Representation of Gender today

*Media gender and Identity
*David Gauntlett

Gender in contemporary TV programmes:
*In prime time TV shows, 1192-1993 men took 61% of the total number of speaking roles, women having 39%.
*1995-1996 study found that men took 63% of the speaking roles, women having 37%.

*1992-1993- 18% of the female characters took the major role and more than two thirds were the stars of domestic situation comedies.
*1995-1996 43% of major characters were female, although still less than half.

*1992-1993- 3% of women were represented as housewives as their main occupation- massive decrease from the 1970. An additional 8% of women were shown as 'homemakers'
*1995-1996- On a character b character basis, females male were equal in these respects.

*Overall the 1992-1993 study found that ' the women on prime time TV in the early 1990s was young, single, independent, and free from family and work place pressures' (Elasmer, Hasegawa and Brain, 1999:33).

*1990s to a certain extent, programme makers arrived at a comfortable, not particularly- offensive modes of masculinity and femininity, which majority of the public seemed to think were acceptable.

e.g. Friends (1994)-
3 Men (Ross, Chandler & Joey) fit easily with convectional models of masculinity, but given some characteristics of sensitivity and gentleness, and male bonding to make things refreshing.
Similarly 3 women (Rachel, Monica and Phoebe) are clearly feminine, whilst being sufficiently intelligent and non housewifely to seem like acceptable characters of the 1990s.

-They were all Friends so it was a refreshing modern replacement for the traditional family.
-Not long of course before they spoilt this by having Ross and Rachel then Monica and Chandler fall in love.

*Some shows put successful professional women at the forefront, and are focused on their quets for sex, pleasure and romantic love e.g. Ally McBeal (1997) and Sex in the City (1998)- both do this in different ways.

-McBeal is a very good lawyer, but more stereotypically is quite desperate to find a husband.

-Calsita Flockhart, inhabits an alarming anorexic looking body- dependant on male, she wants to be gazed upon and look good for the men.

-However Allys colleagues Ling (Lucy Lui) and Nelle (Portia de Rossi) are tougher- both have been out with men from the law firm.

-The show sides with women and often shows them making fun of the men.

-Sex in the City male sexual performance is subject to laughter by women.

Madeleine Bunting (2001) notes:

-Characters in Sex and the City discuss every kind of sex- comparing experiences, offering advice and encouragement. Nothing is out of Bonds, Sex is an adventure playground which doesn't necessarily have much to do with love.

-Sex Stuff works because it turns on its head the old age female sexual victim hood.

- Buffy the vampire Slayer (1997)- Broke new ground by becoming hugely popular within the typically male dominated world of Sci-fi fans.

-Buffy has repeatedly won 'Best television sow' in SFX magazines annual readers poll.

-1990s Superman was relaunched (Louis and Clark, a.k.a The new adventure of Superman, 1993-1999) he was sweet & insecure and always consulting his small town parents.

-Buffy- confident assertive than either incarnation of the man of steel, whilst remaining recognisably human.

Polly Vernon (1999):
-"She's a girl's girl, at once hard as nails and physically confident in a way that's genuinely empowering, and yet women enough and scared enough not to become some kind of dumsy, shouting mutated Spice GIRL".

-Buffy is a Good role model for everybody, because she has to use her wits and physical strength to win.

-Male and female roles are often not exactly interchangeable.

-NYPD Blue. Sipowicz's partners are typically more sensitive but have problems of their own.

Gender in Contemporary Movies:

- Representations in the 1990s-
-Magie Humms Feminism and Film (1997) didn't seem to think that anything had changed.

-"Film...Often and anxiously envisions women stereotypically as 'good' mothers or 'bad', hysterically careists. In the past, and today, every Hollywood women is someone else's other. (1997:3)

-'Good Mother' icons are pretty thin on the ground too; we've probably got more good fathers these days.

Susan Jefford (1993):
-Arnold Shwarzneggers evil Terminator (1984) comes back in Terminator 2: Judgement day (1991) as a protective father figure to Ed Furlong.

-Jefford's sees this as part of 1990s trend of reinventing ,masculinity as fatherhood and caring.

-Hollywood culture is offering in place of bold spectacle of male masculinity and violence, is a self effacing man, one who now, learns to live instead of fighting.

- There are many other hit films where the male action hero works along side a more or less equally powerful female action hero.

-Men in Hollywood films today tend o be the seamlessly macho heroes which we saw in the 1980s; they more often combine the toughness required of an action hero with a more sensitive, thoughtful or caring side.

-Female roles have become tougher.

Charlies Angels:
-Those who publicly criticised it were not women and feminists, however they were the mainstream, mostly male, film critics.

-'Barrymore, Diaz and Liu represent redhead, blond and brunette respectively ( as David Poland has pointed out, T[its], A[ss] and Hair.

-Michael Thomson of BBC online- 'Women's glamour and pouting', saying that the film's message was 'by all means be feisty, but never forget to be feminine'.

-Complaints- including the occasional not that the women are 'Bimbos'.

-They defeat their enemies without guns.

-The film does knowingly showcase the women's physical attractiveness, but their success comes from their brains, and their fighting skills.

-Charlies Angels has an effervescent 'girl power' zing which had not been seen since the Spice Girls.

-Charlie- what does he do?- In other words, he's a Marxist and feminist.