ISL Week Ten - Gender Representation

ISL Week Ten – Gender Representation

‘In the thriller genre males are either heroes or villains; females are always the victims’

Women are represented in the media as the less powerful gender and tend to deal more with emotion and the family instead of the crime and ‘tough’ issues that men may deal with.
Women are often seen as housewives or mothers who are linked to the domestic situation. They are often seen as sex objects in the media which is represented to entertain the male audience. Often in types of non-fictional media women’s roles tend to be smaller than males as the males are seen as the most powerful and dominant gender.  Also, in fictional media women are less likely to be the main source of leading news stories which include politics, business, the law and some religious stories.

There are main stereotypes of women, these are:

·         The female action hero

·         The sex object

·         Retain their sex appeal to male audiences but have masculine characteristics for example, use of weapons and violence.

Some of the well-known female action heroes:

·         Ripley from Alien (1979)

·         Sarah Connor: The Terminator (1984) & Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)

·         Nikita from La Femme Nikita (1990)

·         Lara Croft from Tomb Raider (2001)

·         Azumi from Azumi (2003)

·         Zen from Chocolate (2008)

·         Alice from Resident Evil (2002)

·         Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games (2012)

·         Elastigirl The Incredibles (2004)

·         Hit Girl from Kick-Ass (2010)

As well as women are being portrayed differently in the media, here are different stereotypes of men, these are:

·         The Joker – Popular character with boys, they have the ‘mask of masculinity’. This stereotype portrays that men are not serious and cannot be emotional.

·         The Jock – he always is willing to compromise his own long term health to help others. The Jock uses violence and fights a lot to win approval of other men and then women.

·         The Strong Silent Type – The person that is in charge, acting authoritatively whilst containing emotion as well as being successful with women. This stereotype shows that men must always be in charge and have the control so talking about their feelings is seen as having a weakness.

·         The Big Shot - The professional status that is very successful in society. This stereotype shows that men must be economically powerful and socially successful.

·         The Action Hero – Strength is the most important thing that they concentrate on. They are often angry and aggressive with a lot of use of violent behaviour.

·         The Buffoon – commonly appears as the father figure on the television. He is usually well-intentioned and light-hearted. These characters can range from slightly incept to being hopeless when it comes to being a parent or dealing with a domestic or workplace issue.