Films In The Media From 1950's To 1990's

1950's:
In this era men were portrayed as the protognist and were shown by the producers as characters that the male audience could identify and relate to. This then meant that the female audiences had to cross gender as there were no female roles for them to identify with. Women in this era are portrayed as vulnerable and dependent on the male characters within a film. They were portrayed as inferior to men and were given small roles compared to the larger roles that men had to play. Filrms such as High noon (1952) showed men as the protognists, it is a conventenal western film that portrays the message that off 'the wild wild west is no place for a women as she wouldnt be able to cope'. This is also supported by the movie 'The searchers' (1956) as John Wayne is portrayed as a the protogonist with little or no appearance of the female character. This also folllowed the conventional idea's of a western film.

High Noon (1952)


The Searchers (1956)


1960's
It is evident from researching films produce in the 1960's that films produced in this era had the lead role of a male being the protogonist of the film. Men still remained to be shown as assertive and more independent where as women were still shown as holding cameo roles and were still portrayed as the 'damsal in distress'. Women were portrayed as having the more maternal role and more integrating with the children. This role is portrayed in the movie 'The sound of music' (1965). 'Psycho' (1960) on the other hand shows women to be dependent on men and mainly the victim in these slasher genre.

The sound of music (1965)


Pyscho (1960)


1970's:
In this era the second wave of feminism came about, the roles of women began to change dramatically and females now began to stand of for their rights politically, they argued for the right of equality between men and women. Even though this was the case in reality the media chose to blur this significant change out of the media. Women were still portrayed as dependent and followed the Proprian thoery of films containing mythical creatures, where the women are portrayed as the helpless princess who waits to be rescued by the prince. Even though women still remained in this role, a new role began to raise that of women taking leading and/or more bigger roles. An example of this change is in the movies 'Alien' (1979), the female character is shown to be in power and control as she is the one who defeats all the aliens, this could be said that it is reinforcing the idea of power of women as mentioned before began to stand up for their rights, as this was the era that was associated with the second wave of feminism, which also portrayed females as powerful and getting their right of way. Another film that also portrays this idea is the movie 'Star Wars' (1977), Princess Leia even though she appears to be quite weak is also portrayed as more dominant and can be asked fight when needed to do so. She is not portrayed as the stereotypical image of women.

Alien(1979)


Star wars (1977)


1980's:
As attitudes of individuals within society began to develop and change, female roles within the media also began to change. Women began to take on leading roles as mens roles in the media also changed dramatically. There was a significent change in their roles, something that was different and not acceptable. There was a huge rise in the 'new man', the characteristics of this man include being more feminine and taking on more female roles within the movies. 'Three men and a baby' (1987) is a perfect example that supports the idea of a new man. In this film the men are shown to be looking after the baby as their wives go out to work for the family. The men are shown to be more in touch with thier feminine side as they have female characteristics such as singing to the baby, feeding the baby, changing the baby and showing love towards the baby. During the trialer it is also made clear that this is not normal behaviour for men as one of the lead female roles says 'I want to see how u fellah's handle this one'. Terminator (1984) on the other hand still portray men as superior to women. Even though the female character is shown to be able to hande herself the film still shows how they send a man back in time to help her survive society.

Three men and a baby (1987)


Terminator (1984)


1990's:
In this era theorist 'Flaudi' found that their was a backlash against females and the dramatic change in their roles. The film 'fatal attraction' shows the two different roles played by women that off either being the 'madonna', the housewife who looks after the family and children or the 'whore' who acts and behaves in an unacceptable way. This film is known to put pressure on men as they began to worry that all females may turn this way if they gain power and status. Even though the roles of women are changing at an alarming rate, females are still portrayed in favour to the men through the male gaze. This is made clear in the James Bond film 'Die another day' (2002) where Halle Berry is shown as coming out of the sea wearing promiscuious clothing with suductive body language. This appeals to the male audeince, even though it allows the females to identify with her to. This then reinforces the idea of men are superior than women within the media.

Fatal attraction


Die another day (2002)