Women in films

Here are some interesting statistics about women in movie industry. As the graph shows, only seven percent of directors of the top 250 domestic grossing films are women. The number is roughly half the percentage of women directors in 2000. Twenty one percent of the 250 grossing films employed no women executive producers, writers, cinematographers, directors, producers, or editor. The rate of employment of women in the behind-scene roles has declined since 1998. Women wrote only ten percent of the 250 movies, and eighty two percent of the movies had no women writers. Women comprised fifteen percent of all executive producers, twenty four percent of all producers, eighteen percent of all editors, two percent of all cinematographers.

The number of women on screen is also influenced by the numbers of women behind scene. When a movie had at least one women creator, women comprised forty five percent of all characters. When there is no woman working behind the scenes, only forty percent of all characters are women. Women writes thirty percent of all film reviews in the nation’s top newspapers, and men write seventy percent. Forty seven percent of the nation’s top newspapers do not contain the reviews written by women. In the narrowed view, only three of the top hundred grossing films in 2010 were directed by women, and only one female director, Kathryn Bigelow, won a Best Director Oscar in 2009.

Given a similar budget, films employing at least one woman as any behind scene roles earned little bit higher box office grosses in opening weekend than films created only by men on average ($27.1 vs. 24.6 million). Given a similar budget, films with at least one women producer, executive producer, and directors grossed about the same amount as films with only men creators ($82.1 vs. $81.9 million). Given a similar budget, films with women protagonists grossed similar box office numbers with films with men protagonists.

If you enjoy watching movies, you might have noticed what the majority of movies have in commons. Most of the movies are stories about men. Because we live in a male centered society, Hollywood keeps producing movies about men, in aspect of patriarchy. Male centered society prioritizes men over women. We saw from out young ages, no matter of your gender, that society’s attention is placed on what men do and what men don’t do. While men’s stories are created, produced, awarded and celebrated, women’s stories are less interested in movie industry. Kathryn Bigelow is the only women director who won an academy award in its 83 years history, and yet her movie “The Hurt Locker” in 2009 is definitely a male-centered film. Women-centered movies do not necessarily mean they are not sexist. Many women stories are considered as “chick flicks”, and they focus on describing women obsessed with shopping, loving, and finding men to love.

Hollywood film industry needs to shift its gear to appropriately appeal to both genders of audience. More and more people are going to watch movies, and the influence of films is still growing. The problem is that movies, as other pop culture items do, shape a strong stereotype. Both male and female centered films shape and reassure gender roles. Today, fifty five percent of moviegoers are female. There is also a higher percent of women watching movies in every age group. Women look at themselves the way movies depict on the screen, especially for teenage girls who are the most dominant group of moviegoers.

I am not arguing that Hollywood must stop producing male-centered movies, because they are never good and important; my point is that movies are rewarded and valued disproportionally in our society as a fact. I want to watch more equalized movies that characterize both men and women as full and complete human beings, instead of simple sex objects or stereotyped person.

photographs

MPAA3.jpg. 14 October 2011. http://www.anomalousmaterial.com/movies/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/MPAA3.jpg

Women in films.jpg 14.October 2011. http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRil5Y_Dw_bXXMeYm1N46-33ELvL0XbBhZXnUKTvehYW-9dxuQC56cwDrFq

Playboy

Hugh Hefner, a founder of Playboy Enterprise, once said, “The notion that playboy turns women into sex objects is ridiculous. Women are sex objects. If women were not sex objects, there wouldn’t be another generation. It is the attraction the sexes that makes the world go around. That is why women wear lipsticks and short skirts.”

If women are only sex objects for man, why do women have sex with men who are not qualified as sex objects? Definitely no one has set up traditional gender roles in this world. However, the society itself has established the term “the traditional gender roles.” It separates women and men by their physical appearances; it believes that they have different roles and duties that it can’t be interrupted and distorted. Simply, man is who works outside and woman is who supports man. Moreover, woman has been portrayed as an object to sexually entertain men. Many companies have used this misconception of the society in order to make money. The Playboy is one of the largest companies that WISELY use this idea.

The Playboy Enterprises, Inc. is founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates; mainly, if features naked women as journalism, photographs, and fiction. It merely started as magazine, but now it is wide-ranged company that occupies radio, TV shows, and Playboy Club. It is spread throughout the world. Therefore, it is accessible in everywhere at every time for people of all ages and both sexes.

However, before just enjoying it, we have to carefully consider two things: what is main goal and what influences does it have on us? People read fashion magazine in order to learn how can we look perfect. Playboy magazine although it is full of beautiful and sexy girls, it is nothing related to women, but rather to man. By featuring nude women, it successfully gained favor of men. The main objective of the company was simple: using women to entertain men and increase profit of the company. Some people say that the magazine is not against the feminism, but for the feminism: they trust that those models of the magazine accentuate women’s merits. I strongly disagree with the notion. When they choose the Playmate of the month, they disregard intelligence, personalities, and their backgrounds. They only FOCUS on outer appearance of woman: how sexy they are? Do they have hot figure? It only features women as a toy for immature males. Women were not born to entertain men. They are both equally created. However, these kinds of media are critical influence on teenagers, because there is no restraint that limits young from accessing them.

To advertise the company, Hugh Hefner also made a TV show, called The Girls Next Door. It portrays the Playboy Mansion House, a home of Hugh Hefner, in female’s perspective. Hugh Hefner lives in house with his girlfriends. They seem to have luxurious life in the mansion; they have party everyday, do whatever they want, eat expansive foods, and go to trip whenever they want. Moreover, they try to get in favor of Hugh Hefner. It conveys the idea that, if you are pretty and sexually appealing, you will be able to have a rich boyfriend and have successful life. But, I do not think they were really happy. They might have lots of fun in their lives. However, what is the purpose of the life for them? Honestly, I don’t know how woman feels about them. However, I think their lives are aimless. They are blinded by the traditional gender role and forgot who really they are. ( I couldn't download this video clip)

All the freshmen would have a fantasy what they have dreamed about: high score of GPA, party everyday, and great girlfriend or boyfriend. However, I want to urge something to those college students. I am also young or even younger than them and I am not wiser than them. However, I believe that I have met more people than other students in general have. I lived in several different countries and have met many girls with different backgrounds and personalities. Physical appearance can be a factor that qualifies the woman, but it shouldn’t be only factor. It is merely one part of many facets of a human. Boys, do not judge girls only by their looks. Girls, do not just spend your life taking care your appearance, but train your inner body and pursue what you really want.

Women in Media

Stereotypes still exist when media is marketed to the entire world. Women are still misrepresented in popular culture. If we look at popular media from all over the world, most of the times we will see unrealistic portrayals of the female sexuality. The world of media has actually continued to stereotype women. It’s like the only way they sell the product they have to offer. Close up images of scantily clothed women is what we see in most of our popular culture media items. The cameras seem to have a knack for focusing on women’s breasts and rear ends.

Women are most likely included in performances by men as sex objects and are solely for the purpose of 'eye candy'. We see women in such scenarios much more often than we would see men. We see women dancing in the background and we have to notice that they are almost always in minimal clothing. We also see male-artists with more than one woman by his side throughout these performances. The female presence in these performances is to make the performance more appealing to a large audience, which almost entirely consists of males. It is rare to find media which portrays women more decently than they are in popular culture. We see many women artist in popular culture but the only artists that gain popularity are those who come out with brilliant music videos. These music videos often involve feature the artist in outfits that are supposed to be ‘sexy’ and revealing. Well, ‘sexy’ is the tag that most of these artists end up gaining. Christian Aguilera’s song ‘Dirrty’ has lyrics such as “Sweating till my clothes come off” and “dancing, getting just a little naughty” and more with many scenes of her surrounded by men. She dances away as the men touch her in the music video. This is definitely not the right message that should be sent to teenagers. It definitely creates wrong images in their heads, where they assume that being open about this kind of culture is the best way to spend their valuable years.

Video games such as ‘Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’ and ‘Duke Nukem’ show highly sexualized images of women. The women have unrealistically large breasts. The main character of the game gets to do whatever he wants. He can order them to strip and then kill them. He can pick up prostitutes from the most random places. These games attracted a lot of men. The games have scenes of women in tight and minimal clothing who offer sex in exchange for money and they also fulfill the fantasies of the main character that supposedly possesses a lot of power. Women in many games of these kinds are often represented as subordinate, weak and dependent on men. Men on the other had are either protectors or victimizers of women. Many aspects of games like these simply portray women as sex objects. Games like these create wrong impressions in the minds of those who play them. Most of the gaming audience consists of teenagers and those in their twenties.

Popular culture has women used for the purpose of advertisement. They feature in videos and pictures and other media to attract people towards a particular product. The advertisements make them look like they are just dolls. They are put there for a purpose and are supposed to deliver. The picture shows how lifeless they seem to be. The exoticism of women is another downfall of popular culture. We see women in so many advertisements where they are actually not needed. The entire point of having them there is to sell a product by means of objectifying them. The advertisement for ‘Skyy Vodka’ clearly shows how women are perceived more as sex objects. The ‘Nordic Ice’ is another cocktail mixture which uses the Nordic women (women from Northern Europe) to market their product. Both these advertisements clearly present exotic images of women, no matter where they are from.

We see how women are victims of exoticism in media. They are depicted as something they are not. Many of the women in this kind of media are made to look better on the pictures and videos so that the music, video games and products can sell. Women are almost always depicted negatively in popular culture media. Men are never put in this kind of scenario. The posture of the bodies, focus of the camera and positioning of the figures is always adjusted so that men are presented to be superior. This is definitely not the message that should be sent out to the youth of today.

Rockwilder, Christina Aguilera, Balewa Muhammed, Redman, and Jasper Cameron. "Dirrty." Rec. 16 Sept. 2002. Single. Rockwilder, Christina Aguilera, 2002. YouTube. 16 Sept. 2002. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. .

Duke Nukem Forever: Official Babes Trailer. YouTube. 8 Apr. 2011. Web. 13 Oct. 2011.

Photograph. Gender Ads.com. Dr. Scott A. Lukas. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.
< http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/exotics/general/pics/exoticsgen3.jpg >.

Photograph. Gender Ads.com. Dr. Scott A. Lukas. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.
< http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/menincontrol/pics/mencontrol6.jpg>.

Photograph. Gender Ads.com. Dr. Scott A. Lukas. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.
< http://www.ltcconline.net/lukas/gender/dolls/pics/dolls2.jpg>.

The Impact of Celebrities

It is widely known that celebrities have quite an impact on America’s youth. The media makes it impossible not to know who the latest reality television stars are or to have heard of the show Gossip Girl. While these facts might not be familiar to the majority of boys, numerous young teenage girls would be able to rattle off any of this information without thinking twice. These reality television stars have started to dominate the media’s attention, and due to the amount of press they receive, they are quickly becoming role models for many young girls.

The Hills is a reality television show that premiered a few years ago. It followed the lives of a few young twenty year olds who were living in Los Angeles. Their relationships, jobs, and party habits were documented and formed into episodes that aired on M.T.V weekly. This show ended in the summer of 2010, but the cast’s presence in the media has not dwindled. Two of the main stars from the show, Lauren Conrad and Lo Bosworth, both attend many award shows and frequently appear in magazines. They update their twitter accounts constantly and are followed by more than three million people combined. Along with constantly interacting with the public through twitter they both have created websites that focus only on appearance and relationships.

Lauren Conrad’s website, thebeautydepartment.com, is broken into six different sections. Hair, make-up, and tutorials focus on how to properly apply make-up and how to create the perfect hairstyles. The remaining three sections draw inspiration from random topics that Lauren believes will also enhance one’s appearance. Lauren constantly posts updates about this website on her twitter, so the two million people following her, most of which are teenage girls, receive these posts daily. To many of these girls Lauren Conrad serves as a role model of some sort, and the only topic they ever see her post is how to enhance your physical appearance. Lo Bosworth’s website, thelodown.com, is very similar, but along with appearance it discusses relationships as well. There are thousands of blogs that exclusively discuss how to improve one’s looks, but the impact that Lauren and Lo have as role models on so many girls makes their websites much more powerful.

The latest posts on Lauren Conrad’s website discuss the perfect eyelashes, how to make your lips look bigger, and how to apply eye shadow properly. While her website is called The Beauty Department therefore she needs to post about make-up, a post here and there about a charity or how to make an impact on society, or about being yourself and not needing an excess amount of makeup to look good could really impact young girls. Instead of focusing on how to improve your physical appearance she should write about how to embrace who you are naturally. One blogger who has a website fairly similar to Lauren and Lo’s was asked by Juicy Couture, a clothing line, to make three different videos that incorporated their clothes and the idea of her blog. The three videos were about, how to get ready, how to host a party, and how to spend one’s day in L.A.; each video was posted on her blog and Juicy Couture’s website. While all of these videos do incorporate both brands they unfortunately never mention anything except how to look or act like the “perfect” woman. Entertaining and shopping were some of the activities that many believed women should spend most of their time doing decades ago, but are these blogs and websites just bringing back ideas that this is what women should only be doing. Young girls are the primary readers of these websites and nowhere do any of them mention the importance of education or careers.

Feminism and Pop Culture discusses a few of the shows that have aired on television recently as well. Andi Zeisler states “More recently, other reality shows have broadened the definition of just what competitive activities are considered liberating and empowering for women…America’s Next Top Model, which is also based on the pursuit of hotness”(Zeisler 130). Zeisler brings up the point that many of these shows say they are empowering women, but they choose to do so by dressing girls in very little clothing. America’s Next Top Model is created by Tyra Banks, who is also a major role model for many young girls, and all the show does is film stick skinny girls running around in bikinis. This is not an image they should be associating with the empowerment of women. Lauren Conrad, Lo Bosworth, Tyra Banks and all other celebrities that have such a substantial position in the media need to watch the image they are providing to young girls.

Schuman, Emily. "Entertaining With Cupcakes & Cashmere - YouTube." YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. 26 Sept. 2011. Web. 12 Oct. 2011. .

"The Beauty Department." Photograph. Lauren Conrad. 2011. Web. 12 Oct 2011. .

Zeilser, Andi. Feminism and Pop Culture. 1st ed. . Berkeley, California : Seal Press, 2008. 24. Print.

Women in films

Here are some interesting statistics about women in movie industry. Only six percent of directors of the top 250 domestic grossing films are women. The number is roughly half the percentage of women directors in 2000. Twenty one percent of the 250 grossing films employed no women executive producers, writers, cinematographers, directors, producers, or editor. The rate of employment of women in the behind-scene roles has declined since 1998. Women wrote only ten percent of the 250 movies, and eighty two percent of the movies had no women writers. Women comprised fifteen percent of all executive producers, twenty four percent of all producers, eighteen percent of all editors, two percent of all cinematographers.

If you enjoy watching movies, you might have found what the majority of films have in commons. Most of the movies are stories about men. Because we live in a male centered society, Hollywood keeps producing movies about men, in aspect of patriarchy. Male centered society prioritizes men over women. We saw from out young ages, no matter of your gender, that society’s attention is placed on what men do and what men don’t do. While men’s stories are created, produced, awarded and celebrated, women’s stories are less interested in movie industry. Many women stories are considered as “chick flicks” which depict women stereotypically. Shopping, loving, and finding a cute man are all they do in the movies.

Hollywood financial investors, backers, production companies, and executives are interested in marketing to young men by funding and producing stories of men to appeal to this demographic. Yet, given a similar budget, films employing at least one woman as any behind scene roles earned little bit higher box office grosses in opening weekend than films created only by men on average ($27.1 vs. 24.6 million). Given a similar budget, films with at least one women producer, executive producer, and directors grossed about the same amount as films with only men creators ($82.1 vs. $81.9 million). Given a similar budget, films with women protagonists grossed similar box office numbers with films with men protagonists.

The number of women on screen is influenced by the numbers of women behind scene. When a movie had at least one women creator, women comprised forty five percent of all characters. When there is no woman working behind the scenes, only forty percent of all characters are women. Women writes thirty percent of all film reviews in the nation’s top newspapers, and men write seventy percent. Forty seven percent of the nation’s top newspapers do not contain the reviews written by women. In the narrowed view, only three of the top hundred grossing films in 2010 were directed by women, and only one female director, Kathryn Bigelow, won a Best Director Oscar in 2009. Kathryn Bigelow is the only women director who won an academy award in its 83 years history, and yet her movie “The Hurt Locker” in 2009 is definitely a male-centered film.

Fifty five percent of moviegoers are female. There is also a higher percent of women watching movies in every age group. I am not arguing that male-centered movies are never good and important; my point is that movies are disproportionally valued and rewarded in our society. I want to watch more films characterizing women as full and complete human beings.