REPRESENTATION AND DIVERSITY: HOW ARE GENDERS REPRESENTED.
This post was written by a student. It has not been fact checked or edited.
In this topic we have basically been talking about diversity, we have asked questions like why is it impotant to see diversity in films, films that make a difference and other discussions related to this.
In our discussion we never really spoke about how each gender is represented, this discussion is crucial to the knowledge of people, knowing how each gender is represented can help know if one is being represented properly or not.
I would like to start with why it is important to see diversity in films, but I would like to note that diversity does not only mean race or color it also mean, culture and even roles.
quickwitted_tamarind says that:
I think it is important to see diversity in films because people are influenced by what they see. So when they see diversity being represented, they will start to think more carefully about it. Also, it is good, because the world is dirverse. People need to see the truth about what has happened through history in diverity. Everybody is different and we should be respected for this. But the truth is-not everybody treates others fairly. We all have prejudices that can influence us. Films could make sure they get the representations by making a diversity charter that tells you what you are going to do. People also need to make sure they know what diversity they are trying to represent. We need to address the things we are blind to. Eg: Race; gender; age; even economic class.
illuminated_chameleon says that:
Diversity in films is important because societies are diverse. The more we see people who are different to us, the more we get used to the fact that they are part of society, just like us. Also, people need to see themselves reflected on the screen, so it's not just films, but also TV shows and adverts that should be diverse. People from all backgrounds and especially young people need to see people they can relate to. How are people from different backgrounds supposed to understand they are equal members of society if they don't see people like them on the screen? Films can make sure they do their representation right by giving both important and less important roles to different people. I mean, for example the heroes should be both Asian, European, African and American, in a balanced proportion. Also, people from different backgrounds should be given roles as lawyers, politicians, businessmen, scientists, so that young people understand they can become anything they want and that their background is not an obstacle, to some extent I agree with them all because:
men and women perform different roles at times these roles are not the same for all individuals. However, a large number of people in the society live in accordance with these roles. Society assigns classes of social roles to both male and female individuals, in the same manner that society views the different sexes. These gender roles can be a hindrance to both men and women as they can limit the capabilities of what males and females can do. Gender roles can actually reduce a persons capability if you ask me. For example male characters were more likely than females to have an identifiable occupation. Girls and women were more likely to have goals related to their personal life, whereas boys and men were more likely to have work-related goals.
Here are some shocking numbers from forbes news eighty-five percent of films featured more male than female characters, but only 7% of films had more female than male characters. Females made up only 34% of all speaking characters, declining from 36% in 2020. Women comprised only 35% of major characters. For purposes of the study. Major female characters were younger than major male characters.
What people fail to understand is having fewer female characters and fewer meaningful female characters isn’t just a problem for female actors. It has an impact on the viewer, when viewers see substantially more stories about male characters than female characters, the message is that the contributions of boys and men are more meaningful, interesting, and ultimately more valuable than those of girls and women, and to be honest I also fee that way. When I say how are genders portrayed I do not mean only women, these negative streotypes also affect men when films relate masculinity with violence, crime or work, it depicts a very narrow, and outdated notion of what it means to be a man.
Although this affects both genders mostly women are affected, women are constantly under-represented, most attimes if ,ore than two women are represented in a movie they do not even converse they either hate eachother or talk to eachother about men. Most of the time we women have to be represented as pretty or we perform a household duty.
Sometimes when I hear certain information it does not surprise me, but what surprises me is when no one wants to do anything about it maybe the reason for the poor representation on women in movies is because according to zippia.com 45.8% of script writers are women and 54.2% of script writers are men.
Some questions need answers ansd some of those questions are:
HOW CAN WOMEN BE REPRESENTED BETTER IN FILMS.
HOW DO WE STOP THE MISCONCEPTION OF WHAT MALES AND FEMALES NEED TO BE IN MOVIES.
DOES HAVING FEMALE SCRIPT WRITERS INCREASE THE CHANCES OF HAVING A GENDER POSITIVE MOVIE.
Comments (10)
The true representation of a woman must be the role in which she must be the hero of her own story. I think the films representing the woman as houshold lady, family extenders, taking carers and nurturing source of the generations are not the positive gender representation.
I think the men and women are both the savior of society both should be the hero of the story. It can leads to improve the self confidence among all single parents children of the society they will feel safe under the parenthood of the single parents.
If we choose the productive role without gender discrimination. As in most of the films women voices and unheard-of. So there is a need that woman should given strong character to be heard not just to be pictured. Its is due to the men written script. So the female writer should be emcouraged through awards so that the movies represent the women heroship must picturing the world from women's angles.
Genders are represented by roles for a great example japan is famous for the anime creations and in each show they always have a specific role. for each gender, i mean one show is Naruto in Naruto the men and boys always protect the village and the woman and the girls always heal or help the males
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I think that women should be represented in good and deserving roles as women are mostly represented as weak ,unwanted and afraid though some movies at least have a balance of diverse people in them. I also think that diverse movies will increase the amount of an audience for that movie as people will at least see someone like themselves. I also think that female writers are a good idea as they know how some of them felt when movies were not diverse so I think females would do a good job and choose fairly.
Woman can be represented better in films by getting better parts in movies and TV shows and instead of men being the stars of the show all the time the could make the lead roles both men and woman parts. They could also make shure that there are not more men then woman or more women than men but equal gender and alll races.
Yes, I think so, that women have high capabilities of expression, and we must respect their opinions and give them the right to do so, because men may be inclined to their gender a little, and they are able to explain what males want and obstacles and they do not care about women, so we must We make a woman a screenwriter so that she can explain the obstacles and injustices that women experience
Women should be represented as someone who can act for themselves instead of waiting for a man to do it. Usually in movies made by men who don't see women as much they represent them as housewives who can't do anything but cook, clean, and tend to their kids. They should start representing women as independent people who can do multiple things instead of the stereotypical housewife. Sometimes men can also face roles that say they only work and do nothing else besides sleep. I feel like having female script writers can help with sexism in movies because they know about problems and can represent men just as well.
Could men be given any roles in films to help challenge this "housewife" stereotype too?
Women are not enough represented in movies / series. When they are present in movies / series, they often play a supporting role like someone from the lead actor's family or his wife / girlfriend or when they have the lead role like super heroines they are mostly sexualized like for example Catwoman.
How can women be represented better in movies/series?
In my opinion, Women could be better represented in movies/series if they get lead roles that are a faithful representation of reality like for example the roles of a businesswoman, a boss etc.
Male and female actors are as good as each other and female have a right to act . And I think black panther gives a good message to me it says no matter who you are you are strong. I like how pretty much all races in black panther and no racism is included in any of the movies . I hope it gives a good message to the world so no more rasisum ever happens again
I really like how they do marvel because it so creative and I just find it so crazy that they able to act and do all of that acting and not mess up.
I love how they give the men and woman rights to play roles with the respect they deserve along with the love they get . some women get there own movie like Scarlett Johanson . some men in the MCU are great actors and have good acting but In my opinion the MCU need to add more girls because their very few that have survived / still alive .