How women are represented in the media: Over the years
In modern society, the media plays an enormous role in our day-to-day lives. It influences our values, beliefs, and interests.
From Disney Princesses waiting for their prince to come and sweep them off their feet, to action heroes fighting alongside sexualised female characters, Hollywood has shaped societies ideas about how women should behave and what roles they should occupy. But as female representation has evolved, so too has the backlash against feminism.
Across various media platforms, such as movies and newspaper articles, there are alternative representations of women and their so-called ‘gender norms.’ Over the past decades, these portrayals have escalated a rise in both feminism and misogyny, claiming that there are still changes that need to be made.
Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Princess Jasmine - Flickr
Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and Princess Jasmine - Flickr
Originally, women’s roles in the media always coincided with motherhood, marriage, beauty, and submission to men.
Dating back to 1937, the Disney princess franchise began. Snow White’s character has frequently been criticised by media scholars for being defined primarily through beauty, domesticity and her eventual relationship with Prince Charming. Frail, fragile, feminine Snow White was heroically rescued by the romantic interest. The film industry continued to present women as weak and inferior to men, as the idea of marriage and men being a resolution is the basis for the storylines of movies like Notting Hill (1999), and more recently, A Star Is Born (2018). These films explore the idea that romantic fulfilment fixes women’s emotional conflict.
"Megan Fox! The Re-birth of Sexy!" on the cover of Maxim Magazine, (July 2007)
Many strong female leads are relegated to one purpose: the male gaze.
From the film industry to politics (WHO WON LEGS IT?) , female leads are left sexualised. In Transformers (2007), Megan Fox’s character, Mikaela Banes, was introduced as a “sex symbol”. Although she is a strong female lead, this purposefully goes unnoticed as she is presented in tight-fitted, low-cut tops and shorts.
At the time of the movie’s release, Maxim Magazine featured Fox on the cover of its July 2007 issue, headlining “Transformers special: the re-birth of sexy.” Whilst gaining the attention of the male audience, the emphasis on Fox’s appearance arguably reduced her public image to that of a sex symbol, rather than focusing on her acting career.
"I was never the girl that was sexualized, but I was in these movies where my sexuality was so exploited. [...] I was in the Transformers movies, where I had to wear shorts and a tight T-shirt. I think I had some scenes where I was lifting up a car, in a way that seemed like it was for male enjoyment. So I spent a lot of time looking like that, not thinking too much about it."
Megan Fox
Liberation or cultural misogyny? Though there has been a rise in female powerful leads, such as Viola Davis’ amazing African warrior ‘Nanisca’, there is still gender-specific repercussions. The independent character, Nanisca, stars in a movie named “The Woman King” (2022). Whilst the film itself was empowering for women, the gendered title received backlash and was up for debate whether this was intentionally embedded sexism.
#MeToo; Feminism has become way more apparent, but from that there has been a juxtaposition of misogynistic backlash. Social media personality, Andrew Tate, publicly responded to what he calls ‘feminist propaganda’. Openly, he shared his hateful views on platforms such as Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, challenging feminism. Tate’s content has attracted millions of followers and has been widely criticised for promoting misogynistic views. His supporters, however, argue that his content challenges what they describe as anti-male attitudes in contemporary feminism.
The Woman King (2022) on Letterboxd
