Sexism In Movie Essay

As my generation has grown up, it has been a trend for movie makers to make the old superhero comics and films into new and improved superhero films. In all the films that I have seen advertised, on DVD, or in theaters, a man has been portrayed as the big and strong main character/superhero and the woman has been portrayed as the “damsel in distress.” Even on the posters for the movies the guy is made to look larger than the woman even if she has the privilege to be on the poster. Sexism is a very big issue for my generation and for the generations following mine. In the paper that Calder-Dawe and Octavia wrote, they interviewed several teens of both genders. Many of the interviewees described sexism as racism, just based on gender and not race. Although, one participant of the interviews did say that …show more content…
Robert Downey Jr., male of course, played the character of Tony Stark. Stark was a very rich engineer that was held captive by the enemy in Afghanistan, but escaped by creating protective and weaponized suit. Once he was able to escape and brought back to the U.S., Stark was able to improve the suit to give him the capabilities of a superhero. Gwyneth Paltrow, female, is casted as Pepper Pots, Tony Stark’s secretary. It may seem that Pots was only written into the storyline to show that while Stark is a billionaire that has a big ego and a suit that could save the world, he still has feelings. Of course, he could practically have any girl that he wanted, he just wants Pepper Pots. Iron Man is an example of gender diminishment. Stark gets the spotlight, not that he did not deserve it, but Pots also does a lot for Stark, while wearing heels, and she does not get nearly as much credit for it since she is just his secretary. Iron Man could set a bad example or children, influencing them to think it’s just a woman’s job to do anything a man asks and to stand by him while he gets the