First of all, I suggest everyone watches every single video Anita Sarkeesian makes because it points out so many good points. In this video, Tropes vs Women #3: The Smurfette Principle, she mentions the constant themes and representation of women in Hollywood films and TV shows.
The smurfette principle (named by Katha Pollitt) is the trope that usually women who have a primary cast, are usually the only one in a group of men. And even so, the women are highly sexualized and usually white. This lack of women involvement in film and tv show further emphasizes how men concentrated the media is. How women are like trophies/sidekicks or as Anita says "Sexy decorations" and always exist in relation to men. Even so, the world is usually a white dominated and if there is a portrayal of other races, its highly stereotyped.
Though this is so obvious, no one ever notices to point it out. I'm guilty to say that I've never paid attention to whether women are being represented or not and if they are, how exactly are they being portrayed. As well as whether the story is about women or surrounded in men. This principle is exemplified by the Bechdel test.
The Bechdel test is a test that can identify "women's relevance to a plot and presence in hollywood movies". The test is followed by three criterias: there has to be two women, with names, talking about something other then men. She takes a look at all 2011 Academy awards pictures and notices that very few do. And even when this test is changed to two people of color talk about something other then white person, the ratio decreases even more.
Though it doesn't entail the quality of the film, it still good to point out the lack of representation of women. And how that has yet to change. It is just another critical way of looking at films or tv shows.
I agree Anita makes really great points on the portrayal of women in media. The second video on the Bechdel test was rather interesting, I didn't realize how many of the good movies fail. I suppose a lot of filmmakers aren't concerened about pushing the bar when it comes to gender stereotypes. They just sweep it under the rug for someone else to address. Anita addressing this an raising awareness is great, perhaps more men and women will make a concious effort to change this. So we don't have to watch women on the silver screen as the sexy decoration or token person in the group of the boys.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed the Smurfette principle video. The same trope could perhaps also be applied to women in reality televison shows. For example, in one season of a show called Top Shot, only two women were cast members. The show started off with 16 contestants and both women were eliminated within the first five episodes.
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