Unit 4 Coursework Blog Ragz: Critical Investigation Proposal

Why do comic book movies like The Avengers reinforce traditional gender stereotypes and what impact does this have on audiences?

Hypothesis/Angle:

Comic book movies reinforce traditional gender stereotypes.

Linked Production Piece:

Film opening (with at least one female character) – I am working with Armond and Zaid.

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 Romanov, she is the only female avenger and it presents her as the minority. The representation of men in comic book movies is portrayed as powerful, muscular and strong as superheroes stereotypically are. However, women are also under-represented as there are not as many female characters as there should be; the females have been put there for the male gaze.

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 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. 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 determined via genre, such as Thor and Loki belong to the fantasy genre, and whereas 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 11^th 2012 in the USA and 26^th April 2012 in the UK [4]. The DVD and Blu-ray of The Avengers was released on September 25^th 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. The way men have been portrayed by Marvel has always been a spandex-clad, clean-shaven, macho man that has been through a tragedy, for example, Tony Stark’s life is dependent on an arc reactor, which keeps him alive, or Dr Bruce Banner, also known as The incredible Hulk, who became the emerald beast due to a gamma bomb where he was exposed to gamma radiation, although the Hulk isn’t spandex clad he is still established as muscular.

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.

SHEP

Social

In terms of social aspects, The Avengers presents a lot of controversy, as modern women are most likely going to criticise the fact that women have been under-represented and shown in a manner where they are actually stereotypical and traditional ideologies that have been shown.

Historical

Historical aspects of The Avengers link to the comics of Captain America, which were released during the Second World War, in order to boost morale of the soldiers on the frontline. Furthermore, The Avengers links in to the ideologies that were portrayed before women had rights that actually were established and carried out by society.

Economical

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]. This adds to the profit that previous productions like Iron Man, Thor and Captain America have made.

Issues/Debates:

Ø Representation and stereotyping: This directly links to my study as the question of how gender stereotypes are presented, in particular the under-representation of women and the stereotypical model of male superheroes.

Ø Media Effects- This links to my study as it shows how this product influences the media and presents its effects upon the audiences in the process of the film’s release.

Ø Ownership and Control- This links to my study as there have been speculations and disagreements in terms of how much Influence and control Stan Lee actually has over the Marvel Cinematic Universe, since he had sold Marvel to Walt Disney.

Ø Media technology and the digital revolution- changing technologies in the 21^st century- This links to my critical investigation as the newer forms of technology have empowered the audiences, but not changed the ideologies or views that have been seen as traditional.

Theories:

Ø Gender and ethnicity

Ø Marxism and Hegemony

Ø Liberal Pluralism

Ø Audience theories- Uses and Gratifications

Ø Genre theories

Ø Contemporary Media Landscape

Research Plan

Media text: Marvel’s The Avengers

Other Media Texts:

Ø Iron Man

Ø Thor