This
picture is depicting a scene from the medical drama House M.D. It’s from the episode “House’s Head” (2008) in which Dr.
House is having vivid hallucinations. In this picture, his hallucination is of
his superior Lisa Cuddy, doing a striptease for him while simultaneously trying
to help him solve a case. In this picture, two stereotypes of a “woman” are
met. The severely altered schoolgirl outfit and the striptease outfit both show
the classic “submissive” role of women.
The
outfit of a schoolgirl represents the innocence of a young girl simply going to
school. The role Cuddy has taken as a pole dancer represents her as being
simply the “object” of House’s entertainment. Combine both of these aspects,
and we have the sex fantasy of House without taking any consideration for who Cuddy really is. She is dumbed down to
this submissive role which is the complete opposite of who she truly is—House’s
boss.
Reference
http://images2.fanpop.com/images/polls/154000/154165_1229325938843_full.jpg
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The
woman in this clip is Natasha Romanoff—AKA Black Widow—from the movie The Avengers (2012). Yes, she’s tied up.
But that was her intention. She utilizes the image of the helpless, vulnerable
woman to feed into the feeling of superiority and authority these male thugs think
they have over her. By feeding into it, she is manipulating them into giving
her the information she needs. However, she does interact with another man, her
fellow agent—Agent Coulson—over the phone who informs her that someone close to
her has been compromised.
As a
result, Natasha frees herself and fights off all three thugs single-handedly.
Two things are shown in this instance. One, Agent Coulson waits for her on the
phone, knowing exactly what is going on, and acts like it’s another day at the
office. He shows know shock at how she is acting; he knows who she really is.
Second, this scene shows that Natasha is willing to break her façade when she
is so close to getting her information because someone she cares about is in
trouble. This shows that Natasha is neither a helpless damsel, nor a
cold-blooded spy. She cannot be defined by any stereotypes, which is an
important idea to consider, especially as independence in women is becoming a
very common theme in present day.
Source:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jw4G9mIKQyE
__________________________
The people in this picture are the characters from the
2003 TV Series “Firefly” and the 2005 movie “Serenity”. From this picture, it’s
already established that both the men and the women in this story are held on
equal ground. Each and every one of them holds their own in intellect, fighting
skills, will, and every other way a human being holds their own. Some of them
are soldiers, guns-for-hire, and even a companion (high-class prostitute) who
must learn to fight to defend herself in her line of work.
It is
on this equal ground that these women defy the traditional sense of fragility
and submissiveness expected of them. They’ve been through trials, hardships,
and as a result they are able fighters. They are qualified in scientific,
medical, and philosophical fields. The girl in front is an intellectual and
athletic prodigy. They do not stand in the shadow of the men, but instead hold
their own. The men understand this and respect it. The equality is so innate in
the series that people don’t even think about possible sexism or any other kind
of “ism”. This ability to watch a show without drawing something offensive from
it is something that modern television and film is headed towards. Characters
will be held on equal ground despite their age, sex, race, etc. And it will
become such a common thing to view people as human instead of woman or
black, that the traditional roles
from the past eventually won’t even be used anymore. Characters are being
judged on their persona as human beings,
not any other factor. Hopefully, this practice in television and film will
continue far into the future.
Reference:
This movie, The Help (based off of the book by Kathryn Stockett), revolves not
only around the roles of gender, but the roles of race as well. The theme of
submission is a heavily thought of quality of both women and African Americans in
the time this takes place; the 60s. Yet the women in this story defy this expectation
and so much more. They have beliefs and they have personalities. The decisions
they make are entirely their own. Even if their approach and beliefs are
questionable, their independence is still evident.
In this movie, boundaries are
broken. A white girl from a “proper family” decides to help the African
American Help speak out. A conniving female leader of the community fights back
completely of her own volition. And the African American protagonist herself in
the end finally tells the conniving woman off, referring to her as a “godless
woman”. Boundaries are cut down in the name of doing what a person truly
believes in. These women’s true colors come out, and they aren’t tamed by the
expectations of their gender or race. Once again, the theme of “the person”
comes into play. In the end, it’s not their color or gender that defines these
women, but their choices and what they are willing to do in the name of their
beliefs. And someone watching this movie does not judge the character because
they are speaking out of turn; in the end, they are judged by their decisions,
which is a recurring theme in movies and television.
Reference:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J_ajv_6pUnI
“There is a town in Maine. Where every story book
character you’ve ever known is trapped between two worlds. Victims of a
powerful curse. Only one knows the truth and only one can break her spell.
Once Upon a Time revolves around Emma Swan (Jennifer
Morrison), a 28-year-old bail bonds collector that has been supporting herself
from when she was abandoned as a baby. Things change for her when her son Henry
(Jared Gilmore), who she abandoned years ago and gave him up, finds her and
tells that he needs her help. He tells that she is really from a different
world where she is really Snow White's (Ginnifer Goodwin) missing daughter. He
shows that in the fairytale books, Prince Charming (Josh Dallas) and Snow White
sent her away to protect her. The Evil Queen (Lana Parrilla) cast a spell that
trapped the fairytale world. Emma doesn't believe them and take Henry back to
Storybrooke.
Once in the little town, she is strangely drawn to him
and the town of Storybrooke. She is concerned and starts to see that Storybrooke
is not what it seems. The longer she stays in the town, the more she suspects
that the members of the town are not who they say they are. Even though the
townspeople don't remember that they too were part of the fairytale, including
Henry's foster mother who was once the Evil Queen, they slowly start to realize
who they once were. The battle commences and if Emma wants to win, she is going
to have to embrace who she once was and can be again. From the Creators of
Lost, Edward Kitsis and Adam Horowitz have outdone themselves with a fairytale
type story that comes in real life.” –TV Rage
This television show—started in
2011—plays on classic fairytales, but makes these classic characters
three-dimensional. More importantly, they pull away from the stereotypes of
fairy tales, including damsels-in-distress. In this story, Snow White’s
daughter is the savior for, The Evil Queen is powerful enough to bring Fairy
Tale Land to our world, and Snow White fought the Evil Queen, saved her true
love, and sacrificed her only child to save her world. And even when there is a
woman who cannot fight with a sword, they are still steadfast in their morals
and intellect. However, it must be mentioned that the heroes are not without
flaws and the villains are not without relatable sides.
The
same goes for the men, who are not brought down by these powerful women, but
simply held in equal esteem to them. Even the children, despite their age, are
heavily featured in the story. Emma’s son brings her to save them. Children
such as Hansel and Gretel and the Mad Hatter’s daughter keep a steadfast
loyalty to their parents even through the toughest times. With their loyalty,
they manage to even teach their parents how to be better people. In this show,
gender, class, age, or any little difference doesn’t matter. It all comes down
to your choices and who you are as a person. And in a lot of films and tv shows
today, it seems that it’s the person that
matters, not what physical factors define them. And along with the independent
woman, the theme mentioned in the prior sentence is becoming more and more
common in modern day.
Source:
http://www.tvrage.com/Once_Upon_a_Time
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