feminist analysis

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Green Lantern is a science Fiction movie directed by Martin Campbell. This movie is about a police force called Green Lantern Intergalactic Corps that uses green rings which feeds on their willpower and has a mission to protect the universe from evil. The main Character, Hal Jordan played by Ryan Reynolds is chosen by the ring and protects his planet from Parallax. His childhood sweetheart Carol Ferris played by Blake Lively supports him throughout the movie. Dr. Amanda Waller played by Angela Bassett appears a few times and brings Hector Hammond played by Peter Sarsgaard to perform an autopsy on Abin Sur’s body played by Temuera Morrison. The first female character shown in the movie doesn’t have a name and is obviously either a sex worker or a ‘one night stander’. She appears in the movie once and does not even speak at all in the movie. The first impression this movie gives is that women are inferior to men. The director of the movie, Martin Campbell portrayed women in a very despicable manner silencing them and not giving them a voice. The main character does not regard or care about her and leaves a speechless young lady completely surprised in his bed. The first thing the second female character, Carol Ferris, says is “I think you’re late”. She shows masculinity, authority and maturity on Hal and this is shown again later when she says “you’re grounded”. Unlike the first speechless female character, Carol has a voice and is using it to show authority on a man. According to Jacquie Piasta, a feminism examiner, Green Lantern fails the Bechdel test because in the movie there are not two women talking to each other. There is at least two women having names in the movie but since they don’t even know each other, they cannot talk ... ... middle of paper ... ...e; they are not leaders. Women’s creativity is shown when Hal tells Carol not to move but when she sensed Hal and was in danger she launched some missiles towards Parallax and sent Hal’s ring to him. For the very reason that there is patriarchy in this movie, we can say that the women are oppressed, marginalized and treated as the “other”. Female characters are not given enough voice to speak their values. The first female character shown in the movie is not given voice and is treated as a mere object. It is a sign of oppression of the female gender. The contrast between the first female character and the second one shows that the oppression does not always apply to every woman. The second female character was not only given voice but also power. However this does not last long as the female character does not show authority but just support as the movies goes on.

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