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Masculinity and stereotypes in movies
Masculinity and stereotypes in movies
Masculinity and stereotypes in movies
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The James bond film series has captivated its audience for decades with eye-catching gadgets, explosions, and heroism of Agent 007. Over the years that these films have been produced, a variety of actors have played James bond and many actresses have played his love interests. The male roles are portrayed as overly masculine and all of the women are overly sexualized. It seems that in every James bond movie the special agent is beating up twenty guys and saving the lives of various gorgeous women who immediately go to bed with him. The portrayal of men and women in this sort of way set expectations and standards that are far too high for both genders. The characters in the James Bond film series are portrayed in ways that are negatively influencing today’s youth by sexualizing and domesticating women, while the men are violent and chauvinistic
Everyone would agree with the statement that James Bond is portrayed to be an alpha male. He is a dominate character. Bond has physical and social power, has control over his emotions, and has his way with women thought the films. In the opening scene of the movie, James Bond is chasing a suspect that he is ordered to capture. Instead of catching his target, agent 007 kills this man. When confronted with his killing, Bond responds casually “I thought the world could use one less bomb maker.” This man defies his commands and takes human life for no reason and without remorse. In another scene, Bond is in a high stakes poker tournament. After winning a man’s car from him, he has sexual relations with that man’s wife just to get information out of her. Are boys receiving the right message by watching these films? That using women and killing men on a whim are not onl...
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...'s Last Line of Defence: Miss Moneypenny And The Desperations Of Filmic Feminism. " Hecate 24.(1998): 93.Academic Search Complete. Web. 24 Feb.2012.
Casino Royal. Dir Martin Campbell. Perf. Daniel Craig, Eva Green, Mads Mikkelsen, and Judi Dench. Columbia Pictures, 2006. DVD.
Tompkins,Aimee. “The Psychological Effects of Violent Media on Children.”All Phsych Journal (2003) Web
Sharon Snyder-Suhy, et al. "Shaken and Stirred: A Content Analysis Of Women’S Portrayals In James Bond Films. " Sex Roles 62.11/12 (2010): 747-761.Academic Search Complete. Web.24 Feb. 2012. Online
The Jackson, James. "The Sexism Inherent in James Bond Films." Suite101.com.15 July 2009.Web. 02 Mar, 2012.james-jackson. suite101.
"Movie Body Counts: Charts: Top: Franchises: James Bond. " Movie Body Counts. Web. 04 Mar. 2012. moviebodycounts. com/franchises-bond. html
Before we go any further lets divide the Bond Movies in four significant patterns. First wave of Bond movies shall belong to time period of Sean Connery. The second wave shall belong to Roger Moore. Third wave belongs to Pierce Brosnan and lastly the fourth and the recent wave belongs to Daniel Craig. I have not included Timothy Dalton’s contribution as James Bond since he can only be credited for two Bond movies which were not even as famous as the above four Bonds’. George Lazenby’s movie stands alone as an exception and his movie is discussed in detail.
For centuries, the ideal masculinity has been seen as the provider, the macho man, the cowboy and the emotional rock, but new representations of manliness in the media have been challenging this idea (Watson 2015, p. 270). Within these new depictions, there lies a hierarchy where one form of masculinity is more accepted than the rest (Kluch 2015). Macho masculinity has been seen as being dominant in the hierarchy for generations, however, in recent years, there have been an influx of new representations of masculinity that disrupt traditional hierarchal ideas. The masculinity of the twenty first century includes emotions, sensitivity, discipline, and intelligence. These new aspects of the hierarchy have been introduced by movies such as Brokeback Mountain, 22 Jump Street, The
Westford, Massachusetts: The Murray Printing Company. Company, 1978 Kulik, Sheila F. Home Page. 17 Feb. 2000 http://www.feminist.com/femfilm.html. Rosenberg, Jan. “Feminism in Film.”
Ian Fleming published his first novel, Casino Royale, in 1953. Later on, in 2006 a film was made based on the novel. Fleming published his novel pertaining a man, James Bond, who is a British secret agent and is licensed to kill. Bond is told to gamble with Le Chiffre, who is a member of the Russian secret service. James Bond is assigned a female partner, Vesper Lynd, who is actually a double agent for Russia and Great Britain. Throughout Casino Royale, James Bond is brought to the readers as very hard and insensitive. Whereas the film in 2006, Bond is brought to the film watchers as sensitive and caring. Men in the 1950’s society treat women than in today’s society. A lady should be treated with respect and given dignity. Men should
These movies allowed female characters to embody all the contradictions that could make them a woman. They were portrayed as the “femme fatale” and also “mother,” the “seductress” and at the same time the “saint,” (Newsom, 2011). Female characters were multi-faceted during this time and had much more complexity and interesting qualities than in the movies we watch today. Today, only 16% of protagonists in movies are female, and the portrayal of these women is one of sexualization and dependence rather than complexity (Newsom, 2011).
The Trouble with Men: Masculinities in European and Hollywood Cinema - Phil Powrie, Ann Davies and Bruce Babington.
...characters are not depicted as strong as the male leads. Hermione Granger becomes emotional during high stress battle scenes. Elizabeth Swann shifts to mainly a love interest for the male lead. Queen Amidala becomes emotional and a love interest for Anakin Skywalker. To some, the illusion of strong women signals how far we have come as a society in the last half-century. In reality, however, the film industry has only progressed enough to be able to give off an illusion of strong women. The lack of female directors in Hollywood gives way to a male-centric ideology that eroticizes and demeans women in films – often just subconsciously because the director is male. It is time to welcome more Kathryn Bigelows. More Julie Taymors. More Sofia Coppolas. Only when a balance among film directors is reached can many films finally break out of traditional gender stereotypes.
In recent times, such stereotyped categorizations of films are becoming inapplicable. ‘Blockbusters’ with celebrity-studded casts may have plots in which characters explore the depths of the human psyche, or avant-garde film techniques. Titles like ‘American Beauty’ (1999), ‘Fight Club’ (1999) and ‘Kill Bill 2’ (2004) come readily into mind. Hollywood perhaps could be gradually losing its stigma as a money-hungry machine churning out predictable, unintelligent flicks for mass consumption. While whether this image of Hollywood is justified remains open to debate, earlier films in the 60’s and 70’s like ‘Bonnie and Clyde’ (1967) and ‘Taxi Driver’ (1976) already revealed signs of depth and avant-garde film techniques. These films were successful as not only did they appeal to the mass audience, but they managed to communicate alternate messages to select groups who understood subtleties within them.
Some people might say that these movies provide entertainment and transport families into the lives of princes and princesses. Many critics have said that the films have amazing soundtracks and have detailed and interesting plots. Still, however entertaining the films may be, the way women are viewed and treated outweigh any enjoyment that a viewer could have. The subliminal lessons young women learn from these films have lifelong repercussions and negatively affect the female
I am a woman. Without the feminist understanding that my education has afforded me, mainstream media portrayals of woman in relation to man would burn holes through the fabric of my mind and dismantle my ambitions. Ignoring the infraction that media portrayals impose on naïve minds gives the impression that it is acceptable to be inappropriately cultivated in gender equality. Television media continues to pose a grave threat; but worse is the deceitful attempt to find something attributable to women, the attempt to lure them with admiration, only to smack them with the patronizing undertone of being incomparable to men.
A common trend in the entertainment industry today is the objectification of women in society. Sexualizing women are seen in media such as; movies, advertisement, television show and music video, where their main focus is providing the audience with an image of women as sexual objects rather than a human. This is detrimental to society since the media is producing social stereotypes for both genders, which can further result in corrupted social habits. Objectification in media are more focused on females than male, these false images of women leave individuals with the wrong idea of the opposite sex. As media continuously use sexual contents regarding women, the audience starts underestimating women. Specifically movies, it allows media to shape the culture’s idea of romance, sex and what seems
The media today is overflowing with idealistic representations of modern life; society’s hunger for excellence is reproduced in every detail of the media we consume. Reality, in contrast, is a poor substitute for the fairytale world of film, where good beats evil and stories end with a happily ever after. Arguably, women are often the “victims” of motion picture’s perfect perceptions, and feminism’s persistent test is to challenge these impractical representations. The female princess characters show an example of inaccurate feminine fulfillment.
James Bond has gone through a lot of changes in the years with 19 films.
Women have made progress in the film industry in terms of the type of role they play in action films, although they are still portrayed as sex objects. The beginning of “a new type of female character” (Hirschman, 1993, pg. 41-47) in the world of action films began in 1976 with Sigourney Weaver, who played the leading role in the blockbuster film ‘Aliens’ as Lt. Ellen Ripley. She was the captain of her own spaceship, plus she was the one who gave out all the orders. Until then, men had always been the ones giving the orders; to see a woman in that type of role was outlandish. This was an astonishing change for the American industry of film. Sometime later, in 1984, Linda Hamilton starred in ‘The Terminator’, a film where she was not the leading character, but a strong female character as Sarah Connor. She had a combination of masculine and feminine qualities as “an androgynous superwoman, resourceful, competent and courageous, while at the same time caring, sensitive and intuitive” (Hirschman, 1993, pg. 41-47). These changes made in action films for female’s roles stirred up a lot of excitement in the “Western society” (Starlet, 2007). The demand for strong female characters in action films grew to a new high when Angelina Jolie starred in ‘Tomb Raider’ in 2001 and then in the sequel, ‘Tomb Raider II: The Cradle of Life’ in 2003 as Lara Croft. Her strong female character was not only masculine, but was also portrayed as a sex object. Most often, strong women in these types of films tend to fight without even gaining a mark. At the end of each fight, her hair and makeup would always be perfect. The female characters in these action films, whether their role was as the lead character or a supporting character, had similar aspects. I...
The representation of violence exacted upon women in cinema is inextricable from being projected upon all women. To provide a scene that objectifies the female is to reduce the feminine form to its non-dual state, e.g., a sexual object providing a vessel for male gratification (hubris and sexual) rather then being defined by its duality of sentient and physical forms. Those who construct scenes of violence against women are bound to a moral responsibility to subjectify the woman’s perspective, thus reestablishing the female as a victim rather then an object and rendering the act of violence intelligible (deplorable, open to interpretation).