My semester project will be an analytical essay on the gender inequalities portrayed in fiction film and how this misrepresentation affects women in their careers as well as everyday life in society. I am still in early stages of production and development. I am obtaining as much research as possible. In addition to studies and cases, i will conduct my own research by looking at some of my favorite, as well as unseen films and analyzing the roles of women.
The research that I have so far for this project are mostly scholarly articles and studies on gender stereotypes and inequalities in the film industry. These articles are detailed analyses with extensive statistics and commentaries on the topic. The studies cover a wide array of details such as how women are represented in different rated movies(G, PG, PG-13, R) , as well as how they are represented in different time periods, from the 60s to the most recent films. Some of the studies also include in-depth analyses of women in lead roles and how the characters are portrayed and molded based on already existing stereotypes. In addition, these articles give statistics and commentaries on portrayals of men in film in order to create an appropriate context.
I believe that this topic fits perfectly with what we have been discussing in class because film is one of the largest aspects of the media industry. Films (more specifically fiction films) are largely influential as well as heavily influenced by gender roles and stereotypes that exist in society. These films, though always striving for change and innovation, hold a foundation that spawns from the accepted traditions of society’s culture, which include notions about gender. I wish to write this essay and analyze fiction films in order to bring awareness to the film industry and their misguided portrayals of women. I wish to bring to light the problem that the film industry cannot trust a leading lady to bring in as much ticket sales as a leading man could. This problem can should be addressed and can be fixed. The only issue is that studios want to stick to the formula that works and that brings in money. There are a far too limited number of films that have been made with a women as the lead. If more films took the risk, they might find that they can make film magic that would be the same if a man were in the part.
This fits with my portfolio of work because I wish to get into the film industry but am well aware of the gender inequalities that are prevalent while making movies. I wish to learn as much as I can about this issue as well as expose it to the world. This can grow as I get more firsthand experience in the film industry and see for myself how women are being misrepresented.
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| Quentin Tarantino's most popular film features one of the only women in the film, and is not even a central character. |
Sources:
Gender inequality in 500 films. http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/Gender_Inequality_in_500_Popular_Films_-_Smith_2013.ashx
Gender Stereotypes: An analysis of popular Film and TV http://seejane.org/wp-content/uploads/GDIGM_Gender_Stereotypes.pdf
NY Film Academy Article
https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/
Hey Kevin. Good subject choice. It might be cool if you could look into other forms of media where female characters have major roles such as episodic television. You can even take that further with business models that are not supported by advertising such as Netflix which produces a lot of well-received and popular original content featuring strong, leading female cast members. You can even touch on how advertising and the larger mainstream media affects these casting decisions on major studio films and ad-reliant television.
ReplyDeleteI think it would be important to see how apparent the misrepresentation of women in older films is and see how this misrepresentation is still around but not as apparent. Just from the top of my head, I think of the trope of the "strong female" who is often portrayed as masculine and constantly rejects her femininity to appear as a "new age woman." This trope can prove to be problematic for women and girls that CHOOSE to embrace their femininity.
ReplyDeleteYou should also address race because there is clearly a difference between how black women are represented and how white women are represented. Check what kind of roles they are playing in movies. Are they similar? How are they treated differently?
I think this is a great idea as an actress and some sources that might be of use are from Indiewire.com. They have interviews, reviews, critics, etc on the film and tv industry tackling issues of gender inequality from various actors and actresses. It's content straight from the sources themselves, the filmmakers and actors who describe the work they have done or continue to do in order to gain success and what success means to them as artists from a studio standpoint or from a human standpoint, a person trying to do what they love and in doing so get what they deserve and show the world a story worth seeing regardless of fame and money because as you read in the articles, success can come at any age.
ReplyDeleteThis is a really great topic to work on. Perhaps in your research, consider using movies that have books or comic books/graphic novels as source materials. See how the females were changed in transfer. Were a few women condensed into one at the expense of male characters? Was personality or characteristics changed to make her more amenable? Also, look into films from the early 1930's or any time before the FCC was established. The women in those films are usually more realistic and independent, less tropey.
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