Independant study for X- men 3

Media Representations

The women who all play important roles in the hit movie x-men 3 are being represented as strong , brave and smart but that is just the outline for what is probably a much deeper representation. the directors of makers of the movie want to create an illusion that the females are their for their contribution to the film through their acting abilities and personality but when you look at it from alternative angles its a different story. As well as all the positive things about them they are also represented as being good looking but gullible and reliant on their male counterparts to help them achieve their goals in defeating their enemies. Unfortunately they are being represented in this way because its following a history of superhero movies before it when they are reliant on others and are usually the ones being rescued on not the other way around. So i believe this isn't a fair way of showing female roles in the modern era of Hollywood but it is an accurate one though.

Media Languages and Forms

The texts connotations are very significant to uncovering my question in this study because you only have to take what the characters are wearing for it to become clear that the connotations are plain to see. In the movie the superheros are subjected to wearing tight clothing as their costumes which connotes the aura of sexuality. Throughout the movie the main female protagonist rogue is portrayed as vulnerable, weak and incapable of controlling the power shes possesses theses can all be seen through her facial expressions as most of the time she is looking worried and frightened, now although this isn't a negative portrayl of a female where her sexual exposes are the main point of focus it isn't a positive one either a more 21st century style of a confident woman is far from seen in the character.


The narrative of the text is it follows one main story line which is the final battle between the good and evil mutants who have been fighting for many years. The music used to embody the narrative are very effective as it empathises the feelings towards the particular scenes they are used in, this is the case espsically in the trailer as at the beginning when the tension is building up as the voice over is telling the story the background music is a choir of girls creating a very chilling feeling but as soon as the action picks up and the fast pace shots kick so does the non diegetic music and therefore it creates a fast upbeat sound
Genre

This movie belongs to the action film genre which is shown through the mise en scene , narrative and special effects. The text confirms the characteristics of the genre with its uses of generic conventions and connotations including the powers that the characters each have, fighting between the good and evil sides, the basis that each side of justice lie and the aspects of patriotism when they are fighting for not only their rights but to save the country and the world.

This is also the case for the women of the film but their codes and conventions aren't what the audience would usually expect as their are very few evil female characters as unique as the character mystique, this is something that goes agaisnt the ideas of the regularly conventions and connotations you would normally associate with a female villain. She only has blue paint covering up the major parts of the female body clearly exposing those parts to the audience which will mostly heighten the male gaze to new levels. However she is intelligent, devious and knows how to use the powers she posses very well therefore she is still confirming the usual conventions of a female villain so it goes both for and agaisnt them.

Media Institutions


The institutional source of my respective text is marvel who are known for superhero movies. The film has been very influenced by marvel who want to change some of the aspects of the comic book version to the streaming movie of it. Some of these aspects however have not been changed like the contribution of female characters. Marvel wanted to keep them from being the head leaders in the group both in the comics and in the movies as it had been demonstrated a number of times when they have had to depend on the services of the males in their group and not their own ability. Marvel are an institution that is commercial as they have no duty to service the public they make the film in their own way which means majority of the time the degrading of the women in the texts.

Media Values and Ideology

Some of the values , assumptions and ideologies expected in the release of this film have been both established and discarded ecspically in the roles of the females. An immediate assumption when watching a film of this genre is that the person who eventually is saved is a women- it happened, another assumption was that the person who was going to save her was a man- it happened, another one was that the good side always win- it happened. So in that sense this is no surprise and the assumptions are very much predictable. To be fair the females in the text are not the only looks and not brains style girls that seem to be casted in so many films before this but if the directors really wanted to make a stand and say they are not going along with the usual ideologies that a good looking person must get the part then they should have hired someone of the ugly Betty culture to play the leading female role. So when i consider that i don't believe this is a major step in being a victory for women because they way they are presented here they are still objects of desire.

Media Audiences

The text that i did my study on is addressed to marvel produced superhero movie fans its target audience is the 13- 30 year old who may presently follow the superhero genre style films and who like x-men series specifically or the ones who used to watch the cartoon series looking to rekindle their childhood by attending a trip down memory lane by watching the film.

I think the size of the audience will be a large ones because it will consist of fellow action film genre film goers who would want to continue that trend. Their characteristics would include loving the superhero genre and having a fond passion for watching movies. As for how they will read it they will probably take it as a normal film in this genre with the same sort of connotations and conventions buts others may take a deeper reading into it like the perceptions they got from previous veiwed of other movies of its kind and comparing it to this.