Gender Stereotypes in Films Essay

Erwin Goffman (1959) in The Presentation of Self, asserts that when an individual plays a part he implicitly requests his observers to take seriously the impression that is fostered before him. That is, individuals scat to behave according to the accepted norms and expressions of the culture or society they are a part of, and in turn reinforce and reproduce these set of norms and behavior by acting according to them.Accordingly, each individual actually believe that the acknowledgment he or she sees in him/herself or in another person actually posses the attributes that he or she appears to posses (Goffman 1959) which is how individual and collective identities are formed. Likewise, symbolic interactionism, espoused by Herbert Blumer(1969), asserts that human beings act toward things on the basis of the meanings they ascribe to those things, wherein the meaning of such things is derived from, or arises out of, the social interaction that one has with others and the society. Thu s, society is able to force, enforce, and reinforce sexual urge segregation through the construction of a set of standards that limn what femininity or masculinity is deep down a particular culture which is propagated and learned through social interaction of individuals. Unfortunately, the norms and codes for accepted behavior are liaise upon not all by the individual and the society he or she is a part of, but also by issues of power and control everywhere the instruments of cultural production and reproduction such as the mass media.The mass media as a powerful vehicle of prevailing attitudes and norms therefore plays a awe-inspiring role not only in the propagation of value systems but also in the creation and maintenance of oppressive and disempowering standards. An examination of gender stereotyping in the mass media, particularly in film, would reveal that the media perpetuates and continues to reinforce sexist beliefs on men and womens experiences of romantic love an d informal desire.This is shown in the faceal of women in music videos, where the identities of women are portrayed either as damsels in distress or sex kittensin both ways pining and waiting for the anthropoids sexual desire. Some songs even 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 violence 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 freedom to choose her partner, as illustrated in Leann Rimes video Somethings Gotta Give or Cant Fight the Moonlight. In the last mentioned video, womens hapiness is shown to be largely 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 virile 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 cheating on his girlfriend, which insinuates that infidelity is exquisitely for men if they dont get caught and perpetuates the notion that men are made macho by their promiscuity.Thus, it comes without surprise that despite the rise of feminist and gender theory, gender stereotyping remains pervasive 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 backup of these stereotypes by the mass media, which clearly validate Goffmans theory on identity 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 shaped not only by the impressions they create for others but also by the impressions and meanings that others create and at the same term prescribe for them. Through the images of women portrayed by the media, young girls are led to believe that they should learn to present themselves in just now 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/ crack? 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