How Women Are Represented Through Movie Posters

Feb 29

Feb 29 How Women Are Represented Through Movie Posters

Emileshoots

Movie posters are a promotional tool used to advertise an upcoming movie to the target demographic. They usually give the audience a sneak peek into what the film may entail, who stars in it and what genre it is. Throughout cinema history, women in film have been portrayed as passive, helpless, sexual objects and usually the damsel in distress or ‘prize’ for the hero of the narrative. This has never been shown more than on the movie posters themselves.

https://www.imdb.com

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1981115/mediaviewer/rm1847122688

Many movie posters feature a sexualised image of a women, often cutting off their heads further dehumanising females. This usually tries to emphasize the sex appeal to the primary male target demographic, enticing them to watch the film.

Thor The Dark World film posters are a great example of how women are portrayed as the damsel in distress. The main female character is connoted in the poster to be weak, in need to protection and Thor’s love interest as in one poster she has her hands placed on him in a romantic way suggesting she may be in love with him. I think Laura Mulvey’s The Male Gaze theory can be seen within these posters as we are encouraged to look at it through a male perspective as Thor, the main male character, is depicted as the bigger, more important and dominant role. The representation of ‘Woman’ as a spectacle to be looked at pervades visual culture. In such representation ‘Woman’ is defined solely in terms of sexuality, as an object of desire, in relation to, or as a foil for, ‘Man.’” (Shohini Chaudhuri. Feminist Film Theories 2006 Book) Because of this, we see the female character as less important and even a passive character.

https://www.nssmag.com/en/art-design/7865/tutte-le-locandine-dei-film-di-007

I believe both the male gaze and the drip drip theory can be seen heavily in this James Bond poster as there is an image of a female character in her underwear standing next to a fully clothed James Bond. We are forced to see this image from a male perspective and encouraged to find the female attractive, see her as a sexual object and made to see her as less important as she is standing slightly behind James.

The drip drip theory implies that the more we see something, the less we are affected by it. I think, because movie posters have been sexually objectifying women through the male gaze for decades, we as the audience are not as impacted by it and have come to expect and even accept it rather than find it shocking anymore. It has now become the ‘norm’ for a film poster to contain a half naked woman. “In truth, early Bond films were considered problematic long before the #MeToo and Time’s Up campaigns – and not just for their celebration of sexist attitudes” (Child, B. (n.d.). Time's up for James Bond: is 007 too toxic for the #MeToo era?. [online] the Guardian.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/mediaviewer/rm602420224

The audience may use the uses and gratification theory to decipher what the film is about by creating ideas such as James bond, spy, violence, sexy women and danger. The audience may also create the belief that the woman is connoted to be dangerous or in need of protecting as she is holding a knife. Cultivation theory suggests that medias can change audiences attitudes as well as their concept of reality, I think this poster is a great example of how cultivation can have an impact as it may shape people’s idea of reality regarding women and how to treat them based on how James objectifies them. “When I look at the movies, film theorists try to tell me that the gaze is male, the camera eye is masculine, and so my look is also not a woman’s.” (De Lauretis 1987. Shohini Chaudhuri. Feminist Film Theories 2006 PG 68 Book)

A similar poster to this is Return of the Jedi. Again, the female character is sexually objectified through the male gaze and this forces the audience to use the uses and gratifications to make assumptions about the character and what happens in the film. A few ideas the audience may create about the female character from this image could be that she has a main role, is attractive, a love interest, sexy, passive and could be the prize for the hero of the story. Just by looking at the poster, I personally assume that princess Leia is passive based on the fact that she has no weapons, unlike her male co-stars, and is objectified by wearing the least amount of clothing. The audience can also form beliefs about the other characters as they are denoted to have specific roles which can be illustrated by Propp’s Character types. Princess Leia is suggested to be the princess/prize, Luke is shown to be the hero, Han solo is depicted to be the dispatcher, the other smaller characters are suggested to be helpers and darth vader is connoted to be the villain.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1843866/mediaviewer/rm2014107392

The film poster for Captain America Winter Soldier further showcases how women are objectified- even when they are strong, powerful, cool and independent. Although Black Widow is one of the least helpless or passive characters, she is portrayed as sexy through the male gaze as her figure is shown off dramatically in her tight suit, her curves are empathized for sex appeal and she is posing in a way to further show off her sexy figure. “This is done to appeal to both male and female fans of hers. The males so that she fits into the more typical and unattainable standards that society perpetuates upon women, but also that the female fans look up to her and see her as a role model worthy of their adoration.” (zmillermedia. (2014). Superhero poster analysis – Captain America: The Winter Soldier. [online] The gun she is holding is pointed down and held as if it is an accessory rather than a weapon- maybe trying to suggest she may not know how to use it or does not want/ need to to. Movie posters just can not help but sexulise women, no matter how ‘badass’ they are.

In recent years, women’s representation has changed. This change may not be dramatic but it’s certainly a step in the right direction. This change could be due to cultural changes and even the recent #MeToo movement. “In less than six months, because of the viral #metoo hashtag, a vital conversation about sexual violence has been thrust into the national dialogue” (Me Too Movement. (n.d.). About - Me Too Movement. [online]. Although still being objectified. women are portrayed more and more as equal to their male co-stars and occasionally get a chance to prove they are just as strong and important to the story. “It shows that superhero movies aren’t just about men. They’re about women as well,” Staff, T. (2017). ‘Wonder Woman’ among top-grossing films of 2017. [online] Timesofisrael.com.

Take Wonder Woman for example, this film was one of the first female- led superhero movies to be made. Even though this is a great achievement in film history, it should not have took until 2017. This aimed to be a breakthrough for women in film, but the poster still managed to objectify the main female character by wearing a tight fitting, curve enhancing superhero outfit showing more skin than covering it. Again, this makes the audience look at this image through the male gaze and find the woman attractive by sexually objectifying her.

https://www.imdb.com/

I think studios do not want to make female-led superhero movies as in the past they haven’t made as much as their competing male-led movies in the box office. Wonder Woman made 821.8 million USD in 2017 in the box office, while Spiderman: Homecoming made 880.2 million USD and Avengers: Infinity War made a shocking 2.048 billion USD. “It is proving a huge hit with moviegoers, earning a CinemaScore of A and a Rotten Tomatoes score of 92 percent. While skewing somewhat female, it drew a fairly evenly split audience. Warner Bros said 52% of the audience was female and 48% male.” Staff, T. (2017). ‘Wonder Woman’ among top-grossing films of 2017. [online] Timesofisrael.com. Because studios and production companies know the audience has previously liked male-led superhero movies they will continue to make similar movies to appeal to their demographics interest to guarantee sales in the box office. It can be quite risky for them to make a movie so different to what their audience is used to as they could risk losing money in the box office if not as many people go see it. “It’s been proven so many times that female-led movies can make money,” says Malone. "But Hollywood still seems to have a little bit of amnesia and they always see these as the exceptions to the rule rather than the rule. The comic-book superhero genre has been so male-dominated for such a long time and it was seen as a big risk to take it in a different direction" (Truitt, B. (2017). [online] Eu.usatoday.com.) This is why it is important for studios and production companies to cater to their audience, such as Marvel or DC making superhero genre movies as their audience has come to expect it and will be satisfied with the types of movies they produce. I do think it is highly important (and about time) we got a woman led superhero movie and hopefully in the future these types of movies will start to gross just as much as their competing male-lead movies, once the audience has had time to adjust and adapt to the concept of strong, powerful and equal women superheros.

Captain Marvel is set to be one of the biggest breakthrough female-led superhero films in history, with both a female star and director. From the poster alone, it is undeniable how much female representation has changed compared to the juxtaposing Wonder Woman or James Bond posters. In the poster, captain Marvel is denoted to be a strong, powerful and important character who is capable of superhuman powers. Although, still slightly sexualising her figure, this poster seems to be the most equal and empowering portrayal of a woman superhero ever made. Not to say that women should not portray themselves as ‘sexy’ in film, I believe if the story or character calls for it, then it is entirely acceptable and can even be seen as a form of expression within filmmaking. But personally I feel women are exploited far too much in films often when its not necessary, called for or even makes sense. A lot of the time, you will see an objectified woman in a film just for the sake of it. To me, and many other women, this is not okay as it portrays women as sexual objects and can encourage people to think it is okay to treat women as such.

I think the primary audience for this film based off of the poster is going to be female feminists with a secondary audience of males interested in the genre. Looking at both Captain Marvel posters, the audience can use the uses and gratification theory to assume that this film is not intended to sexualise or objectify women through the male gaze. Instead, it is connoted to be an empowering, action packed, feminist film with superpowers and conflicts throughout the story. “Hopefully, studios will soon listen to what fans clearly want: less objectification, more incredible women starring in their own stories.” O'Keeffe, K. (2015). The Problem With How Superhero Movies Treat Women, in 11 Posters. [online] Captain Marvel has an estimated grossing of 795 million USD, this suggests the audience reception is expected have a negotiable reading as there may be controversy with having a lead female character instead of the original male Captain Marvel. There are many legal and ethical issues that can affect movie posters, especially ones containing images of women. In the past some original posters have been banned for ethical reasons such as ‘excessive nudity’ or violence, a few of which include: Sin City: A Dame to Kill For, The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and lesbian vampire killers. A potential legal issue regarding film posters would be classification. The BFI is a film classification company responsible for age rating of films in the UK. They rate films by assessing the contents and who it is suitable for. If a film poster was classified incorrectly there would be legal implications for the companies involved in production and classification.

I believe women in film have came a long way, but there is still a long way to go for total equality. Ultimately, I think there will always be some form of sexism with women’s representation in film, weather it be passive or objective but there has been big strides made in recent years and there will be more to come.