Genre Impact on the Representation of Gender and Sexuality Essay

Genre Impact on the Representation of Gender and Sexuality - Essay Example The visual media present several role models of both genders that influence people’s mind-set in the issue of sexuality. The media representation of women for instance centers on physical beauty and absence of strong and influential female role models (McCaughey & Neil, 12). Although the nature of women might have changed from emphasizing much on beauty or emergence of influential role models, the perception of people towards women remains as portrayed in the media. Conversely, media representation of men centers on strength, power and sexual charisma. Although this might not be true for all men, the media representation ensures that everyone perceives men in that line (McCaughey & Neil, 14). The diverse representation of different genders in films raises the issue of gender imbalance in films. Gender imbalance in films also has an impact of representation of gender and sexuality. A recent study revealed that more than 60% of the speaking roles in films are given to men leavin g the lesser percent to the women (Nanthakumar, 2). Further, females in films are more than three times likely to be displayed almost naked or fully naked. The women dress in more provocative clothes than men do. This has influenced the representation of gender and has sparked complains among some female groups. The groups claim that women are viewed as sexual objects particularly after watching depicting them as so. According to the research report, close to 30% of the girls are depicted as attractive which has raised the issue of female characters being perceived as servants. The films portray women and girls as attractive and sexual objects. This makes them feel that they should always be mindful of their physical beauty and be submissive to the men. ... This has created a gender representation in which the women feel less important in the society because their ideas are opinions are not important according to the film. One of the films that have such a representation is the movie, â€Å"Twilight† (Douglas, 40). It was further discovered that men are hardworking in terms of movie production as opposed to women. This implies that there are more male movie producers, writers, directors or cameramen than women. The films represent men as physically stronger than women. In the action adventure films, the men usually dominate the scenes. The men usually the heroes are depicted as sexually striking, brave and physically stronger than women. They are also depicted as independent and confident. In these types of films, the opposite of the heroes are the villains. The villains are depicted as wicked and cruel. They are less attractive when compared to the heroes while their scary look makes the audience hate them. The films depict wome n as motivating characters and usually play a passive role. Most Hollywood movies portray women as frail and helpless. This has made the world perceive women as so (Dole, 87). The films are shot with the women screaming, sobbing and most of the time crying. Some movies however, portray the women as rowdy and aggressive. Some of the viewers of such films might change and start perceiving the women as violent and aggressive. The Watkin’s Chicago provides a good example of media representation of aggressive women. Some of the movies that portrayed women as aggressive include the film â€Å"noir femmes fatales†, â€Å"the vamps†, and the more recent ones such as â€Å"Monster† and â€Å"Million Dollar Baby† of 2003 and 2004 respectively (Cristian, 45). The