Why
do comic book movies like The Avengers reinforce traditional gender stereotypes
and what impact does this have on audiences?
“The
battle for equality between men and women in superhero films”[1]and has been going on for years, it has become a
very controversial matter and the most recent of Marvel’s Avengers, where it
has been believed that comic book movies reinforce gender stereotypes
and influences audiences, with “The lack women in the spotlight is becoming
impossible to overlook” (Dyce, 2014) . The struggle over
equality has been difficult but with the introduction of new and digital media,
has led to the information revolution with this turning point there has been a ray
of light in the hopes of the female demographic with the newest developments in
the Marvel cinematic universe where female leads have emerged and a shockwave
of change has shaken the foundations of the superhero universe, the impact of
this on the audience is having a fluctuated effect on the superhero
demographic.
In historically,
women in superhero films have been stereotypical of the time period, this links
to my first historical text which is Captain America (1990). The narrative is a
multi-strand narrative, with two strands developing, the first being the
emergence of the German super soldier known as Red Skull, who is identified as
the villain later in the movie. The second strand being the rise of the
American super soldier, Steve Rodgers, also known as Captain America. In the beginning
of the movie Steve Rogers is preparing to leave home to go and join the army’s
super soldier program. This where we see the use of stereotypical women during
war times wearing bright coloured dress and serves the family and husband. This
was stereotypical of the values that wartime America had tried to boost morale
in order to promote winning mentality. The first appearance of women in the
movie has made women portrayed in home. Further on in the movie, a female named
Dr Gonselli is dressed in a white lab coat, connoting women as more than just
housewives and that women can be seen outside the home. Dr Gonselli is shot
dead by Nazi spy, which puts an abrupt end to women in a greater role. Steve
Rogers, who is restrained to a table, breaks free from his metal restraints and
as he does he takes two bullets to the chest, carries on fighting and manages
to kill the Nazi spy with one punch. Dr Gonselli dies has been shot dead. Symbolically
women have been embodied in Dr Gonselli who is killed with one bullet, whereas
Steve manages to show his bravery endurance and strength.
Steve Rogers survives the two shots and is
back up straight after the surgery, presenting that males never give up and are
stronger. The scene in which Captain America first faces off against Red Skull,
presents Propp’s seven spheres of action, where it is the hero versus the villain. Red Skull, is shown with a
red head, which presents danger and violence, he is covered by a black coat,
and almost kills Captain America with three knives to throat, but survives and
is tied to a rocket and sent to America to blow up but Captain America once
again shows his heroism and bends the wings and crash in the arctic where he is
frozen in ice. There is a small beach scene where Captain America runs past a
busty women in a bikini and stares at her as he does, this links to Mulvey’s
male gaze, where the dominant objects on screen are for the benefit of men. In
the climax scene Captain America needs to save his girlfriend (Princess) and
does this with the help of the president (Helper), this also links to Propps
character theory.
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, as she had “spent most of the movie bending over various objects
in revealing clothing.”[2]
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. The clothing has connotations for all
characters like Captain America’s costume connotes his patriotism for his
country with the red white and blue, 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 dominant images that are
being portrayed are that women are inferior to men and are the weaker sex. 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 “She
is dressed in a suit that perfectly forms to her curves, as to appear
appealing, and she armed with the smallest weapon. This is how women are
portrayed in cinema.”[3]
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 though 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.
Black widow is first
introduced she is portrayed as a helpless women as she is tied to a chair and
is listening to the General to interrogate her, she is presented as weak and
helpless which is stereotypical of females, as princesses – Propps character
types. However she manages 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.
This scene present Black Widow as deceitful and cunning, this is exemplified by the reaction of the God of trickery when he was tricked by Black Widow in to revealing his plan to her and being tricked. This subverts the stereotypical view of women in society, in the current society we see women as the person who takes care of the house and kids rather than working. The disposition that is associated with this view is caring and loving, but this view shows her as evil and in some sense a femme fatal. Socially, this scene shows how women can be more than just passive they can be cunning and malevolent. Historically, the view of women has changed completely as they are seen as equals and in some cases superior to men. Economically, it shows how women are also helping with the economy.
This scene present Black Widow as deceitful and cunning, this is exemplified by the reaction of the God of trickery when he was tricked by Black Widow in to revealing his plan to her and being tricked. This subverts the stereotypical view of women in society, in the current society we see women as the person who takes care of the house and kids rather than working. The disposition that is associated with this view is caring and loving, but this view shows her as evil and in some sense a femme fatal. Socially, this scene shows how women can be more than just passive they can be cunning and malevolent. Historically, the view of women has changed completely as they are seen as equals and in some cases superior to men. Economically, it shows how women are also helping with the economy.
In this scene
Black widows character is put to the test as she is put against two of her
fellow Avengers members. The first being the strongest and the mightiest shows
that her representation as a woman is stronger as it shows women aren’t weak
and don’t need to be protected, they are able to fight their own battles, until
she is being chased by the Hulk where she is running down the corridor where as
Hulk is demolishing everything in his path. It can be connoted that Hulk is the
representation of society and there view in the world and Black widow is
presented as women trying to escape the stereotype until she is hit out by the
stereotype and becomes a princess, according to Propps seven character circles,
and is saved by Thor.
In The Dark
Knight Rises, aside from Selina Kyle and Miranda Tate, it is almost like Gotham
is totally devoid of women. For example, major scenes involve a bus load of
orphans, who are all male, an all male football team, and a police force of
3000 where there was not one woman. The main villain is Bane and his entire crew
is made up of men. The movie only contains two thin, sexy, able bodied white women;
the producers have creates a universe where women of colour, fat women, women
of differing abilities and looks, are almost non-existent. Although, Tate and Kyle are created to
be so interesting, it doesn’t directly portray how Nolan views women, as both women’s
characters have been given depth and realism they have a
physical relationship with Bruce Wayne at different points
in the film, which inputs the idea that women are only objects of men and that
sex sells. Selina Kyle is a very interesting character
because she carries her own set of moral standards which interact with Bruce
Wayne. Overall, she tends to operate out of self interest and she doesn't
sacrifice herself for anyone, unlike so many other women in superhero films Selina Kyle steals from the rich only.
She is very concerned about how the rich have gained their wealth on the backs
of the poor. This portrays the embodiment of women as selfish and egotistical which
brings another representation of women to the table as they aren’t weak or small
but cunning and dangerous. Batman becomes a “symbol of vigilantism, justice,
vengeance and even fascism.” [4]
In the modern
world, sexism has become a major debate as there more and more incidents of
sexism, and with this there has been a rise of feminism. There is an Everyday
Sexism Project exists “to catalogue instances of sexism experienced by women on
a day to day basis.”[5]
This shows the rising revolution of women becoming equal in society and
breaking the stereotypes of the society we are currently living in. In New York
City, there was a woman who had decided to do an experiment where she decided
to walk through New York City in tight jeans in order to record how many men
would comment or harass her for the clothes and her body. The experiment had produced
the results of “100+ instances of verbal street harassment had taken place
within 10 hours”[6]
these instances weren’t from one background but they involved “people of all
backgrounds” (StreetHarassmentvideo, 2014) . The representations
of women have been derogatory and have always put woman in “In a world ordered
by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and
passive/female.”[7]
Though the
majority of superhero films have been predominantly male, there is a rise of
the revolution of woman as the leads in superhero films. The most recent being
the mighty hammer wielding Norse God Thor being transformed and changed in to a
female, Marvel Comics “announced the
superhero will become a woman in a move to attract more female fans to the
franchise.”[8] The
new Thor’s first look has been depicted with “long blonde hair, metal armour
and a red cape” (Wyatt, 2014) . The comic book
world is not only platform that has begun to change as “Captain Marvel will be
the first of Marvel's female heroes to star in her own film, which is being
announced today with a release date scheduled for July 6th, 2018.”[9]
In conclusion,
the superhero universe has been a universe of stereotypes and short hands of
identifications, “where the women superheroes...are built to promote their
sexuality.”[10] Women
have become an object of the male gaze and just used as an attraction for men
to drool at along with the big explosions and action.
[1] Dyce, A. (2014, July 2nd ). Will Comic Book Movies
Ever Get Female Heroes Right? Retrieved October 15th , 2014, from Screen
Rant: http://screenrant.com/female-superhero-women-movies/
[2] (Parr)
[3] ((GRIID), 2014)
[4] (Turner, 2013)
[5] (Laura)
[6] (StreetHarassmentvideo, 2014)
[7] (Hendry, 2010 )
[8] (Wyatt, 2014)
[9] (Kastrenakes, 2014)
[10] (Demarest, Superheroes, Superpowers, and Sexuality,
2010)
