Essay: Positive and Negative Representation of Women in Film

This essay critically analyzes the representation of women in film, focusing on both positive and negative portrayals within popular culture, particularly in Western cinema, with a special focus on Hollywood. The essay begins with a discussion of popular culture and its influence on societal perceptions, highlighting the impact of films on shaping views about women. It then provides a historical overview of women's representation in film, including the 'male gaze' phenomenon and the historical marginalization of women in the industry. The essay examines negative stereotypes and biases, contrasting them with examples of films featuring strong, leading female characters such as 'Gravity' and others. The essay concludes by emphasizing the significance of these positive changes while acknowledging the challenges that persist in achieving equal and accurate representation of women in film. The essay also incorporates references to various studies and scholarly articles to support its arguments.

Running head: REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN FILM
REPRESENTATION OF WOMEN IN FILM
Name of the student
Name of the university
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Abstract
The essay is chiefly aiming to provide an in depth analysis of the representation of women in
popular culture, films in particular. The essay is aiming to analyze critically, the representation
of women in popular culture mainly films across the globe and provide one example of positive
and negative representation each. In doing so, the essay is attempting to provide a systematic
discussion on the history of women’s representation in films followed by an analysis of the
studies conducted on it. Women have been largely been denied equal representation in films
compared to men. Further, the filmmakers have stereotyped them as being vulnerable and
inferior to men. However, this trend seems to have changed especially during the past few
decades. Women are now provided strong characters with equal responsibilities as that of men.
The essay is aiming to explore both the positive and negative dimensions of women’s
representation in films.

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Introduction
The new era has seen some exceptional coming of age films with women in the lead role
and the men taking a back seat, as many analysts claim. According to them, women have
received and are receiving the recognition in films, which they deserve (Simis et al. 2015, 94). In
contrast to these claims, critics state that the portrayal of women in films has not changed at all,
only the way of portrayal has changed. By this, they meant that only the context has changed but
the views remain the same. The debate has long since going on and might continue for more
years to come. Media studies and findings are abounding in this topic with varied conclusions. It
is important to note that film is the most popular form amongst the other forms of popular
culture. The popular culture, as the name suggests, is followed by the mass and hence, anything
portrayed on the big screen is sure to influence the mass.
The essay will provide a systematic and critical analysis of women’s representation in
films over the ages in different countries and culture, specifically in the Western countries. It will
start with an explanation of women’s representation in popular culture that include, apart from
films, music, television and gaming amongst others. Then, the essay will provide a brief history
of portrayal of women in films. This is followed by the examples illustrating the negative
representation. In contrast to the negative portrayal, the following sections will highlight the
positive examples of women’s representation in films. While providing the examples, the essay
will emphasize on the Western representation of women mostly in Hollywood.
Discussion
Popular culture refers to the beliefs, practices and ideologies that are followed by the
majority in a society. In simple terms, it means the popular taste of the members in a society

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relating to fashion, films, music, shows, gaming and so on. These forms of popular culture are
created when the members of the culture interact continuously with each other. Producers or
makers know the kind of music, films and TV shows people like by interacting with them. The
process is mutual because the films and music produced keeping in mind the popular taste,
become popular amongst the masses. In many cases, these influence the perception of the
common masses regarding many societal issues including the representation of women. Gaming
is increasingly becoming one of the most popular forms of pleasure especially amongst youth. In
this platform also, it has been found that women have largely been objectified. Starting from
their physical features to their gestures, women’s representation seems to hit a new low. In a
study conducted by Fisher (2015, 551) on, it was found that gaming magazines consistently treat
women in digital forms as “vacant pinups to be ogled or irrelevant sidekicks to be tolerated and
real women as annoying interlopers to be bullied”. The music industry also has minimal
representation of women with most popular artists being men. O’Grady et al. (2015, 123) have
found that women instrumentalists in the music industry particularly face biasness and
stereotypes often from their male counterparts and others. Women artists are often considered
least talented then men in playing instruments and signing. In addition, the lyrics of the songs
also most times contain abusive and degrading language for women making them mere objects
for sexual pleasure. The scenario is however changing as many female musicians are making a
mark in the field.
Lee and Billy (2016, 161) considers films as the most influential form of popular culture
that has the power to shape the thoughts of people on important issues. The influence sometimes
is so great that people take inspiration from the movies to perform an act in real life although the
act is most likely negative. Many crimes have been committed with inspiration from films.

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Critics therefore suggest filmmakers to make films cautiously but it has hardly made any
difference. The point has been made here because it would provide a clearer picture about the
importance of women representation in films. As Sharp et al. (2014, 482) note, “Media plays a
big role in influencing people’s daily lives as it influences how people view the world in
general”. When filmmakers create characters and present them on screen, they are providing an
ideology or perception that they expect the audiences to accept. Thus, when they portray women
on screen, the audiences with low intellectual intelligence would grab it as the norm.
During the 19th and 20th century, when films as popular medium of entertainment began
to influence the audiences, women had the least role to play. Hollywood is the most watched and
followed film industry in the world and hence, a look into its history of women representation
would provide better insights. During the 1940s to 1960s, women were represented from the
perspective of the men. “The Male Gaze” is the popular term that is used to describe this trend.
Women, during that time were represented only as sex objects, “an illusion of men’s desire”. The
Bond films in particular, throughout the 1950s to 2000s, represented women from the ‘male
gaze’. They were projected as Bond’s love and lust interest, having the only job to satisfy or
seduce the male character. Wreyford (2015, 84) states that the phenomenon like industrial
revolution and the introduction of sound into films led to the downfall of women’s role in films.
Although there are no particular reasons as to why this happened, the authors state that
unionization could have been one of the reasons. With this, women directors, theater owners and
producers who had dominated the last part of the 19th century, vanished. Men mostly dominated
the film scene in terms of theaters, lead characters, directors and producers. Ezzedeen (2015,
239), while highlighting the representation of women in the past, makes an important
observation. The scholar finds that Hollywood had a biased way to depict women executives as

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well during the early years. Women executives were depicted as “mean and conniving
personalities, promiscuous, isolated and failures at intimacy, inability to balance work and
family” (Ezzedeen 2015, 239).
Several scholars are of the view that the recurring trend within the society is also
responsible for the way women were and are represented in films. In the past, the societal norms
particularly in the Eastern countries were very strict and women were not even allowed to enter
into the film industry. Singh (2017, 90) provides a study on the history of Indian cinema, which
reveals that during the early 19th and 20th century, men performed the roles of female characters.
This was largely due to the societal influence where women had to perform the subordinate roles
of a wife, a mother, a daughter-in-law and so on. She had to manage only the household chores
and was not even allowed to study or involve in any other form of art or literature. Similar was
the situation in other nations like Iran where women in films received roles that had no value or
respect. It was also due to the condition prevalent in the society during that time. As time passed
and women began to realize their rights and potential as human beings, representation also
started to change. Hussain (2017, 80) contrasts this view stating that although the societal norms
did exert an influence in the perception of the filmmakers, it cannot be generalized that society
influences women’s representation in films. The author argues that if that was the case, the
present inequality in women’s representation could not have been there as the society today has
progressed remarkably. The author’s views are valid to some point but cannot be agreed upon
completely. The society did have an influence on the way women were represented in films.
Filmmakers take inspiration from the literature and the daily life to create a film and men mostly
dominated these inspirations. Therefore, the place of women in these works was marginal.

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It is imperative also, to highlight examples of where women were represented positively
without any bias or prejudice. Recent films like Mad Max: Fury Road, Maleficent Part 1 and 2,
Brave, The Hunger Games and Gravity are only a few of the many films that have strong and
leading female characters. Charlize Theron stars in the film portraying the role of Imperator
Furiosa and displays strong character and strength. Angelina Jolie stars in Maleficent as the Red
Queen and excels. Brave is an animated film that represents the life of Princess Merida and her
determination to lead her own life, defying the old customs. The Hunger Games presents the
story of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) who battles for life after taking place of her sister
in a game. Examples could also be given of earlier films like Black Swan, Changeling, Mona
Lisa Smile, Miss Congeniality, The Blind Side and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider. These films had
some very strong and splendid female characters and did well at the box office as well.
However, the film Gravity defines the recurring positivity regarding the representation of
women in films, especially Hollywood. The film portrays women in the lead role taking charge
of a space shuttle stranded in space (Imdb.com 2018). The film is significant in many ways when
it comes to the portrayal of women. First, it shows a woman in a profession that was not meant
for women some decades ago – an astronaut. Second, the film shows the woman leading from
the front and struggling to survive without any help or assistance from men. Third, the
filmmaker cast a 49-year old actor (Sandra Bullock) on who rested the responsibility of carrying
the film throughout. Fourth, despite having a woman lead character, the film managed to do
exceptionally well at the box office worldwide. Bartyzel (2018) states that the filmmaker
(Alfonso Cuaron) “has made a perfect modern rallying film to battle the idea that women cannot
lead blockbusters and that success or failure rests on gender and age”. The author is correct in
making this statement because the film has been a milestone when it comes to representation of

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women in films. Nonetheless, speaking specifically about Sandra Bullock, who played the lead
role in the movie, the author comments that, her back to back successes has been a one-off affair
since none other female actor could repeat it. With all being said, it cannot be denied that the
movie proved to be a great example of the positive changes that are taking place in the world of
films and its treatment of women.
In contrast to this positive example of women representation in film, numerous movies
have been made that brutally distort women’s roles and even mock their personality. The Bond
films including Live and Let Die, You Only Live Twice amongst others, superhero movies like
Superman, Batman and others have portrayed women as subordinates and inferior to the male
characters. Other films like the Ironman and Avengers series, Star Trek Into Darkness, Skyfall
and She’s All That and so on depict women in very demeaning roles (Independent.co.uk 2018).
The values associated with womanhood have been largely neglected in these films. Apart from
that, these films have contributed towards influencing the popular perception that women are
powerless and incomplete without men. The roles that had been given to them had no
contribution to the plot, neither the story of the film. In addition to misrepresentation of women,
these films also stereotyped minority communities as well. A look at the statistics during the last
decade reveals dismaying truth about women’s representation in Hollywood films. The year
2014 saw only 28.1 per cent female characters in over 100 films out of which only 21 films had
women in the lead role (Forbes.com 2018). The stats are alarmingly low as compared to the
previous years especially in 2008 when the stat was 32.8 per cent. In case of animated films as
well, women represented only 23.3 per cent of roles, which is remarkably low than in 2010 when
the representation was 30.7 per cent (Forbes.com 2018).

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One good example of negative representation of women in Hollywood films is the 2012
Bond movie Skyfall with Daniel Craig in the leading role. As mentioned earlier, all the Bond
movies since the past until the contemporary have portrayed women in the worst roles possible.
The modern Bond film is no different. In the movie, Bond sets of on a mission to find a
computer drive having the information of the British agents. While on the mission, he meets a
woman named Severine (Berenice Marlohe) and finds that she had been a victim of sex trade. He
fights with the bodyguards of Severine and then goes to Severine’s yacht later and they have a
steamy moment together. A few scenes later, Severine is shot dead by Silva (Javier Bardem) and
thus her role ends. It can be clearly seen that the woman character has been used just to serve the
purpose of the male lead. The character is introduced, is made to have sex with the male lead and
then killed. In addition, the fact that she had been a sexual trafficking victim and then to show
the male lead approaches her in that way without her objecting is disturbing. The woman
character is used as an object that had the job to introduce the villain of the movie – Raoul Silva
(Javier Bardem) – to Bond. After she is killed by Silva, Bond makes a remark that further
demeans the woman character. He hilariously declares her death as “a waste of good scotch” (a
glass of scotch was balanced above Severine’s head before when Silva shot her dead). The film
has represented women in every demeaning and negative way it can (Imdb.com 2018). Funnell,
Lisa and Dodds (2015, 358) comment that the Bond films have been around a long time and one
would expect to see a transformation to the women have been portrayed in these films but sadly,
hardly anything has changed. The authors explain that the recent Bond film too has succeeded in
portraying women in the demeaning light. It has demonstrated them as “both incompetent,
lacking in their duties and in looking after themselves and places them in demeaning roles”
(Funnell, Lisa and Dodds 2015, 358).

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Krainitzki (2014, 35) also sheds light on the character of M (Judi Dench) in the movie
and states that the only female character in the movie who had a better role, has also been
portrayed as incompetent. She heads the Foreign Intelligence Wing but despite that, she makes
horrendous decisions that cost the lives of numerous people. It has been done to portray that
women are incapable of managing higher positions and that only men could rectify their
mistakes and bad decisions. In addition, one of her male counterparts, Gareth Mallory (Ralph
Fiennes), seeks to replace her as the head of M16 – the intelligence agency, which M heads. She
strongly declines to step down and is later killed in a fight that occurs while Bond accompanies
her to meet Silva. This clearly conveys the message to the audience that because she is a woman,
she is incompetent and incapable of handling top positions and carrying out responsibilities.
Dodds (2014, 116) while focusing on the women’s representation in films in the 21st century and
especially the Bond films states that the majority of films produced even in the so-called
progressive century are dangerously ignorant of women’s importance. Dodds (2014, 120) opines
that the movie Skyfall has made an attempt to do away with M due to her “aging body” that
serves no important purpose any longer. It is therefore clear that women are still represented
wrongly and negatively in films.
Conclusion
Women have a crucial role to play within the society irrespective of the culture or
country to which they belong. However, it has often been seen that they are not given their due
importance in the society, which is also reflected in different mediums of popular culture. As the
essay has discussed, the representation of women in films, the most popular form of popular, has
been dismal. The essay highlighted the history of women’s representation in films especially in
Hollywood and found that most films did not even recognize women as important parts of the

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production. They were perceived through the ‘Male Gaze’ as only sexual objects. The essay also
found that during the last years of the 19th century, women had dominated the filmmaking
industry but after the industrial and financial reorganization, women left their jobs and became
subordinate to men. The essay also included the position of women in different societies other
than the Western society and found the situation to be similar. In addition, the essay presented
one positive example and one negative example of women’s representation in films. The analysis
found that more than positive, negative representation abound the popular culture form.

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References:
Bartyzel, Monika. 2018. "Girls On Film: The Real Lesson Of Gravity". Theweek.Com.
http://theweek.com/articles/459017/girls-film-real-lesson-gravity
Dodds, Klaus. "Shaking and Stirring James Bond: Age, Gender, and Resilience in Skyfall
(2012)." Journal of Popular Film and Television 42, no. 3 (2014): 116-130.
Ezzedeen, Souha R. "Portrayals of career women in Hollywood films: implications for the glass
ceiling’s persistence." Gender in Management: An International Journal30, no. 3 (2015):
239-264.
Fisher, Howard D. "Sexy, dangerous—and ignored: An in-depth review of the representation of
women in select video game magazines." Games and culture 10, no. 6 (2015): 551-570.
Forbes.com. 2018. "Women Still Ridiculously Underrepresented In Movies". Forbes.Com.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/dorothypomerantz/2015/08/05/women-still-ridiculously-
underrepresented-in-movies/#73739e330ea0
Funnell, Lisa, and Klaus Dodds. "The Anglo‐American Connection: Examining the Intersection
of Nationality with Class, Gender, and Race in the James Bond Films." The Journal of
American Culture 38, no. 4 (2015): 357-374.
Hussain, Yasmin. Writing diaspora: South Asian women, culture and ethnicity. Routledge, 2017.
Imdb.com, Skyfall. 2018. "Skyfall (2012)". Imdb.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1074638/plotsummary?ref_=tt_stry_pl