THE REPRESENTATION OF FEMALE CHARACTERS IN FILM BY

THE REPRESENTATION OF FEMALE CHARACTERS IN FILM BY LORIK OSMANI

DEMOGRAPHICS • On the top 100 grossing films of 2016, women represented: HOLLYWOOD - 4% of directors - 11% of writers - 3% of cinematographers - 19% of producers - 14% of editors • Kathryn Bigelow is the only woman to ever win the Academy Award for Best Director (2016). Only four women have ever been nominated (Lina Wertmüller, Jane Campion, Sofia Coppola, and Bigelow). • Females comprised 29% of protagonists - 78% of female characters had an identifiable job or occupation (compared to 86% of male characters) - 45% of female characters were seen in their work setting, actually working (versus 61% of males) • 76% of all female characters were white in the top 100 films of 2016. 14% were Black, 6% were Asian, and 3% were Latina. (Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film). • As budgets increase, opportunities for female filmmakers decrease. From 2007 -2016, women: - Directed 28% of narrative shorts - Directed 27% of narrative independent films - Accounted for 19% of first-time episodic TV directors - Directed 4% of top-grossing films.

VIRTUAL MUSCULARITY • A 2013 study by Flurry looked at the different mobile gaming preferences between men and women. Women made up 60– 80% of the solitaire, slots, social turn-based, match-three / bubble-shooter, management / simulation and quiz game markets. Men on the other hand, made up between 60– 80% of the strategy, shooter, card battle, racing and action RPG markets. • A 2014 Super Data Research study found that men and women enjoy video games, but some genres are attracting one gender more than the other, 50. 2% of the PC market The study found that men make up 66% of MMO players, 66% of FPS players and 63% of digital console players Female video game characters of the past were mostly relegated to roles of the bag carrier wearing next to nothing kind. • Lara Croft, and her super-tight tank top, was the poster girl for female gaming, Game designers have even complained that females were more difficult to animate due to bone structure and they're more emotional so it’s a challenge of animating a more expressive face. • Females nowadays in video games are presented by matching their physical appearance to their personslity, such as Lara Croft is made to look attractive by wearing shorts and tight T shirts so they are exposed which makes the female gamers feel gd but also appeals to the male gaze.

PORTRAYAL OF WOMEN, OBJECTIFICATION AND SEXUALISATION IN FILM • Actresses are continually being objectified in some of Hollywood’s biggest blockbusters. Most the time they are seen as weak, powerless and as sexual objects For example: - The film Bad Teacher stars Cameron Diaz as an unqualified middle school teacher. Her character wants to get breast implants to attract a fellow teacher. To raise money for her surgery, she has a car wash. She wears shorts and washes the car in a seductive slow motion exposing herself. The whole plot of the movie is materialistic and sexist. - There is certainly no other movie like The Wolf of Wall Street. The movie is filled with cursing, crime, drugs, and lots of sex. This film glamourizes the sexual objectification of women in numerous ways. Sadly, Margot Robbie’s lead character is only seen as a sex object through out the entire film. - Michael Bay’s Transformers has shot after shot slowly pans up to the lead actresses sweaty and in tight clothing. Not only do these actresses have to be attractive, they are always damsels in distress needing to be rescued. Their only purpose in the films is to look sexy or attractive so that a man come save them. This type of sexism can be seen in all five of Michael Bay’s movies.

POWERFUL FEMALE CHARACTERS IN FILM • Wonder woman is a character which has power over men in the film as she is physically stronger and can take down multiple men. She has power over the men in charge as they look up to her as a heroine. She is also attractive due to her body shape and outfit so its appealing to the male gaze. • Daisy Ridley plays an important part in the star wars franchise as a very powerful character named Rey who is “strong with the force’ and is said to be one of the most powerful character so far, more powerful than Luke Skywalker who is considered to be really powerful. In the movie ‘The force awakens’ she is feared by one of the main characters Kylo Ren (Adam Drivers character) along with supreme leader Snoke who is an ancient character in the film who senses her strength.

IMPLICATIONS OF STEREOTYPES AND SOCIAL IMPACTS ON AUDIENCE Female characters are presented in many ways, most cases the male is the dominant gender in film. For example, Once were warriors: The women’s husbands in this scene are seen as superior when the husband (Jake) asks for his wife’s (Beth) attention before singing she immediately responds with a positive tone. The women are used to be treated as sexual objects for the men when the women mentions that she was attracted to him when he 'put his hand halfway up my skirt’ The women in the scene are wearing short skirts and showing a lot of cleavage symbolizes their nature and how their look match the way they are treated in the film. At one point of the film there is a scene where the kids are talking about the parents an saying “its nice when they are like this” the boy then says to her “its only because they are drunk” so it shows that, if the boys want sexual attention, they get drunk and act nice to the females. There also stereotypes such as blondes being the stupid clueless/ slutty ones in film, audiences take that to offence if they are blonde (females). Nowadays there are films that have females seen as more dominant such as Wonder woman who is very powerful physically and mentally.