#17 Girls on Film

I am currently in the process of collecting images to evidence the previous research I have conducted on the representation of women in film. In order to do this I must find problematic scenes from films which I can use beside my research. From my reading I am aware these scenes exist and have witnessed them myself but in order to argue my case I believe I need a substantial stack of imagery presenting these ideas.

To aid in this research I took to google to find if any lists of problematic scenes had already been compiled. I found quite a few articles, which I will come to in later posts, but also a selection of Youtube videos. The ones I was particularly interested were created by PLan International. They had a made a series called Girls on Film where they got people to watch a series of clips and discuss how women are portrayed. I found this really interesting as it not only identified clips that may be useful to collect screenshots from for the project but also a collection of real responses to those clips.

The first one I watched was about objectification of women on screen. I took notes throughout watching these videos so I could refer back to them later. I have listed the bullet points collected below.

Blurred Lines - Music Video (2013).

Note. Blurred Lines (2019).

Blurred Lines:

1. Robin etc. fully clothed while all the women are in nude underwear, giving the effect that they are basically naked.

2. Voyeurism within the video. The audience and men in the video are watching the women. They are just a visual aspect of the scene, there to be looked at.

3. The lyrics to the song suggest consent is a blurred line, this sends out a dangerous message.

4. All content of the music video just sexualises and objectifies the women who have been hired.

Star Trek Into Darkness - 'Turn Around' (2013).

Note. Star Trek: Into Darkness (2019).

Star Trek: Into Darkness

1. Why did she even need to get naked? It wasn't relevant to the story at all.

2. When she asks him to turn around, not only does he question it, he then looks back while she is still getting changed.

3. Within this scene, she has been boiled down to a sex object.

Wonder Woman - Slow Motion Walking (2017).

Note. Wonder Woman (2019).

Wonder Woman

1. Barely wears anything compared to other male leading superheroes.

2. Focusing on her slow motion walking so we can look at her. Instead of focusing on her skills we are looking at her legs, boobs and flowing her.

Jurassic World - Distracting T-Rex (2015).

Note. Jurassic Vault. (2019, Dec 30).

Jurassic World

1. Extremely intelligent women, yet she runs from a T-Rex in heels.

2. Tight vest top as part of the costume. Good camera view of cleavage and her boobs moving while she runs.

3. Her chest is sweatier than any other part of her, meaning it gleans in the light. This draws focus to her chest rather than her face.

The most problematic scene here is the one from star trek. Even if you remove the fact that there was no reason for her to be getting changed in a scene, the behaviour of Chris Pine's character is awful and not something that should be included in a family-friendly movie.

The second video I watched from the series was titled Let's Talk about Consent.

Friends - 'I don't want you to see me naked' (1996).

Note. Friends Series 3. (2019).

Friends

1. Rachel doesn't want Ross to see her naked, and he responds, 'I can see you naked anytime I want,' as he has seen her naked before. He is saying that he close his eyes and imagine it as he remembers.

2. Ross is entitled and gross.

3. He continues to joke about it even when she has told him to stop.

The Notebook - 'I wanna go out with you' (2004).

Note. The Notebook. (2019).

The Notebook

1. Telling her that agreeing to a date with him is the only way he won't let go and fall to his death.

2. Pressures her into going on a date with him even after she has said no. Not only that, he uses his life to guilt her into it.

The Devil Wears Prada - 'I've had too much wine' (2006).

Note. The Devil Wears Prada - Image 1. (2019).

The Devil Wears Prada - 'I've had too much wine' (2006).

Note. The Devil Wears Prada - Image 2. (2019).

The Devil Wears Prada

1. She says she is too drunk, and he kisses her anyway.

2. Not only did she not consent, but it's also blatantly clear she is too drunk as she can't even stand.

In particular, the Friends scene got me thinking as I saw that show when I was in school and never really thought about it. Looking back has made me question what else I may have watched growing up that might have been a problematic representation of a relationship.

The Little Mermaid (1989).

Note. The Little Mermaid. (2019).

New Moon (2009).

Note. The Twilight Saga: New Moon. (2019).

Let's Change the Love Story

1. Little Mermaid - gives up her voice to be with a man.

2. Twilight - romanticises problematic relationships, suicidal thoughts. We also don't know anything about Bella as a character; it's all about the relationship.

3. These films and love stories suggest that you should give up aspects of your life or change yourself to find love.

These types of stories are presented to women from a young age. This is problematic as it suggests that a woman's goal is to find a man rather than encouraging young women to challenge themselves.

Overall I think the first too videos will be the most useful to me. I hope to continue to collect images from problematic clips and further evidence the research previously conducted for my proposal for this project.

Bibliography

Blurred Lines. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-CDxPGAXc&ab_channel=PlanInternational

Friends Series 3. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dTkMBIpilo&ab_channel=PlanInternational

Jurassic Vault. (2019, Dec 30). Jurassic World's Park Operations Manager Claire Dearing saving the day [Tweet]. Twitter. https://twitter.com/jurassicvault/status/1211698987033608198

Plan International. (2019, September 25). Girls on Film: Stop objectifying women on screen [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5yCDxPGAXc&ab_channel=PlanInternational

Plan International. (2019, October 2). Girls on Film: Let’s talk about consent [Video]. Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dTkMBIpilo&ab_channel=PlanInternational

Plan International. (2019, October 28). Girls on Film: Let’s change the love story [Video]. Youtube. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y9JDaDR-GY8&ab_channel=PlanInternational

Star Trek: Into Darkness. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-CDxPGAXc&ab_channel=PlanInternational

The Devil Wears Prada - Image 1. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dTkMBIpilo&ab_channel=PlanInternational

The Devil Wears Prada - Image 2. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dTkMBIpilo&ab_channel=PlanInternational

The Little Mermaid. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y9JDaDR-GY8&ab_channel=PlanInternational

The Notebook. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5dTkMBIpilo&ab_channel=PlanInternational

The Twilight Saga: New Moon. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://youtube.com/watch?v=Y9JDaDR-GY8&ab_channel=PlanInternational

Wonder Woman. (2019). [Screenshot]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5y-CDxPGAXc&ab_channel=PlanInternational