Gender representation in films

Gender is the basic category that we use to sort human beings; it is an essential component when discussing representation .

Male stereotypes	female stereotypes
Tough	Fragile
Heroic	In need of rescue/damsel in distress
Own Fast cars	Own small cars
Sweaty	Fragranced
Strong	Not strong
Not sensitive	Sensitive

as you can see the stereotypes attached to the two different genders are opposed  but these are the usual cliché's that are attached to the different genders . these are additionally recognized in film.

In a thriller the way that gender is represented is stereotypical; for example in most thriller genres the male is depicted as the hero the protagonist or antagonist  whilst the female is usually the victim or is someone in need of help in addition females are usually shown as the hero's side kick or accomplice furthermore they are shown as  sex symbols or a source of sexual attraction for the male protagonist or antagonist  . 


in this trailer of the Departed you can see that the men are involved in the action whilst the women are used for a source of  pleasure or conflict with the man's  interest or goal .The men in this trailer are shown to have aggression or be very aggressive .

 The Bourne identity is another good example that shows the stereotypical gender roles within a film  . In the move poster placed above , Bourne is the central character the male protagonist ; this is highlighted by the cross hair that is placed on his face . the woman who is displayed is shown kissing him she is conveyed as his love interest and no more 

During this chase scene Bourne is in control whilst all the chaos is going on ;he constantly reassures marie that he knows what he is doing . Though he is being pursued by police he remains calm regardless ; whilst the female character's  emotions contrast with  his. However she remains confident in Jason Bourne  which highlights the dependency that women employ into men .

In films women are usually conveyed as beautiful and almost perfect they usually have the perfect figure ,they are idealized with in the film industry whilst the men may necessarily have to be attractive usually it depends on their acting skills or  muscular build . as shown below in a movie poster .

The film Hanna challenges the normal gender conventions as the protagonist is female  the antagonist is also female ;this is a girl on the run film usually in these sub-genres it is usually the man who is on the run . she is also young and not curvaceous which is unusual throughout the film she is shown  wearing  little to no amount of makeup which shows she may not be trying to appeal to the male audience or distract from the action taking place ;so they are mainly focused on what is taking place . in addition she is a trained fighter and does not appear vulnerable but fully in control .

another example of a film that challenges  the gender conventions  is Salt ; Angelina Jolie is known for her  roles in action films such as Lara croft or mr and mrs smith . She is the centre of attention on  the poster .

though Charlie's angels shows female characters in the protagonist and antagonist role the film still adjusts to the usual conventions the "angels" are portrayed as sex symbols as usual it does not concentrate on the action as much but it concentrates on their image .

For our film opening we have chosen to go with the conventional gender representation ;

 as the protagonist is male  we have chosen to go with this because we feel that it is more marketable or more appealing than if we were to choose the unconventional female protagonist for example  the Bourne identity did better in the box office than salt which is a female headed film .

Budget	US$60 million[1]
Box office	US$214,034,22

the Bourne identity  

Budget	$110 million
Box office	$293.5 million SALT