Why do comic
book movies like The Avengers reinforce traditional gender stereotypes and what
impact does this have on audiences?
Media Representations
Women have been represented as
the weaker sex and have been given less importance, by the producer of the
film. The representation of women is not fair and not accurate either as it
shows that women do not fit the model to be superheroes, but inferior compared
to male superheroes. However, it is accurate in terms that men have become the
dominant gender. The self-representation of women survives through the
character of Black Widow, also known as Natasha Romanova, she is the only
female avenger and it presents her as the minority.
Media languages and Forms
The denotative levels of the
meaning is that women have become inferior in the representation of Marvel
comics movies, this is evident from the fact that the Black widow is presented
as the only women and that in comic books itself women are always presented as
the princess from Propp’s characters types. This is evident from not only comic
books but there TV series, where the hero always saves the princess. For
example, in The Amazing Spiderman series Spiderman saves Mary Jane from several
villains.
The connotations of the Black
widow are that she could also be a femme fatal due to the fact that a black
widow spider is known to kill their partners. The significance of the text’s
connotation is that it could reinforce and subvert the stereotypical view of
women. It reinforces the stereotype as
the Black Widow is the only women in the Avengers and has no film that led to
the build up to her character like Captain America, Hulk, Iron Man or Thor. On
the other hand she is only women, which could connote she is a representation
of women as strong, independent and self made.
The non-verbal structures of meaning in the text are the clothing as Captain
America’s costume connotes his patriotism for his country, Iron Mans suit is
red and yellow, which connotes fire, in some sense a hot shot that is like a
lone wolf. Thor’s costume represents his heritage of Asgard and his origins.
Hulk is a large green behemoth that where shredded trousers; this presents him
as a wild character. Black Widows
costume is a full black body suit which creates an enigmatic presence as she
could be two faced. The lighting throughout the film presents the heroes in
light; however in some scenes black widow is presented in low key lighting,
this could present her darker side. Black widows expressions in the film are
more serious due to the circumstances and problems that are faced by them as a
team. The dominant images that are being portrayed are that women are inferior
to men and are the weaker sex. However, in the scene where black widow is first
introduced she is portrayed as a femme fatal as she is tied to a chair and
trying to trick the General and hench men using her assets and manages to
escape with ease. This subverts the stereotypical portrayal of women. During
the scene the camera is the point of view of the General and also the camera
angles put us as an audience look down at Black widow, making her look weak but
this is then contradicted by what happens next as she manages to fight of the General and hench men.
Narrative
In relation to the narrative,
the audience is positioned to be looking up to the superheroes. As an audience
we are put in a position where we see the heroes in an inspirational light
where we are viewing their selfless acts of justice and protecting us. This contrasts the stereotypical view of
women as usually the main group of civilians being saved are women and
children. The narrative subverts this view, even thought other Marvel films
like Thor and Iron Man presented women to be vulnerable. All the heroes are delineated with egos and
their mistrust issues become present as soon as they meet, for example the
scene where Thor attacks Iron Man in order to take Loki back to Asgard, this is
the first meeting between the two heroes. The narrative function of all the
characters fit together like a puzzle, this is due to the fact they all play
their part in stopping the villain, identified by Propp’s character types,
Loki. The heroes are identified by the use of their costumes and the colours
that have been used, with the exception of Black Widow and Hawkeye. They both
are presented as wild cards due to their all black attire; this is due to the
fact the connotations of black are evil, darkness and we associate it with the
unknown, furthermore it’s questionable that they both may be anti-heroes in the
film. As a villain Loki is identified
easily due to his helmet possessing horns, which are connotations of the devil
and demons. The major themes of the narrative are the representation of women,
equality and team work. The values of team work shine out as the previous Marvel
productions presented the strengths and weaknesses of the heroes, this movie
brings them all together working effectively as a team in order to accomplish a
mission/goal.
Genre
The genre of The Avengers is
fantasy, Sci-fi and action. The conventions that present The Avengers as a
fantasy is the inclusion of the Norse gods, Thor and Loki, who have been a part
of Nordic myths and legends. The fact that the movie includes legends makes it
look surreal, especially with the way they have been shown there costumes
emphasise their heritage quite a lot.
The generic conventions that
present this as a sci-fi movie are the use of alien-like beings that begin an
invasion; this is due to the fact that there ships look more alien like rather
than a mythical race of creature from another dimension.
The generic conventions that
present this as an action film are the multitude of fight scenes, between all
the characters, one memorable fight scene is Thor verse Iron Man where Thor’s
lighting strike powers up Iron Man’s suit. Also there is a lot of destruction,
like the falling building and the power houses in Thor and Hulk competing over
whose stronger. To a large extent the characters are generically determined as
Thor and Loki belong to the fantasy genre, where as Iron man belongs to the
Sci-fi genre and Captain America, Black Widow and Hawkeye belong to the action
genre. To a minor extent the audience is cheated of their generic expectations
this is due to the fact that the amount of action that was present was not
there, it did consist of a lot of fight scenes, however it lacked a bit with
the fight against the Chitauri (Alien race). On the other hand, it does fulfil
the audience’s generic expectations, as the Norse Gods have been presented
effectively from their costumes and manner of speaking makes it more believable
that they are actually from Asgard. The stars of the movie feature Chris Evans
(Captain America), Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Robert Downey Jr (Iron Man). All
three of these stars have strong associations with the genre as they play the
heroes in their individual films.
The Institutional sources that
backs The Avengers is Marvel, Paramount picture and Disney studios motion
pictures. Marvel had a hand in shaping the actors that played the roles of all
the characters. For example, Marvel’s the incredible Hulk was played by Edward
Norton, who initially was approached for the part but was later rejected, for
not being “creative” and a “collaborative spirit”. Furthermore, in October 2010
the Walt Disney Studios had agreed to pay Paramount pictures at least $115
million for worldwide distribution rights for avengers and Iron Man [1]. The
source is a commercial institution as it doesn’t have a license fee which is
paid by the public; furthermore it makes a difference as a public service would
be making no profit. However, in this case the Avengers made $1,518,594,910 at
the box office worldwide [1]. The current COO and publisher for Marvel is Dan
Buckley and the Editor-in-Chief is Axel Alonso. The former Editor-in-chief and
publisher was Stan Lee, who is also one of the founders of Marvel [2]. The
founder of Disney is Walt Disney and Roy O. Disney, and the current chairman
and CEO is Bob Iger [3]. The Avengers was distributed by Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures in cinema April 11th 2012 in the USA and 26th
April 2012 in the UK [4]. The DVD and
Blu-ray of The Avengers was released on September 25th 2012 [5+6].
Media Values and Ideology
The main value that is being
presented is the representation of women as the weaker sex and has been
perceived as less important compared to men. This reinforces the traditional
stereotypes of women being the inferior sex and perceived to do the labours of
the household and not capable of matching the working capacity of men.
Media Audiences
The Avengers is targeted at the Marvel fan
base, the target demographic is made up of a majority of males that are aged
between 12 years old and 35 years old, and belong to the B, C1 and C2
demographic. Marvel is a mainstream media institution so the target audience
are mainstreamers, also the explorer psychographic as the Marvel cinematic
universe is still a new media institution. The assumptions about the audience’s
characteristics are implicit within The Avengers is that they seek adventure
and action, as well as have a link to the explorer psychographic. Also, it
implicates they possess the characteristic of loyalty, which links to brand
loyalty of Marvels previous products of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America.
The conditions the audience is likely to
receive the Avengers is in a positive way as it is a world renowned thus this
will positively impact the Avengers box office revenue. I already know that
Marvel has a fan base that is spread across the world, presenting it as large
in size and constituency. The possible reading of the Avengers is that the
producers of the text have portrayed the women as weak and the weaker sex, the
probable reading of the text would be the purpose of making the movie which
would be to further the avengers narrative in to one cohesive unit and cross
promoting their individual films via this multi-star cast production. The audience
pleasures consist of using women as a sex object to attract the male gaze; this
is evident from Black widow wearing a tight black body suit. Also, there is
evidence of attracting the female gaze with the use of costumes. According to
Bulmer and Katz theory of uses and gratifications there is evidence of
escapism, as the audience is known to escape reality and avoid there real life
problems and relieve stress form work.
Furthermore, the personnel
identity section of the theory can also be applied to the Avengers, this is due
to the fact that the hulk is known to be an outcast that the section of the
audience who are socially out casted, like the teenagers that are demonised by
the media, are to identify with that character. As a member of the audience I
read the avengers as Marvel fan, and to see whether it is able to top the
previous Marvel productions, as well as make comparisons between the broadcast
and print platforms. In terms of evaluating this text, personally I would draw comparison
to the comic book versions of the characters. My reading and evaluation is
heavily influenced by my age, gender and background. The ages 10-35 years are targeted
by Marvel’s fan base, and also they mainly target men. In regards to my
background I have read and kept up to date with Marvel Productions.
Bibliography
