Gender Stereotypes in Films Essay

Erwin Goffman (1959) in The Presentation of Self, asserts that when an individual plays a segment he implicitly requests his observers to take seriously the impression that is fostered before him. That is, individuals black market to behave according to the accepted norms and behaviors of the culture or society they argon a pop of, and in turn reinforce and reproduce these stage set of norms and behavior by acting according to them.Accordingly, each individual in truth believe that the character he or she sees in him/herself or in another person actually posses the attri exactlyes that he or she appears to posses (Goffman 1959) which is how individual and embodied identities are formed. Likewise, symbolic fundamental interactionism, espoused by Herbert Blumer(1969), asserts that human beings act toward things on the flat coat of the meanings they ascribe to those things, wherein the meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the affectionate interaction that one has with others and the society. Thus, society is able to create, enforce, and reinforce internality segregation finished the construction of a set of standards that define what femininity or masculinity is within a particular culture which is propagated and learned through social interaction of individuals. Unfortunately, the norms and codes for accepted behavior are mediated upon not unaccompanied by the individual and the society he or she is a part of, and likewise by issues of power and control over the instruments of heathenish production and reproduction such as the mass media.The mass media as a powerful vehicle of prevailing attitudes and norms therefore plays a marvelous role not unless in the propagation of value systems but also in the creation and maintenance of oppressive and disempowering standards. An examination of grammatical gender stereotyping in the mass media, particularly in film, would reveal that the media perpetuates and put outs to reinforce d iscriminatory beliefs on men and womens experiences of romantic love and sexual desire.This is shown in the portrayal of women in music videos, where the identities of women are portray either as damsels in distress or sex kittensin both ship canal pining and waiting for the males sexual desire. Some songs regular(a) carry outright masochistic tendencies, such as Shaggys Hey, Sexy Lady video which portray women as deserving of, or even asking for, undue sexual attention or force out from the male by objectifying their bodies for mens sexual purposes.Even in songs that purportedly carry empowering messages for women, the female is still rendered subject to the loneliness and despair of looking for Mr. Right despite the illusion of giving the character the immunity to choose her partner, as illustrated in Leann Rimes video Somethings Gotta Give or Cant shin the Moonlight. In the last mentioned video, womens hapiness is shown to be massively dependent not on herself but on the attention of the male population.On the other hand, men continue to be depicted in the media as the stronger sex, often shown as the potent and aggressive sexual animal, the predator on the prowl for his prey in contrast to the more subdued dating expectations of women. This is shown in Shaggys video, It Wasnt Me which show graphic sexual scenes of the male character artifice on his girlfriend, which insinuates that infidelity is alright for men if they dont witness caught and perpetuates the notion that men are made macho by their promiscuity.Thus, it comes without wonder that despite the rise of feminist and gender theory, gender stereotyping remains distributive as ever. This is due in part to the fact that stereotypical gender roles have become deeply ingrained within and to a large extent, have been established as a norm, in todays modern culture and in part to the continuing enforcement and reinforcement of these stereotypes by the mass media, which clearly validate Goffm ans theory on identity operator formation as well as Blumers theory of how individuals only interpret things and actions from the perpective of the culture they are in .As Goffman observes, individuals are molded not only by the impressions they create for others but also by the impressions and meanings that others create and at the same time prescribe for them. Through the plans of women portrayed by the media, young girls are led to believe that they should learn to constitute themselves in exactly the same way as the socially contructed image of women beautifully made-up, submissive, and often desperate for the attention of men.On the other hand, the media also mirrors and at the same time prescribes its ideas and concepts of what should constitute maleness dominance, power, virility, and aggressive sexual desire. Music Video Links Rimes, Leann. Cant Fight the Moonlight. http//www. youtube. com/ regard as? v=YO_7XLdtaI8 Rimes, Leann. Somethings Gotta Give. http//www. youtube . com/watch? v=_tgf7MpQ0c4 Shaggy. It Wasnt Me. http//www. youtube. com/watch? v=cQ4axo9rmJY Shaggy. Sexy Lady. http//www. youtube. com/watch? v=PG2h0NgJN9s&feature=related