raised a heated debate among scholars. In the early 70s, some scholars suggested that an investigation into the issue was necessary. The investigation disclosed that women were not very different from men concerning hostile and aggressive behavior. The investigation report suggested that their representation should not be viewed differently from that of men concerning criminal behaviors. This view also disclosed that not all female criminals were evil personified as represented in the film femme fatale. It further disclosed that not all good-looking women were pleasant and innocent as shown in the film ingénues. The film industry thus relies on the feminine stereotypes created by the industry in late 19th century (Dole, 87). This was the period when gender representation was highly influenced by the Victorian principles of femininity and acceptable behavior. The women had to a woman of the house failure to which she was labeled as a fallen woman. The true woman was considered as the angel in the house and was the opposite of the fallen woman. The two terms were coiled to form the concept of duality. The fallen woman was likened to the femme fatale during the Victoria era. The concept of duality and the stereotyping of women strengthened and took roots in the 19th century (Dole, 90). The concept was adopted by Hollywood and the idea of representation of a woman as aggressive was adopted in films. The ancient representation of women and men in films has been changing in the recent past. As mentioned above, people particularly men would flock into cinemas to watch films in order to see the naked or scantily dressed women in the films. Men would be attracted to films by the attractive nature of women and not the prowess of women in acting. The men thus viewed the women as sexual objects and were attracted by the films by their desire for women. The role of women has however changed to represent the women in a different way (Nyatanga, 2). The film “Alien” produced in 1979 was the first action film to give the woman the leading role. The film became very popular because the lead character Ripley ended up being a heroine and was present up to the last scene. The film became a pioneer of other such movies including “Courage under Fire” and “Spirits Within”. These films have common characteristics in that first, the leading characters are women and second, character conflict is avoided by introducing the leading character at the introduction of the film (Lasalle, 55). The women characters are first introduced as women in general, and then the leading characters assume their leading roles making them appear unique and of greater importance than all other characters in the film. In the film Courage under fire for instance, the leading character Meg Ryan is a pilot and a captain of her group. At some point, their helicopter was shot by enemy troops and they were left stranded waiting for help. When the male members of the group were thinking of surrendering to the enemy troops, Meg ordered that no one was surrendering and that they had to fight until the end. This is an example where a women is depicted as strong willed and in fact physically stronger than men in the same situation (Nyatanga, 3). Before the change of roles, the women were represented as weak and helpless before the men The new roles of women are not necessarily sexual. One of the films that portray non-sexual motives is the “Starship Troopers”. In the film, the female lead character dies in a fight shortly after having sex with the lead character. This shows that the film had no sexual motives. Previously, when a female character declined to have sex with the lead male character or even the other male characters, she was described as a lesbian. This perception has now ceased, and women in films are accepted as appropriate characters regardless of whether they accepted to have sex with the male characters or not. This has assisted in lessening the gender gap between man and women (Wanzo, 139). Another issue that has changed with the female characters in films is that the characters borrow action traits when acting horror films. In the horror films, the female characters possess fear from the past. In the films, “I know what you did last summer”, and “The Scream”, the characters associate themselves with something that took place in the past while the audience is left to guess what happened or what the issue is. The audience only gets to know about the issue at the end of the film or in the course of the screening. The supporting actors are frequently killed in the course of the film in order to psychologically haunt the female lead. This strategy is used to change the central character’s perception (Wanzo, 140). In the course, of screening, the protagonist is normally portrayed as being naïve but after the death of a particular character, the protagonist reminisces and gets the courage to confront the antagonist. This change of role of women characters in films has created a completely new representation of gender and sexuality in films. It has helped change the perception that people had towards women in film. Women are no longer viewed as sex objects or feeble and helpless characters. In the real world, men have changed their perceptions towards women and their reasons of watching films. People have leant that women can take leading roles in all films including action and horror movies. Women no longer watch films because they are sexually attracted to the female characters in the film (Wanzo, 145). They watch the films because they want to get entertained by the films just as they would by films whose lead characters are men. Films can be considered to be deviating from reality by showing several types of women representations. Although most of them depict the women as mothers and wives, many representations of a woman implies that women have no identity. This was critically analyzed by Laura Mulveys critique "Visual pleasure and narrative cinema". The piece attempted to explain why women held less significant roles in films. Women have experienced changes in social norms more than men (Annus, 23). Consequently, the depiction of a woman as a homemaker has changed. Women are no longer weaker and helpless as depicted by most ancient films. The attitude towards women has been changed by the current films which portray a woman as a stronger being. The modern woman is an identity and does not live under the shadow of man. The audience perception towards women has consequently changed and is now viewing the women as more independent than they were in the ancient times. The film "Bonnie and Clyde" is an excellent example that shows women have identity. The film reveals that women are increasingly becoming stronger than they were (Annus, 25). Although Bonnie is initially weak of character, she gradually improves and becomes stronger after meeting Clyde. Clyde does not totally dominate over Bonnie a justification that women are becoming independent and are taking significant roles in films. Thus, the films depicting women as weak and helpless are deviating from reality. Although the representation of women and men in films has been changing in the recent past, the depiction of man as the masculine and the physically stronger gender is still prevalent in movies. The representation of women in movies still focuses on physical beauty and sexuality. Women in many films are portrayed as sexual objects, weak, helpless, and submissive to men. The men are depicted as masculine and stronger than women (Studlar, 221). This representation of women and men in the media has been copied in the real world whereby women are perceived as sex objects while the men are perceived as physically stronger than women. However, this is not the case because there are some women who are stronger than some men while it is obvious that not all women are beautiful. Some of the latest films are portraying women as being equal to men in terms of taking lead roles in films. This has assisted in changing the perception that only men can take lead roles in films. Some films are not sexually oriented. This has assisted in changing the perception of a woman as a sex object. Bibliography Annus, Irén. Social Realities in the Making. The Structuration of Society and the Constitution of American Identity. Papers in English & American Studies XI. Monograph Series 3. Szeged: JATEPress, 2005 Cristian, Réka M and Zoltán Dragon. Encounters of the Filmic Kind: Guidebook to Film Theories. Szeged: JATEPress, 2008 Dole, Carol M. “The Gun and the Badge. Hollywood and the Female Lawman.” In Martha McCaughey and Neal King eds. Reel Knockouts. Violent Women in the Movies. Austin: U of Texas P, 2001, 78-105 Douglas, Susan J. Where The Girls Are. New York: Random House, 1994 Lasalle, Mick. Complicated Women. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 2000. McCaughey, Martha and Neal King. “What’s a Mean Woman like You Doing in a Movie like This?” In Martha McCaughey and Neal King, eds. 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