stereotypically, are women represented as dependant on men and does the women always have to 'get the guy' to make the viewer feel fullfilled and enjoy the film?

but vice versa, isn't it also true

quote:

gemma123
Posted 25 March 2008 03:56 AM

stereotypically, are women represented as dependant on men and does the women always have to 'get the guy' to make the viewer feel fullfilled and enjoy the film?

There are exceptions. See My Super Ex-Girlfriend (2006) for example.

Some of my favorite comedies with women as either lead or strong character roles also would not fall under your characterization include:

Nanny Diaries (2007).
Calendar Girls (2003).
Roman Holiday (1953).
The Devil Wears Prada (2006).
Mr. Magorium's Wonder Emporium (2007).

I will admit that it's extremely difficult to have a comedic screenplay where the leads don't get to together at the end. Comedy usually requires some comformance to cultural standards of what constitutes happiness and comedy and happiness is a much easier mix than drama and sadness.

A rather brilliant mix of comedy with strong female characters who don't always get their man can be found in the recently cancelled television series Charmed (1998-2006).

quote:

Originally posted by DJCookieDoh:
but vice versa, isn't it also true

It sure is! I sooooo woulda loved the ending to "There's Something About Mary" if it had ended with Ben Stiller cryin' like a little b*tch! There's something strangely satisfying watchin' someone carsh and burn!

quote:

Originally posted by tabuno:
Some of my favorite comedies with women as either lead or strong character roles also would not fall under your characterization include:

Nanny Diaries (2007).
Calendar Girls (2003).
Roman Holiday (1953).
The Devil Wears Prada (2006).

I haven't given this a whole lot of thought, but it struck me as ironic that the female leads in at least four of the films you listed inhabits a stereotypically female role, i.e. a nanny, a pinup girl, a princess, and a fashionista.

I believe that this speaks to the fact that, even though they would have us believe that the female lead is strong and independent, the filmmakers still often force these characters to dwell safely in the confines of traditionally feminine domains.

quote:

Briznow
Know-It-All
Posted 26 July 2008 09:31 PM

quote:
Originally posted by tabuno:
Some of my favorite comedies with women as either lead or strong character roles also would not fall under your characterization include:

Nanny Diaries (2007).
Calendar Girls (2003).
Roman Holiday (1953).
The Devil Wears Prada (2006).

I haven't given this a whole lot of thought, but it struck me as ironic that the female leads in at least four of the films you listed inhabits a stereotypically female role, i.e. a nanny, a pinup girl, a princess, and a fashionista.

I believe that this speaks to the fact that, even though they would have us believe that the female lead is strong and independent, the filmmakers still often force these characters to dwell safely in the confines of traditionally feminine domains.

There's as big distinction to be made between the occupational position that they play and the actual character they portray in their respective movies. Each of the charactgers are not weak nor are then dependent as their occupations may suggest. Inevitably the men in each of the movies are cast off. The basic theme of this thread - "weak and depdent on men" remains in contradiction to the movies I've mentioned.

I thought this article was rather enlightening as to how women are underrepresented in film.

Most of the movies I've watched recently have strong female parts but what about television? Here in Britain women have total control over the content. Here, all men are pathetic and can't make a decision unless a woman helps them, in comedy, drama, advertising, action children's TV and mostly anything else on TV. It seems that a man can't get into the media unless he is gay or just easy to push over. But TV is not reality and kids would rather download free media from all eras. Just think, if men were really so pathetic we would never win world war three; it seems that if women won't stand by their men then they will end up having to walk behind them in a new Islamic state. Let's face it; the new age man is the one women want to marry and the old brute is the one that women have the affair with; fall in love with, get battered by and keep crawling back to. Most TV with gay charactors is shown whilst children get ready for school. The infants can learn to present and wiggle their bums from mincers in fluffy costumes. Still; there is the real world full of pissed up pregnant preteens, also on pay for view. It seems that the more schools we close down the less likely our kids will grow up with enough intellegence to show any love or grace. Ofcourse it all went downhill when the upper classes made a deal with Thatcher which meant closing down the best 'tax paid' schools to stop poor people crawling out of the gutter. I challenge anyone to find a man on TV who is not dependant on women.

quote:

Q
Slacker First Class
Posted 16 February 2009 01:43 AM
Most of the movies I've watched recently have strong female parts but what about television? Here in Britain women have total control over the content. Here, all men are pathetic and can't make a decision unless a woman helps them, in comedy, drama, advertising, action children's TV and mostly anything else on TV. It seems that a man can't get into the media unless he is gay or just easy to push over. But TV is not reality and kids would rather download free media from all eras. Just think, if men were really so pathetic we would never win world war three; it seems that if women won't stand by their men then they will end up having to walk behind them in a new Islamic state. Let's face it; the new age man is the one women want to marry and the old brute is the one that women have the affair with; fall in love with, get battered by and keep crawling back to. Most TV with gay charactors is shown whilst children get ready for school. The infants can learn to present and wiggle their bums from mincers in fluffy costumes. Still; there is the real world full of pissed up pregnant preteens, also on pay for view. It seems that the more schools we close down the less likely our kids will grow up with enough intellegence to show any love or grace. Ofcourse it all went downhill when the upper classes made a deal with Thatcher which meant closing down the best 'tax paid' schools to stop poor people crawling out of the gutter. I challenge anyone to find a man on TV who is not dependant on women.

I wasn't going to respond to this post, particularly as I'm not a big watcher of British television. U.S. broadcasts are predominately flowing through the air to the receivers where I live so that British television only barely receives a small percentage of my attention. However, I have realized over the past day that I've been watching (and hopefully this will not negate my observations) two or three year old episodes of Doctor Who, a British science fiction program of some reknown with a strong comedic as well as somewhat subtle romance angled television series. But as I've watched almost all of the episodes of two full seasons, I've realized that Dr. Who, while he might be considered an alien, seems to have a lot of male attributes and one might consider his portrayal of a male character to be a strong, rather complicated one that is as balanced with his female counterparts as any on television. He definitely wouldn't be considered to be a subordinate character by any means.

quote:

Originally posted by tabuno:

quote:

Q
Slacker First Class
Posted 16 February 2009 01:43 AM
Most of the movies I've watched recently have strong female parts but what about television? Here in Britain women have total control over the content. Here, all men are pathetic and can't make a decision unless a woman helps them, in comedy, drama, advertising, action children's TV and mostly anything else on TV. It seems that a man can't get into the media unless he is gay or just easy to push over. But TV is not reality and kids would rather download free media from all eras. Just think, if men were really so pathetic we would never win world war three; it seems that if women won't stand by their men then they will end up having to walk behind them in a new Islamic state. Let's face it; the new age man is the one women want to marry and the old brute is the one that women have the affair with; fall in love with, get battered by and keep crawling back to. Most TV with gay charactors is shown whilst children get ready for school. The infants can learn to present and wiggle their bums from mincers in fluffy costumes. Still; there is the real world full of pissed up pregnant preteens, also on pay for view. It seems that the more schools we close down the less likely our kids will grow up with enough intellegence to show any love or grace. Ofcourse it all went downhill when the upper classes made a deal with Thatcher which meant closing down the best 'tax paid' schools to stop poor people crawling out of the gutter. I challenge anyone to find a man on TV who is not dependant on women.

I wasn't going to respond to this post, particularly as I'm not a big watcher of British television. U.S. broadcasts are predominately flowing through the air to the receivers where I live so that British television only barely receives a small percentage of my attention. However, I have realized over the past day that I've been watching (and hopefully this will not negate my observations) two or three year old episodes of Doctor Who, a British science fiction program of some reknown with a strong comedic as well as somewhat subtle romance angled television series. But as I've watched almost all of the episodes of two full seasons, I've realized that Dr. Who, while he might be considered an alien, seems to have a lot of male attributes and one might consider his portrayal of a male character to be a strong, rather complicated one that is as balanced with his female counterparts as any on television. He definitely wouldn't be considered to be a subordinate character by any means.

Dr Who; recently being saved or co-dependant on his female companions who have saved the universe maby three times whilst he gets stuck in increasingly impossible situations. He is so unstable; brilliant but always running away from dark thoughts. His companions are also worth rooting for; so much depends on them to save the day and they are just as likable for their intelligence and courage as they are for their character and appearance. The doctor is an emotional bomb. One particular episode has my favourite line. when two universes are about to collide causing the end of everything, the doctor has given up and waiting for the end, then someone says to him, 'can you save the universe?'. The doctor says, 'do you think I can?' and the other man says. 'yes' and the docter replies, 'that's all I need; just one person to believe I can.' All in all, the 'Doctor who' cast act well enough for us to see past the image and believe the mind and heart in the rolls of both genders. I'm grateful to the writers for keeping the conventional perspective of hetero relationship for a family programme. It's a pity the morning programmes aimed at children are so deliberately one sided same sex grooming. This would not be accepted when the whole family is watching so it should not be acceptable to show it to children watching alone. Another well balanced strength of characters is in 'Heroes' which is such a relief to just watch without sexual political statements being hammered into every scene to pull in the pink pound. Yes, 'Heroes' has both men and women making independent decisions with super powers which are more the reason we watch than the obvious beauty of some of the chosen actresses. I guess that's 'the pull'. Like the photos of young girls on many business web pages and the obvious grooming of adults in most media to watch more. Also obvious is that we all see the world through the eyes of a camera-man.

quote:

Q
Slacker First Class
Posted 17 February 2009 06:34 PM

Another well balanced strength of characters is in 'Heroes' which is such a relief to just watch without sexual political statements being hammered into every scene to pull in the pink pound. Yes, 'Heroes' has both men and women making independent decisions with super powers which are more the reason we watch than the obvious beauty of some of the chosen actresses. I guess that's 'the pull'. Like the photos of young girls on many business web pages and the obvious grooming of adults in most media to watch more. Also obvious is that we all see the world through the eyes of a camera-man.

One of my favorite television series since I watched the first season. However, became rather too intense for me to continue watching for the time being, quite as emotionally and overly stressful like 24. If you're interested in something similar, I came across a television miniseries entitled The Lost Room (2006) that had Peter Krause as a police detective who finds himself in search of his lost daughter and mysterious objects with special powers. This is creepy, eerie science fiction series. One of the best I've come across.

I watched the movie trailers of the Upcoming movie 'Fried Up'.... It seems to be a romantic comedy but there a girl is not shown as dependent, rather 2 guys who are trying to make her the cheer leader fall in love with her....!

quote:

Originally posted by kyathylee:
I watched the movie trailers of the Upcoming movie 'Fried Up'.... It seems to be a romantic comedy but there a girl is not shown as dependent, rather 2 guys who are trying to make her the cheer leader fall in love with her....!

I'm really jealous to hear that you are surprised to see a non-dependant female role. I wish I lived in a country which had more realistic television. Here in Britain there is no balance on TV; all men are pathetic and children are brainwashed to grow up thinking this is reality; I'm very jealous; so much that I ended up coming here to see if there was any sense of balance and reality in the media of any other nation. All I want is some sense of reality or believable characters that we love or hate; agreeable or not. If there is a war of the sexes then it is in the classroom, and the females are way way ahead of the white males. The trouble with this is that the white males just become thugs and are very violent towards their preteen white female partners. The availability of 'powder drugs' throughout Britain doesn't help but there is so much profit for corrupt law officials to turn a blind eye to smuggled imports that these drugs will always be available on every street in every city and town of Britain. British kids go straight from alcohol to cocaine and heroin. The police try to make it look like they are doing something about it by busting cannabis growers; which just makes things worse. Powder drug rehab costs British tax payers £20 billion a year. Most crime here is committed by 'powder drug addicts' but we are not allowed to know this on British media because it makes the government look stupid or corrupt. Over 3 million registered smack heads and 18 million shoving cocaine up their noses. Now that we have digital data bases, the government can delete all the 'negative statistics'so there is no hope for the future and there are much more dangerous things to worry about here in Britain than which sex looks dependant in media. There is no way to win but to be balanced and share power of gender, "no landslide was ever a success"