Independent Study First Draft

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?

“Storm, I hadn't thought of you as my student for years. In fact, I thought that, perhaps, you might take my place someday" From Prof Charles Xavier [1]

The superhero genre is credited for having a long history of providing great memorable films such as superman, fantastic 4 and the spider man sequels. However they have a direct link and association with Hollywood a film industry that has been accused of "symbolically annihilated" [2] females on screen. For generations women have been giving negative representation of being weak, dumb, narrow minded and only interested in housework just to name a few.It isn't just in Hollywood that they have been discriminated it is apparent in aspects of different industries, in sports their is the tag that they cannot play as well as men and in the corporate world their is the myth (that Barthes created)[3] that women cannot compete intellectually with men and are only their to play token employees to show the company isn't sexist.The respective feminists movements (1920s and 1970s) have played an inaugural part in creating positive representation for females and expanding the limited roles that they played in movies such as the femme fatale (where the woman would be sinister, driven and even in some cases potentially deadly) or the heroes love interest when their only existence was generally for a purpose to be saved by the leading male protagonist. They have seen both sides of the story and this essay will be undermining the answer to the question I have set that's is to justify fully whether female roles in Hollywood in the modern era as apposed to generations before have changed for the better or are they subjected to being objectified.
X-Men: The Last Stand is a 2006 superhero film and the third in the X-Men series [4]. It is directed by Brett Ratner, who took over when Bryan Singer dropped out to direct Superman Returns. The movie revolves around a "mutant cure" that causes serious repercussions among mutants and humans
X men 3 is based on the fighting between 2 sets of mutant teams, with the evil team fighting to take over the world and wage war on the human race, this has significant relations to the holocaust which reflects the zeitgeist of the time. In the holocaust the Jews were seen as “the other” and underneath the Germans in the same way as the evil mutants feel have been treated by the human society. The battle for equality amongst mutants also can be linked to the feminine struggle as they were fighting for the same purpose of fairness.
The use of non dietetic sound as up tempo high speed music is used to a contrapuntal effect to reflect the fast paced action and narrative of the movie, this iconography symbolises that this is an action movie and as a result due to statistics from the past (that only 29% of females are somewhat partially involved in action adventurers) [5] more spotlight is inevitably put on the roles the females play in this film. Its genre falls into the category of superhero and even in the name of the genre gender inequalities are displayed, by calling it superhero it immediately connotes that the main character is going to be a man in the same way that audiences will think it’s a female protagonist if the genre was called super heroine. Their primary target audience are loyal consumers of the previous texts that were in the form of comic books; they grew up reading the comics and gradually understood the narrative as each episode was released. While reading the magazines they realised that females were supposedly equal to their male counterpart’s therefore setting up audience expectation on the film itself to represent the females as powerful and contributive as possible.
X men 3: The last stand supposedly gives the opportunity for women to shine on screen like they have never done before, as studies showed that “films almost always focused on male heroes they typically made the decisions which led the story and were more confident assertive and dominant” [6] Up until now films that are categorized as superhero have represented “woman as frightened and in need of protection and direction” [7] this is reflected in some of the actions of the female characters in X men as they are repeatedly set up as the ones that need saving from the enemies clutches and not their male counterparts. However What is encouraging for women in the film x men from the quote is that Professor Xavier the head of the mutants team believes that storm ( a female) can take over his position in power which will ultimately mean she would become to most powerful character [8]
In the late nineteenth century and the early twentieth century’s feminism emerged, and grew especially at like many other protests for civil rights in the time of the First World War. Feminism was the response from angry females who were unhappy with a life of inequality. They believed that women had a right to have political as well as social equality with men. It had various movements and Feminist theory and theorists emerged as a result from these times including Laura Mulvey and Gay Tuchman.
The First wave of feminism as many people call it refers to a period of time when feminist activity was at its highest, the second wave of feminism occurred during the 1960s and 1970s. The difference between the two sets of waves was the first-wave feminism focused mainly on overturning laws to function equality like in work while second-wave feminism addressed the more unofficial inequalities like house roles etc. Many films narratives in Hollywood in the 60s 70s and in some occasions the 80s reflected society’s apparent view that women should be subservient to men, even the more well known actresses like Marylyn Monroe at some point in the narrative had to play roles that displayed the dominance of males at the time.
The attitude towards feminism by males especially in the 1970s portrayed the roles on screen women were playing in Hollywood as the amount number of different roles and personalities that females could have started to expand even if they were still negative.
For instance in fatal attraction when the leading character was female but she was still represented as a woman who had misused the power she had been given after having an affair with the main male character. However considering that until the creation of feminism women were treated almost as passive agents in a male world.
Looking back at the two waves of feminism they have arguably played a major role in creating new wider spread characters both on screen and off in comparison to the one dimensional characters they used to play.
Without women fighting for equality in the work place or with the right to vote then it wouldn’t of resulted in impartiality in Hollywood either and directors had to take that into account when casting and making the narrative, because not only did they want to reflect society at the time but they did not want to upset feminists groups that could potentially put negative spotlight on their movies if upset at the representation of women. “The action film has historically been a male genre dealing with stories of male heroism, produced by male filmmakers for principally male audiences”. This was the case before feminism came along and sometimes still is and feminism has helped to curb that statement if not end it.
The roles that many female’ stars past and present have played on screen have been naturally very inadequate to a degree where they only play certain roles where their personalities are limited. Before the 1980s there were 2 well known type of characters that female would be cast in – the Madonna role or the hore. Nowadays there are many more roles for females to play such as the femme fatale, although the femme fatale is give negative representation she is involved further in the plot and contributes much more to the narrative then other roles do. It is the same with the “final girl” a role which was developed when the slasher film came to light [9]. Some of the more positive newer roles that have been created through time is roles that come with more power and responsibility such as the male heroes boss or the villains sidekick, this rise in important roles for women to play in superhero films suggests that slowly but steadily females in the superhero genre are becoming more significant.
Throughout time the roles have developed but not really changed in terms of female representation, it seems an injustice but in reality the first feature you have to have to play a main female role is be good looking. Taking Men in black 2 into account (a superhero movie with Sci fi aspects) you have a female villain now even though this isn’t the first female villain to appear she seems to have it all regarding presentation of herself. She is powerful, seductive, smart and generally good looking, if the directors wanted to take a big step towards gender equality in Hollywood they would have hired someone who isn’t as naturally blessed with good looks and thus would not appeal to the audience.
If you look at the contrast in role requirements between male and female characters within the average superhero narrative they are usually very different. Take the early superman for instance nearly every women’s role in the film was either to be saved by superman or to provide some sort of information, they were never directly involved in the action themselves. In contrast the male characters role requirements included being the hero, villain, helper dispatcher [10] and the passer of key information, this list has been repeated in loads of superhero movies and continues to this day.
One key member of the film Xmen is storm who is played by Halle berry, she was once voted the worlds sexiest woman in 2003 round about the same time the second x-men movie hit the cinema screens which is something that could be seen as a male gaze [11] motive from the directors to hire her . She is known for other roles in hit films like die another day and cat women where she is also subdued to wearing tight clothing and bikinis in famous memorable scenes. Even though her looks and sexual presence may have played parts in given her roles during films she portrays sophistication, intelligence and charm proving it’s not just their beauty but also their brains that plays parts in female actresses successes. She wouldn’t be in so many movies if this wasn’t the case as the audience would just get tired of her looks if that was all she brought to the role.
Marie d an canto (rogue) who played the main female protagonist in the first of the 3 Men movies is also given a positive representation in Xmen 3 using her Witt to get her out of trouble while also displaying her physical force when fighting against her opponents. Although both storm and rogue acting abilities produced better female representation it is undeniable that their good looks got them there in the first place and they were still symbolised as objects of desire hence the tight clothing.
More over In the modern generation and especially in x men 3 gender roles are a lot more equal with females getting their fair share of the action characters like storm, mystique, rogue are always involved in the plot and in the inevitable fighting between the two mutant teams however it’s clear that the women on the evil mutant side are no way near as matched as their so-called powers also seem rather feeble compared to the Men on their team “Storm could just summon a hurricane and blow the woman away like troublesome flies” [12]
It isn’t just in the movie business that there are blatant comparisons in, roles assigned to women are very basic in some areas of entertainment compared to men an as a result create lots of binary oppositions. Take a sport like wrestling for example when the males roles are to grapple the audiences admires their skill power and aggression but females are put in with their role being to look as appealing to the male audience as possible, they aren’t admired for their talent but for their looks not by their physical strength but by their curves.
Another example in a working world situation would be when a company hires females to work within their business, although it seems females have more respectful jobs and actually get to keep their clothes on, real purposes for some companies is just to show that they aren’t sexist and so in reality female workers aren’t their because of what they can offer but so some companies can shrug off any accusations of sexism. In addition when they are hired the majority of their job roles are limited because in most cases their male bosses don’t believe they have the brains to handle bigger jobs so they get the simpler ones like the sectary or coffee makers.
Women in general no matter what generation they come from will have all at one point or another been subjected to being prejudged on as part of stereotypical views from others. A stereotype has been described as a short cut to meaning [13] or a widely circulated idea about particular groups outside one’s own experiences [14] They are possible characters in the media who are considered as “types” rather than complex people, they are based on assumptions made by people who have been influenced by what they have seen or heard about through others (usually the government)
Usually stereotypes are developed through the media creating a moral panic [15] emphasizing the negatively placed on these prejudgements of people, places or cultures. The concept of stereotypes is probably the main reason females have been thought of as inferior to men in the past, as a result inevitably binary oppositions [16] have been created by men highlighting their patricidal view of their supremacy over women. Commonly accepted oppositions include that men are strong, dominant and smart while women are weak, feeble and incapable of looking after themselves.
Men have also been accused of stereotypical actions that represent the whole of their gender, they are seen as voyeurs by many feminists who strongly feel that the majority of the male population only go to watch movies with a female lead character to participate in a fetishistic gaze [17], this is when the man objectifies the women in a sexual manner focusing on a certain part of the body to give him visual pleasure. The term scopophilia is associated with the entire male race when looking and judging beautiful women by feminists, scopophilia is when you have pleasure in looking and being sexually aroused. If this is the case then the suggestion that women’s new respectable roles as the main character can only be seen as a hallow victory for feminists because instead of males appreciating the females protagonist elegancy, brains and class they are only focusing on her body assets and therefore dehumanising them by not treating women as their equal but as a fine aspect of their fantasy life.
As much as both female audiences and the female stars themselves would like to see male directors alter their gender identities (for instance their actions on screen being more linked to masculinity than femininity) that would highlight a change from the traditional objectification that they have been familiarized with by a male audience, it seems that realistically that won’t be happening for a long time as directors see good looking female stars such Catherin zeta Jones and Jessica Albers sex appeal as a guaranteed audience puller. When considering that Hollywood is a business and a business’s objectives are to make profit and survive it justifies directors why they wouldn’t want to modify a winning formula hence the reason female roles when playing the protagonist of a superhero or action movie have hardly been changed over the years . If the female stars have to sacrifice their ideologies on equality and female exposure in order to make the movie then they will do that because it is their profession and its how they make a living.
Stereotypes do play a big part in director’s ideas of satisfying the audience because when thinking of stereotypes it relates to gender identities which most directors don’t want to tamper with through fears of losing their audience. For instance they wouldn’t think that a predominantly male audience’s expectations would be fulfilled after watching someone like Halle berry (who is a massive figure of the male gaze ) acting manly, not wearing prerogative clothing or being sexually seductive as a way of getting what she wants. This wouldn’t put heterosexual males in cinema seats thus loosing the company money; however it has been proven that if someone takes a gamble and changes the gender identity of the subject such as Quinton taritnino did with Uma Thurman in kill bill it can be a success both with male and females.
Tarintino portrays Uma as a vengeful, blood thirsty killer who murders her enemies in the most brutal and disturbing circumstances, with these being her characteristics she doesn’t conform to the stereotype of the average female hero and goes against the hegemonic values of society that women shouldn’t act like that. Although she displays characteristics more accustomed to a male anti hero there are aspects of her femininity like her humility and compassion to her colleagues suggesting that it is almost impossible to give a realistic portrayal of a women without their key emotions and features.
The lack of female directors in Hollywood can be seen as a direct link to the slow progression of positive representation of females in both the past and present. You could argue that the main reason there is such a drought of female directors is because so much of their time is devoted to bringing up children and if they have a husband it conforms with the hegemonic view on society that women should stay home and take care of the children. Ziaddin Sardar says a patricidal society expects an “honourable married women job is to remind the audience of men’s natural intended rightful place for women which is to raise children and dutifully supporting the more important work of men"[18] so there might be some implanted guilt on females to go off and work if they want to have children because there is the feeling society won’t allow them to have both.
With this statically being the case it shows that female off screen get just as much negative treatment as the ones on it. It could be argued that female actresses could do more to increase the number of female directors by publicly endorsing them. There is no doubt that a young new female director who shares the same patriarchal views as the actresses would result in a rise of new narratives and films that would satisfy the female audiences as opposed to exploiting them. However there is already an established hierarchy in place in the film industry that has a way of continuation on certain rules about gender superiority, this is putting females off getting into the industry because of expected sexism and objectification. This myth [4] has been around for a long time and females believe that myth to be true because there aren't any well known female directors.
Less known movie makers like Gurinder Chadha who has directed movies such as Bend it like Beckham (2002)[19] and Bride and Prejudice (2004) [20] , and has won 14 major awards in her life time have made names for themselves with a majority of niche markets and occasionally the mass market. Others like Debbie Allen who has overcome major obstacles in her life such as racism [21] have proven that with hard work women can achieve the glamour roles of directors.
Directors such as these can be inspiring to females but they haven’t got the pulling power to even make themselves known to young female aspiring directors and this is what makes it harder for females, male directors such as Steven Spielberg and Quinton Tarintino have so much exposure it’s almost impossible not to hear of them.
Selina Scott the news reader was one of many women discriminated by ageism, she claimed that she wasn’t chosen for the role that was filled by a leaving Natasha kaplenski because the managers though she was too old and would not appeal to their mass audience, this act of age discrimination has repeated itself and in Hollywood it is very apparent. Looking at the stats the comparison between the length of careers females and males have in the movie industry is clear to see, and with the hierarchy being defined by defensively masculine directors and managers in charge of the casting it seems like women are ultimately refused a voice[22]
Depending on what model audience you tend to follow it will be a different reading of the situation, people who consider themselves hegemonic and therefore a passive audience will feel that it is just part of the circle of life when someone old gets replaced with the “perfect provocateur”[23] who is young, good looking and sexually perfective both in Hollywood and in the TV industry, while others that believe the pluralistic model will be active and see that it is a blatant case of discrimination and unfair as it would represent almost all working females and possible create a moral panic for any hard working women.
Many people will see the shorter female careers to males as one of the main reasons that that the representation is only getting slowly better because firstly if they don’t get as much of a expanding career as their male counter parts based on their age or looks then that is an example of the inequities within Hollywood and those are just the basics. If they don’t get equal treatment with careers then what would be the chances they get equal treatment with their representation which is a much stronger and sensitive issue amongst audiences.
In my film of study X men 3 gender equalities are more fair and even though it doesn’t represent the whole of the superhero genre it is a big step to have the head chief in power Prof chares display a confident faith in a female character storm that she could one day take his seat of power and lead the rest of the Xmen. The fact that he sees her potentially as his heir to his throne demonstrates the improving relations and esteem between the men and women of the film purely because he believes that a women could handle that much power and responsibility many would argue that speaks volumes about the new roles women play are much more positive and respectful.
The discrimination they suffer in their representation would affect the consumers of the text as well because there is supposed to be an aspect of idealization between the consumer and the hero. For instance strong powerful minded females would not want to look up to a female actress that is a patriarchal male directors money making puppet but instead a independent elegant classy female hero so they can personally identify [24] themselves with the protagonist, " feminist critics have in particular been attracted to iconic images of strong women"[25]. Some factors that lead to the exposure of women on screen such as the props (i.e. tight clothing) split audiences down the middle in opinion. Some members of an average audience would question whether Lara croft in tomb raider played by Angelina Jolie is a feminist icon or a heterosexual male’s wet dream [26]
Overall I think that while women’s roles have changed over time their features haven’t therefore making a victory for female representation a victory but a rather limited one for women and feminists in particular.
In the past by looking at the stats it suggest that females were badly treated in terms of presence on the TV screen, there weren’t many on screen and the ones that did appear where seen as token characters and given representations that degraded the female population. As miles reported in 1975 [27] in adventure films only 15% of females had leads in films which subjected them to cameo or insignificant roles which at the time didn’t show much progress. While there have been numerical improvements in the number of female hero’s they still don’t share the same respect or admiration by the male public as their male counterparts and because of that male characters are still seen as more intelligent assertive and prevalent.
This widely acknowledged view is mainly down to female actions, for example in fantastic 4 Jessica alber who plays the only girl in the team of superheroes uses her seductive charms in one particular scene to bring an adversary to his knees while the other 3 male heroes use the traditional physical force to fight the enemy.
If Cortes says that there is “symbolic and institutionalised sexism” [29] in advertising then this must be the case in Hollywood with the consistent representation of women as sexually promiscuous and continuously used seduction techniques on the males hero on his quest. As females on screen are conducting themselves this way within the narrative to suit male audiences this creates the ideology that sex sells and as long as that belief is in place it is hard to see women’s roles in superhero movies changing for the better in terms of female representation and therefore they are still and probably will always remain objects of desire.

Word Count- 4,349

[1] http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0376994/quotes
[2] Tuchman, Gay (1978)
[3] Barthes, Roland (1984)
[4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X_men_3 -Xmen 3The Last Stand (2006)
[5] Davis (1990) Gauntlet, David (2002): Media Gender & Identity: Representations of Gender in the Past, (page 43)
[6] Gauntlet, David (2002): Media Gender & Identity: Representation of Gender in the Past (page 46)
[7] Gauntlet, David (2002): Media Gender & Identity: Representation of Gender in the Past (page 46)
[8] http://www.adherents.com/lit/comics/ProfessorX.html
[9] http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/new_offscreen/final_girl.html
[10] Propp Vladimir (1928), Bennett, Jacquie (2005) :Media Studies AS & A2 ( page 92)
[11] Mulvey, Laura (1975): Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema
[12] http://www.tiscali.co.uk/entertainment/film/reviews/x-men3.html
[13] Lacey, Nick (2004): Introduction to film (pg 263)
[14] Bennett, Jacquie (2005): Media Studies AS & A2 (page 114)
[15] Cohen, Stanley (1972)
[16] Strauss, Levi (1949): The Elementary Structure
[17] Scott Galloway, Lucy (2007) A beginners guide to Laura Mulvey
[18] Sardar, Ziaddin: Introducing Media studies 2000 (page 138)
[19] http://farm.imdb.com/name/nm0149446/- Gurinder Chada
[20] http://farm.imdb.com/name/nm0149446/-Gurinder Chada again
[21] http://jordan-murray.blogspot.com
[22] Kaplan Ann (1983): Ann Kaplan’s Women and Film
[23] Cortese, Anthony: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising (1999)
[24] Bennett, Jacquie (2005): Media Studies AS & A2 (page 90) Uses and Grats theory
[25] Tasher, Yvonne (2004): Action and Adventure cinema (page 9)
[26] Lacey, Nick (2004): Introduction to film (page 203)
[27] Gauntlet, David (2002): Media Gender & Identity: Representation of Gender in the Past (page 43)
[28] Cortese, Anthony: Images of Women and Minorities in Advertising (1999)