In 2011, only 11% of protagonists in films were female. Among these 11%, most only had the purpose of finding love. Meanwhile, male protagonists routinely are written to play much more diverse roles. Even if a woman is playing a more “masculine role”, such as women in superhero movies, she’s almost always the running joke of the movie and her character depth is completely diminished by being a sexual object for the protagonist. One of the speakers in Miss Representation defined the term “symbolic annihilation” as the underrepresentation of a group leading to individuals suffering from role ambiguity. For example, a woman may have an inclination towards public service and government affairs, but because of the lack of representation of women like her in the media, she’s unsure on what her role as a woman actually is. Often times this leads to women not achieving their full
In 2011, only 11% of protagonists in films were female. Among these 11%, most only had the purpose of finding love. Meanwhile, male protagonists routinely are written to play much more diverse roles. Even if a woman is playing a more “masculine role”, such as women in superhero movies, she’s almost always the running joke of the movie and her character depth is completely diminished by being a sexual object for the protagonist. One of the speakers in Miss Representation defined the term “symbolic annihilation” as the underrepresentation of a group leading to individuals suffering from role ambiguity. For example, a woman may have an inclination towards public service and government affairs, but because of the lack of representation of women like her in the media, she’s unsure on what her role as a woman actually is. Often times this leads to women not achieving their full