Media has been evolving at an astonishing pace over the years. It surrounds us and exists in many forms such as video games, television, the Internet, music and magazines. In today's age, majority of the human population consume at least one of these types of media on a day-to-day basis. Statistics have shown that as of April 2018, a staggering amount of over 4 billion people use the Internet (We Are Social 2018). Millennials revolve around media; as a means of communication, entertainment or obtaining information. The globalisation of media has made possible the large amount of information to be easily shared and accessed amongst billions of people within seconds. Due to this exposure, it is inevitable for people to be influenced by the images …show more content…
Rao (2018) states that only 4.3% of directors of top films in Hollywood are women for the past 11 years. This tells us that the male-dominated film industry only portrays women in their point of view (Strickland 2014, 3) and it usually paints women in a way that is biased and sexist. An example of this is media's negative connotations of working class women - unstable, irresponsible mothers, failures in marriage and parenting while executive men are presented as successful, responsible and ideal role models of a father (Ezzedeen, Budworth, & Baker 2015, 8). This biased gender norm conveys messages that only men are meant to lead others while women should only be cornered to a feminine role such as a homemaker, as they do not have the qualities of a man, creating a sense of exclusion and segregation between both gender. This is implied later on in the study as it stated women found themselves questioning their capabilities taking on the role of a leader as it clashed with their gendered identity; not being "masculine" and 'aggressive" enough. In the filming industry, it is evident that women still face ongoing challenges to this day as study shows that from 2016 to 2017, the percentage of female protagonists in the 100 highest-grossing Californian films experienced a 5%-point drop - 29% to 24% (Buckley 2018, p.2). This study shows an example of social stratification or in specificity, gender stratification, which refers to males inhabiting higher social status and more benefits than females. To summarize, the depiction of women in films are under-represented which reinforces the idea of women being incapable of leadership and success in career creating gender
Decades ago Katha Pollitt realized there were not enough women is the television industry and preschool aged children were the ones being effected the most. From Pollitt’s article the Smurfette principle was developed and spread worldwide. This principle has helped lead the way for women in the media, but has it been enough? In her dissertation about how female characters are represented in Hollywood, Reema Dutt (2013) points out that “Animated children’s films tend to focus on male characters, with females as ancillary accessories...” Young girls are the most impressionable at the preschool age, yet Hollywood allowed men to dominate the big screen for so many years. Dutt (2013) goes on to explain “This is particularly disappointing given the fact that these films target impressionable children, who are being fed normative and antiquated portrayals of women at a young age.” Pollitt’s outlook was not erroneous, however the differences in television between 1991 and 2016 are astounding. There are twenty three years between Pollitt’s article and Dutt’s dissertation and many aspects still hold true. Over those years there has been much headway made for women in television. According to a study in HuffPost Women Nina Bahadur (2012) reported that “…44.3 percent of females were gainfully employed — compared with 54.5 percent of
When it comes to movies, you are less likely to see a woman with a starring role. In fact, women are underrepresented in all media. Studies on prime time television programs show an alarmingly low number of women on television. Thirty-Eight percent of women play doctor or heath care roles. That means a whopping sixty-two percent are played by male actors. “In music videos drawn form five music-oriented television networks, male characters outnumber females by a ration of 3 to 1,”(Collins, 2011). In video games, the odds are the worst. Only
...aligning to stereotypical gender roles. Women’s representation in film and media is perceived to only be a woman’s problem, but it is everyones. We are all responsible for the conditions of the world based on what we do or not do. It is that engagement or lack of engagements that sets the stage and tone of the debate.
Like actresses, female film executives are also paid less than their male colleagues, although they are doing the same job. Female film executives work behind the scenes on a movie and television set. An example of how female film executive are paid less is when “The studio[Colombia Pictures] paid Michael De Luca $2.4 million a year but only paid Hannah Minghella $1.5 million a year — or 37 percent less than De Luca” (Khon). This show how not only actresses, but how women in Hollywood are undervalued compared to their male colleagues. Instead of setting an example for the gender pay gap Hollywood should have to set an example for other job occupations. If women in Hollywood, a billion dollar industry, can not get equal pay than female teachers and female engineers do not have a chance to fight for equal
The search for equality within the film industry has been very much a subject of contention over the years, and even now, is still a source struggle for all women within the industry. Whether women are actors or producers, directors or screenwriter, behind-the-scenes or talent, they knew that their dream of making it in the world of filmmaking will come with many obstacles. They would have to work twice as hard as men, only to be payed less than the majority of them.
Even in modern media today, strong examples of gender role expectations, gender role socialization, gender inequality, and heteronormativity are expressed. Movies are a prime example of where they can be found. Even though times have changed and gender role expectations have faded slightly from the traditional ones, they are still expressed in media which we surround ourselves with every day. Due to the amount of examples found in films we are subconsciously being socialized without knowing it. Gender roles and expectations will always exist and even if they are hard to notice, they will always be present.
Media is very powerful. It devoured the major industries of the modern world. Everything from television shows to social media networks is under the umbrella of almost omnipotent media. The most interesting fact is that people have been addicted to it since long time ago, and this addiction keeps expanding exponentially. What attracts people so much? How media is capable in controlling society so well? Why everyone is so dependent on it? The uses and gratifications research can be very helpful to find out answers to all these questions, as this type of research seeks to understand why and how people actively seek out specific media.
Stereotypes in our society are not uncommon. We come across them every day without realizing it. It is in our human nature to create expectations of the people around us, which could be based upon their ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender or other factors. Stereotypes help us categorize a vast group of people that we may not know anything about, to think that they are smaller and less intimidating. I believe that the blame for these cookie-cutter patterns can lead directly back to the media in every sense of the word. Media is all around us, and affects our opinions and ability to think for ourselves. Whether it’s the latest box office hit or the headlining news, we are getting assumptions from every point of view, which makes it hard to form our own. But I personally think that the biggest influence of our time are in the cinematic arts.
In films, female characters ‘reflect and perpetuate the status and options of women in today’s society’ and play
In Kenneth Mackinnon’s article “Masculinity in Movies,” he provides information about what has changed and what has remained somewhat the same throughout the years of film making, as well as examples of “masculinity in movies.” It is said that the movie industry is a “key source for images of dominant masculinity.” To help with categorizing different types of movies, movies separated into “genres.” They may not tell the same story, but all movies in a specific genre are somehow related in one way or another.
The article I chose this week is about how lack of diversity there are in roles in films made in the United States. The article stated that between the years 2007 and 2014, women only made up 30 percent of all speaking roles. Another article was released recently stating that that there are 700 popular films and represent inequality. This article looked at gender, race, and ethnicity. The top movies are only white, straight, young, and male. Out of the top 100 movies 73.1 percent of all speakers were white, 19 characters were lesbian/gay/bisexual, 19.9 percent of the characters were 40 to 64 years old, and women directed 1.9 percent of the movies. Films produced in 2014, not a single woman was starred over the age 45. These statistics pointed out how directors are prejudice when making decision about their characters. The article specified that art may be a mirror of life, but is often a misleading one in mainstream American cinema. Even though women are about half of the population they remain a persistent minority on screen.
This essay will argue that films and other media cultures represent an element of modern life, whilst gender ideologies and stereotypes still remain as a question of how society thinks about gender identities. With so many films that deliver messages and images about men and women today, it is inevitable that it would leave the audiences with no impact about these ideas whether directly or indirectly. However, people live in a modern life that keeps changing and thus the traditional stereotypes and generalisations that existed before about media and gender might not be as relevant in today’s world, as the society keep changing which gradually affects the media and people’s attitude to change. Douglas Kellner phrase that media culture “constitutes a common culture” (Kellner 1995, p.1) about gender is not entirely true. This essay will argue that media images do not fully represent the gender roles in today’s society. Using the film Mr. and Mrs. Smith as an example, where the gender roles have been switched, it will examine on how the gender roles are represented in the film (Mr. and Mrs.Smith 2005). Traditionally, men would be seen as more dominant than women, but in the film, one could see that the female character, Jane Smith is more dominant compared to her husband, John Smith.
In the United States, gender has always been a dichotomous, discriminatory system. The men are privileged and the women oppressed. The media, especially film and television, reflect this. From a purely quantitative standpoint, women are perpetually underrepresented. For the qualitative, men receive complex story lines where explanations are given for all behaviors, negative and positive, and women are lucky to receive story lines. Of the women who are in film and television, they usually serve as a sexual object to supposedly attract audiences or as side characters designed to further the character development of a male protagonist. This lack of diversity harmfully affects female audiences and to lesser extent, male audiences. Female
Mainstream movies are about men’s lives, and the few movies about women’s lives, at their core, still also revolve around men (Newsom, 2011). These female leads often have male love interests, looking to get married or get pregnant. Strong independent female leads are still exist for the male view, as they are hypersexualized, or the “fighting fuck toy,” (Newsom, 2011). This depiction has created a culture where women are insecure and waiting for a knight on a horse to come rescue and provide for her as well as the acceptance of women
One thing that I have learned throughout my college career is that woman has always been given the short end of the stick in films. Women have always been objectified and the male gaze has always been the prominent way of viewing and creating films. Usually women’s place in a film is always thought to be pleasurable for the male viewers. The introduction of the term “the male gaze” can be traced back to Laura Mulvey’s essay called “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema.” Mulvey states that in film, women are usually the objects because the camera is focuses on the assumption of heterosexual men as the default target audience for most film genres.