For the Women’s Studies 100: Introduction to Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Activist Project, our group decided to focus on the portrayal of gender roles in American television and film and how they have changed over time since the existence of pre-codes. This topic closely relates to a broader theme, media and culture, which has not only influenced us five as a group, but has influenced society as a whole. In American television and film, the issues of gender roles, gender expectations, and other examples of sexism have surfaced over the past ten years on many different occasions. Supposed family-friendly shows like Friends, The Vampire Diaries and Modern Family are a few popular shows to name in which these issues are present.
Pre-code Hollywood was “an era in motion pictures from the arrival of sound to the mandatory enforcement of the Motion Picture Production Code” (Reid, 2014). Before the Motion Picture Production Code was created, the majority of films were able to feature sex, drugs, miscegenation, homosexuality and many other topics that people view as “inappropriate.” Although these films were seen as inappropriate, there were several positive outcomes that resulted from pre-codes. There was an abundance of freedom and creativity in the media and it allowed for films to portray real, vital issues of the time period. There were no restrictions to what could be discussed or represented in film, which allowed it to be more realistic, and represent more vital issues to its audience. Once the code was enforced in July of 1934, these subjects were banned from Hollywood Studios.
One famous movie that was produced in the precode era was Tarzan and His Mate. This film contained “uncensored print that included unseen footage” (Doherty, 1999) past 1934 when the Motion Picture Production Code was put into place. The movie contained numerous accounts of nudity and many scenes where minimal clothes were worn. Furthermore, the movie contained examples of racism which shocked the audience to a point where many people gasped, and then ultimately everyone became silent. Due to the fact that that this film was produced before censored were put into place, it was allowed to discuss/ show things that audience members viewed as offensive, or felt uncomfortable watching in a room filled with other people. It further depicted gender stereotypes because men are viewed as “tough” and “sexy” and it is socially acceptable for them to wear little amounts of clothes, and no one will think anything of it.
Intersectionality is extremely important when it comes to media and culture. Intersectionality highlights gender, sexism, and racism issues amongst varying populations within America. For example, the representation of roles given in film do not properly represent the country’s diversity. According to a study focused on diversity in Hollywood, only 7% of the films cast represented the country’s diversity. During casting calls for television shows and films, producers look for very specific features and racial qualities. The well-known actor, Vin Diesel, experienced this first hand when attempting to audition for roles and even created his own short film where he described his personal struggles of being a biracial individual in Hollywood. He had such an issue finding roles as a biracial actor due to what is known as “whitewashing.” According to Merriam-Webster, whitewashing is defined as when the film industry “casts or prefers white actors, directors and so on, over equally qualified people of color.” Like Vin Diesel, whose birth name is Mark Sinclair, a famous female actress, Rita Hayworth, caved into whitewashing and legally changed her name from her birth name, Margarita Cansino. Hayworth was one of the many Latina actresses who felt the “pressure to succeed in Hollywood” and desired to cover up her true identity when competing against others in hopes to land a role (Bramlett-Solomon, 2017, 100).
Along with racism being discussed as a popular factor within media culture, sexism also plays a significant role when it comes to creating characters. A television production from the late 90’s, Friends, includes numerous examples of a male main character, Joey Tribbiani, who continuously treats various women badly. He repeatedly has sexual relations with multiple women and neglects to reach out to them any further afterwards. SEXISM REFERENCE
A more recent television show that discriminates women and has been immensely criticized is The Vampire Diaries. One of the male main characters, Damon Salvatore, compels one of the female main characters, Caroline Forbes, into dating him. Not only was Caroline stripped of her rights by being forced to date Damon and be his literal victim to feed on as a vampire, but her ability to grant consent was also far removed from the situation when he continously raped her (Nix, 2016). Even in the book, Fanged Fan Fiction: Variations on Twilight, True Blood and The Vampire Diaries, the authors, Maria Lindgren Leavenworth and Malin Isaksson, even include that Damon “knew that in her mind, she wasn’t enjoying this, but her body was” (Lindgren Leavenworth & Isaksson, 2013, pg. 191). Therefore, women, like Caroline Forbes, were awfully presented as weak and helpless while dominated by men and used as complete sexual objects.
Another television show that clearly addresses gender is Modern Family. According to our text, Women’s Voices Feminist Visions, the show “depicts a secure, loving gay couple” and a “very likeable Latina struggling to cope with life in the United States.” While this show is popular and found humorous to most, it includes stereotypes about gay men and Latin American women throughout each episode. The show also displays issues among gender roles as it depicts women to be weaker than men in our society. We see the idea of women not contributing to the family’s income and men containing the power. Overall, while these issues do exist, the show also provides different situations that are beneficial to the show and go away from typical stereotypes.
Likewise, the ever popular Disney princess movies have always been a part of our lives, but we now realize that they may not be as innocent as they seem. Although they continue to change over time, the gender roles portrayed in these films suggest specific masculine and feminine characteristics (England, 2011, 556). For example, one movie that was discussed in this article was Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which includes characters whom which take on very stereotypical gender roles. The dwarfs are represented as sloppy men who live in a messy home because there are no women around to clean it. However, as soon as Snow White comes around, she is tasked with the domestic feminine roles of cooking, cleaning, doing the dishes, and even dusting. Snow White, along with many other Disney princess movies often depict gender roles which represent male and female stereotypical characteristics.
Sexism is not only shown through the characters and situations on these television shows and movies, but also in the overall film industry creating them. According to the article, Unmanageable inequalities: sexism in the film industry, the term sexism is explained as “consciously directed” decisions that result in division between groups such as gender. Although it may be unintentional, the choices made by the producers in the film industry often result in “sexist outcomes nonetheless.” This means that not only are producers creating sexist content, but the environment and the process to create them is as well. The unfair treatment of women in the film industry can be noticed in various ways such as lesser pay, and lack of powerful decision making positions, such as directors, writers, and producers (Jones, D., & Pringle, J. K., 2015, 46).
Although some television shows and film still contain these issues today, there recently have been major improvements regarding intersectionality. An excellent example of a media production that broke these social norms is Grey’s Anatomy. On this specific show, the female surgeons are considered equally as skilled and intelligent as the males in their career field. This relates to intersectionality today, as more and more individuals, since the second decade of the twenty-first century, are attempting to fight for gender equality (Rich et al, 2016, 3).
The producers of Grey’s Anatomy continue to make positive improvements regarding intersectionality by including characters in the LGBTQ community as main characters. In fact, two of the show’s main characters, Callie Torres and Arizona Robbins, are married to each other and even have a child. This completely breaks social norms in a positive way because it presents that not just men and women are able to be in relationships and begin a family.
In addition, the film industry does an amazing job of depicting several unique races through it’s characters on Grey’s Anatomy. From the nurses to the patients, the show does not exclude any races. Dr. Miranda Bailey is an African American surgeon who held the role of Chief of Surgery at one point. As a woman, she is equally as talented as the men and is a leading surgeon for the hospital. The excellent representation of various races throughout the show is an example of the work of Shonda Rhimes, a female African American television producer. She uses a technique known as “blindcasting” when casting the actors and actresses for her shows. According to an article titled The Racial Logic of Grey’s Anatomy, blindcasting can be defined as, “the process of not writing race into the script.” This allows for equality among the actors and actresses, but is also criticized for resulting in a “colorblind” society. Rhimes believes that characters should be defined by their personalities, such as being a slob or a neat freak, and not by their race (Warner, K. J., 2015, 631-637).
Even back then, breaking social norms became something that was starting to be discussed amongst society. While it is most common now, minor changes began specifically shown in the television show, The Nanny, through the main character, Fran Fine. Most women in the past were still expected to live the typical domestic lifestyle. Women were supposed to take on certain domestic roles, like “caring for the young, the sick, and the old and for able-bodied adult men (their husbands)” (Land, 1978, 257). However, some women, like the character Fran Fine, were beginning to defy the social norms and have the confidence to stand up for themselves when it came to having real future goals just like men. Her slight feministic views may have encouraged women in society to further grow up as a woman with a mind of her own that would not back down at the sight of a challenge.
As a group, we have decided to present our Activist Project as a Powerpoint presentation. We will begin to introduce our topic with a brief timeline showing the history of sexism and racism in media and culture. By discussing the gender roles, expectations, and stereotypes shown in past films first, it will show how different genders and races are represented in the media then compared to now. Each of us will split up examples and explain how they relate to our topic. As a group, we met multiple times and collaborated with each other to compose our proposal. We brainstormed ideas and then put it all together, integrating each member of the groups thoughts.
In our powerpoint, we have organized our information into ten different subjects, each of us will be discussing two. Ally Goldstein will start by introducing our topic, media and culture, and go into the history relating to pre-code films. After that, Alessia Catania will go over the first part of how intersectionality highlights racism and show a clip of Vin Diesel’s short film. She will then touch on sexism. Kyra Yacavone will discuss how intersectionality relates to gender roles in specific television shows and Disney movie productions. Next, Madison Gratteri will talk about sexism related to the producers within the actual film industry, along with improvements that have been made over time. Finally, Mackenzie Signet will present on multiple services that are related to our topic, before concluding our presentation.
There are many services, resources and projects that have already responded to our focus theme. At Barnard College, they have an International Women’s Film Organization. This organization’s goal is to present strategies for gender equality in film. They held a discussion meeting where they talked about the status and statistics of women filmmakers and women in films. Thus far, they have done a successful job of addressing the issue and are speaking to others to talk about it. They have gone as far as organizing meetings at festivals and markets around the world to further address the issue to hopefully make a change. A similar project created is called We Do it Together. We Do it Together’s mission is to create films, documentaries and TV shows that are dedicated to the empowerment of women. They do this by working with a diverse group of female directors to create films that will correct the stereotypes of women that people today believe. One final resource that has addressed our project theme was an article written in the Western Washington University WordPress site on deconstructing gender stereotypes in She’s the Man. The purpose of this article is to get into detail about how, on the surface, this movie may seem hilarious and relatable, but it actually “emits a strong sense of feminism.” It addresses this problem by talking about the movie, point by point and explaining the impact each part has on the viewer and how it portrays the gender roles of both women, and men, in a stereotypical way. This article is successful in addressing the problems within the movie and opening the eyes of its audience.