Essay Plan

Are the female roles in the modern day genre of superhero films a victory for women or are they still objects of desire? With particular reference to the film x-men 3


My Independent study is focusing on the way females have been are now and seemingly will forever be represented by all sorts of Media i.e Internet, t.v and radio. The major factor that the independent study will be based on is the comparison of females in today's generations to all those who came before them.


Introduction: The intro will be trying to get the examiner to focus on all the aspects of life in the working world that females have faced sexism and ageism to give an indication to how long this has been happening, i.e jobs in Hollywood, the music industry, sports, business and society in general to show how females have been given an immediate disadvantage


Part 1 - A M.I.G.R.A.I.N and partly SHEP Analysis

* I.e Historical - X men 3 has relations to the Holocaust with the social outcasting of Jewish people could be related to how females felt in the past

*Social- Mutant ants vs Humans is the basic narrative of the film which could echo the female power struggle fought to get equality.

Carry on from the start of the Essay by giving a detailed M.I.G.R.A.I.N and Shep analysis to demonstrate links to the key and wider content of women in society today and how it relates to the film. Shows That I have a knowledge of the film and some others in its genre


Part 2- How society has changed up until now

* The rise of feminism and what it meant for women at the time

* The second wave of feminism and what impact it has on males (i.e male backlash)

* Attitudes towards females in the late 1970s and how movie story lines and roles would reflect them

The examiner needs to understand what happened in the past to see what kind of rise women have had compared to their male counterparts in the movie industry and that is the yardstick where success is measured of how far they have come. Compare the two sets of feminism waves and argue weather they seriously have contributed to the more respectful roles in which women play in the modern Hollywood era


Part 3- The expansion and evolution of women's roles in movies

* Go over the roles in which the 3 main female characters in X-men 3 play and whether they play it to a convincing and justified standard.

* Explain what roles such as femme fatale, token character and the final girl were and what they were about

* Talk about some of the newer roles women are assigned to play i.e the hero's boss or the protagonist herself

* Argue both sides of outlook audiences would get from seeing a female main hero compared to a male hero and how realistic it is

* Describe some roles they play on the small screen (TV) in sitcoms or soaps then compare it to films

This section of the essay will explain that throughout the decades the gender roles that directors have cast females in have been widen as a result of the changes in society and the assumptions made by the public on certain types of women (bimbos, career women)


Part 4- Stereotypes

* Explain what exactly stereotypes are and how they have come about

* Argue how and why the media are so powerful in brainwashing people into believing stereotypes

* Summarise whether I have a more Hegemonic or Pluralistic thinking

* Explain whether either model has a direct effect on the number of females in Hollywood and peoples attitudes towards them

This part is one of the most important parts of the essay as it will bring to light just how destructive the media and government can be in sending down moral messages and laws. In this section I will summarise whether young girls conform to the false consciousness that institutions employ on them and how it effects their adult life.


Part 5- Lack of Female directors

* Name and describe the few female directors that have made names for themselves

* Why their aren't so many in contrast to men

* Analyse whether the lack of female directors has a direct effect on the number of female actresses and the negative roles they play in some movies

* Would female audiences get a better deal if they viewed a film that had a female director that shares their ideas and feelings.

There is an argument that if you employ more female directors then they will look after and protect their female actresses and not conform them to degrading roles that they play in this day and age. I will look to find out if their purposes to satisfy the audiences would mean they would have to sacrifice personnel morals they have grown up on.


Part 6 - Conspiracy of prejudice towards women

* Sexism, Ageism why is it that men seem to last longer then females even though they are apparently over the hill

* Give Reference to some examples in the media where T.V companies have been offenders i.e Selina Scott and Five news

This will be the penultimate point in the essay to back up the ill feeling in Hollywood that men still get a longer and therefore more prosperous career. The sex symbol status that are put on women last a lot less then their male counterparts, so i will talk about the prospect of having an older women still paying the main protagonist and what reaction it would receive from passive and aggressive audiences.


Conclusion

* Relating to other superhero texts

* Quoting theorists and arguing if it has any significance on the actresses of today for instance with them being "symbolically annihilated".

* Make a decision on my answer

* If their isn't an answer evaluate reasons for why I have not come up with one

I will round off the essay by taking everything that has been said into account and making a conclusion of the question that i originally set for the study. I will relate to different texts such as kill bill and fantastic 4 to show how female roles have changed and how they are still similar and whether it will be likely that their will be a change.



Other texts to relate to

Superman
Fantastic 4
Kill Bill
X- men
X- men 2
Cat woman
Daredevil
Wonder woman
Spider man 1,2,3




Books to Refer to

Title: Media Studies, The essential guide resource
Year published: 2004
Author Name: Rayner,Phillip
Place it was published: Canada

Title: Halle Berry: A stormy life
Year published: 2004
Author Name:Sanello,Frank
Place it was published: USA

Title: The cinema book
Year published:(1981)
Author Name: Cook,Pam
Place it was published:Britain

Title: Media , gender and identity
Year published :2002
Author Name: Gauntlet,David
Place it was published: Britain

Title: BFI Film and television handbook
Year published: 1999
Author Name:Dyja,Eddie
Place it was published: Britain



Websites

http://people.stu.ca/~hbgxh/engl2223/research2.htm- Argument that women's reputations were affected by the roles they assumed on stage

http://www.representationofwomensuperheroes.blogspot.com/ -Another student on representation of females referring to cat woman played by halle berry who i will be talking about
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Modules/MC30820/represent.html- Displays the media representation triangle of Production- Reception-Refrence

http://loo.me/2006/08/28/mr-mrs-smith-and-hollywoods-gender-role-reversal/- Suggesting that gender role reversals such as the one in Mr and Mrs smith is now believable and should be done more often