The film industry has great power to influence cultural norms. But instead of using this power for good, more often than not, mainstream films fail women by creating countless damaging stereotypes and clichés. Female characters are objectified and/or demeaned. They are defined by heterosexist romantic relationships, imparting the message to female viewers that finding a man should be a top priority, and exist only to serve male protagonists on their journey rather than go on their own.
These portrayals are not only problematic because they inaccurately reflect the real lives of female viewers, but because such negative representations have tangible effects on the goals and aspirations of these women. Without powerful female role models, girls will emulate the pathetic stereotypes with which they’re presented. Although women are making gains towards equality, the film industry fails to illustrate that trend, and instead relies on banal character tropes, like these:
The Girl Next Door
The Stereotype: The Girl Next Door hides behind her glasses as the male protagonist ogles the cheerleaders. She’s the underdog, bookish and wistful, all her attention focused on the boy, all her worth dependent on his story arc. Not to fear, though: customarily within the film’s last half hour, the Girl Next Door straightens her hair, gets contacts and achieves stereotypical beauty. The protagonist, stunned, tells her he never noticed the beauty right under his nose. They kiss in the moonlight, the cheerleader’s forgotten and this is apparently happily ever after.
The Lesson: In the underdog’s “success” (which apparently means dating an incredibly shallow guy who previously wrote us off based only on our looks), we are taught that we can and should focus on making ourselves beautiful for the pleasure of men. We internalize and subconsciously imitate this role, believing that a physical transformation is ultimately necessary to getting the guy and, thus, happiness.
The Reward
The Stereotype: Popular in action movies, the Reward serves as a symbol of motivation for the rugged male hero. The protagonist meets this bombshell before his big adventure, and, though she’s rarely given any kind of dialog to suggest she’s more than a pretty face, the Reward inspires him to impress her with his bravery. While he’s out gaining glory, she stays home, waiting. When the hero finally returns, full of bravado, the Reward flashes a smile in his direction. Wearing a tank top that hugs her curves, she whispers seductively in his ear as they walk off together. If it’s an R-rated movie, well, you can guess what happens next.
The Lesson: With little personality or storyline beyond her romantic or sexual relationship, the Reward appears in many superhero movies as a device to focus the audience’s attention onto the man and his successes. The oldest gendered trope of all time – men as active and women as passive – is reiterated once again.
The Adorkable Girl
The Stereotype: Usually played by doe-eyed brunettes in oxford shoes, the Adorkable Girl is perfectly imperfect. She loves Star Wars and sometimes demonstrates her nerdiness by using a funny robot voice. Men, finding her hipster glasses and clumsiness sexy, lust after her, a fact to which she is (crucially) completely oblivious. Zooey Deschanel has exemplified the Adorkable Girl in almost every single role she has ever played.
The Lesson: This character’s bumbling attractiveness is emphasized above all else. She’s not necessarily confident or self-possessed: it’s her modesty and implied chastity that’s truly alluring. Nobody likes a “pushy” or “bossy” (read: confident, independent) woman according to the Adorkable stereotype.
The Fat Girl
The Stereotype: The Fat Girl is always hilarious, often crudely so, and usually the butt of a joke. Talented actresses like Melissa McCarthy and Rebel Wilson are typecast into movies abounding with food jokes. Though these women could entertain audiences with their comedic skills alone, movies reduce them to their weight, as though it is their single defining characteristic.
The Lesson: This portrayal teaches the idea that being fat is an obstacle, an issue to overcome. If the Fat Girl does manage to get the guy, for example, the film seems to say, “See? She can fall in love even though she’s fat.” If only movies featured female characters of all sizes whose stories were completely unrelated to appearance.
The Head-or-Heart Woman
The Stereotype: Occasionally, female protagonists do actually have their own careers. But, more often than not, they must choose between love and that career. The Head-or-Heart Woman spends the entirety of the film rushing around a big city, spilling coffee on herself, completely frazzled. Like Anne Hathaway’s overworked character in The Devil Wears Prada, the Head-or-Heart Woman must make a decision that’s not really a decision at all. She might valiantly try to ignore the cute co-worker / neighbor / dog-walker with the British accent, but, before long, she’s skipping meetings for dates. The Head-or-Heart Woman, faced with a gorgeous man holding a bouquet of flowers, always chooses love.
The Lesson: A woman can’t have success in both the workplace and her love life, these movies warn us. And one’s love life is always the right choice.
The Rebel
The (Anti)-Stereotype: As a woman of strong action, the Rebel breaks the trend. Often a protagonist, she takes it upon herself to help others instead of sitting on the sidelines. Whatever the Rebel does, she does because she believes it’s right. She may experience objectification from men, but it occurs to make a point: it exists for her to overcome, not to earn a cheap laugh or put her in her place. Like the characters in A League of Their Own and Thelma and Louise, Rebels exemplify the idea that women can be strong without men in their lives and go on their own journeys.
The Lesson: The film industry’s lesson is imparted by how infrequently Rebels are featured as protagonists. Projects that go against the aforementioned character tropes are few and far between. But when a movie does feature a Rebel, the presentation of female power imparted to female viewers is invaluable.
How will women ever garner respect if we are portrayed so shallowly in the media? We need to push back on these stereotypes by revealing how ridiculous they are, like I’ve tried to do here. We also need to support films and filmmakers that do present women well as well as the people working to make both more visible. Marie Wilson of the White House Project stated it perfectly when she said, “You can’t be what you can’t see.” It’s up to us to keep fighting to elevate the people working to change this and to continue to question the industry that promotes such ridiculous ideas about women.
