Genre Part 2

Genre Part 2: Representation of
Women in sci-fi films

Representations:
The media industry generally just represents the world back to us, showing and telling us about the society we live in. this can be represented in many different ways.

One of those ways is using the concept of stereotyping.
Stereotype: a stereotype is a label which involves a process of categorization and evaluation. Stereotyping is usually negative, maybe by the act of one, which is then categorized as a group.

Science fiction films, short for sci-fi films. Films that are categorized in this genre often have futuristic technology, futuristic background, aliens etc. some hit blockbuster movies are sci-fi such as
1. Star wars 4.I robot
2. Terminator 5.Men in black
3. Matrix 6.The core

Sci-fi films often contain anything and everything to do with the future and alien technology. A typical sci-fi film consists of…
• Laboratory setting
• Laser guns / weird creations
• Aliens
• Out of space /time travel
• Often were dimmed down colures i.e. black, white, grey, carkey, brown etc.




















Types of Women: Representations:
Blond hotti / bimbo



Sexy and strong





Damsel in distress. Mean Girls (Amanda Seyfried) as Karen smith. She flows along with anyone’s stupidity. She also admits that she’s pathetic.

Tomb Raider (Angelina Jolie) known as Lara Croft. Uses all sorts of weapons and she’s one feisty women. She wears shorts and has unnaturally big boobies.

Spider Man (Kirsten Dunts) as Mary Jane Watson. She doesn’t fend for herself; spider ‘man’ always saves the day.
Representations of Women in Hollywood films:

















Representations of Women in sci-fi films:


Types of Women: Representation:
Masculine / not very women like but strong





Sexy and strong





Total hotti yet strong Terminator 2 (Linda Hamilton) as Sarah Conner. She’s well, she’s the man she’s got muscles, dose chin ups, smokes, and knows guns inside and out. She works the gun the gun doesn’t work her. she also knows hoe to look after her son. Not that attractive.

Matrix (Carrie-Ann Moss) as Trinity.
Very simple, doesn’t wear make up and has short hair. She doesn’t wear revealing cloths. Shown very heroic as she takes a bullet for Neyo ‘the chosen one’

Blade Trinity (Jessica Beil) as Abigail Whistler.
Sexy and strong this girl knows how to play it right. Acts like how a normal women would act not bitchy, bimbowy, not like a man, just a women.














Over the past two weeks we have been watching 2 sci-fi films and analyzing representations of women.

In Terminator 2 Sarah Conner is shown to be very, very masculine,(well for a women). In the beginning Sarah was in a mental institute cell doing chin ups, in most films you would see a man in prison working out. In the film she’s also shown to be very clever as she uses only a paper clip to escape.

Whereas in the film Cloverfiled Beth one of the female characters calls her boyfriend, who has got a lot on his plate and cries for help. In the end she waited nearly a whole day for her rescue. She gave up hope and didn’t try helping herself.

Not all the female characters are like Beth in Cloverfield. Marolina another female actress in the film is quite strong, she shows of her heroin side by saving the camera ‘mans’ life by battering the alien creature. During the process of battering she gets stabbed by one of the creatures, she doesn’t seem to show any signs of pain and agony.

Marolina again shows of her heroin side as she insisted the others on going without her because she knew she was going to die and that she might kill others around her. This relates to Sarah Conner in Terminator 2 because she also in the film is willing to give up her life to save her son and the ‘world’ (pretty brave women)

Appearance:
Some characteristics are the same between Beth and Sarah as they both smoke and drink. Differences, Beth is more lady like then Sarah, she doesn’t have a son and she’s not experienced with weapons as Sarah Conner is.

All the women in Cloverfield are dressed feminine whereas in Terminator 2 Sarah is presented wearing combats, plain white vest and hair in a simple ponytail. For accessories the women in Cloverfield wore jewelry, bags and make up, but in Terminator Sarah wears a gun and other types of weapons at all times.

All in all I don’t think the women in either films presented in a negative way, but there are some positive representations of women in both films………………….

Cloverfield: Beth:
• Saved a mans life
• Wasn’t scared of dying
• Sacrificed her life for others

Terminator 2: Sarah:
• Knows how to use weapons
• Clever / smart
• Acts alone / independent
• Good mother

Conclusion:
Representations of women have become better in some ways through the years. In the past women there were never women who were saving the day, still you could argue that there isn’t an equal amount of saving the world films done by women then there are of men. Women were always shown to be very weak fragile creatures and that they always had to be guided by men, luckily this has decreased over the years for the women of the 21st centaury have grown their independence .now on a days there are a few films that show that women don’t need men such as Tomb Raider Angelina Joli, Terminator Linda Hamilton, Cat women Hally Berry, underworld, ultraviolet etc.

Overall, in my opinion I don’t think the women in either films were presented in a negative way, but for my personal opinion I think Sarah Conner in Terminator should have just been a man as she has all the characteristics of a man, she smokes, drinks, very masculine, works out in her cell and the attitude. She isn’t a good rep when it comes to giving a good example of a woman that acts like a women but still is strong.


In the vast majority of the media women now on days are shown to be more like sex objects rather then people. Not only does this happen in the filming industry but the music industry as well. Women’s outfits that are worn on films or music videos have become more and more revealing over the years, in some cases they appear wearing nothing.