The Princess Bride Gender Roles

The last few decades’ women have been portrayed to be fragile on-screen. For years, women’s role on-screen was to stay home to clean, cook, and to care for their family. Women were not given leading roles in films or television shows; instead they were just given secondary roles where they did not speak. They are given roles where the main character is a male and they are presented as being defenseless. Now there are many roles that allow women to start in films and television shows with a variety of characteristics. Writers create roles that allow women to stand out from the norm and give them roles where they can be strong, smart, and independent. For decades, women got secondary roles and followed the stereotype now writers have provided …show more content…
In the film “The Princess Bride,” Buttercup is a young princess who is kidnapped and rescued by her lover Westley (Reiner). Buttercup does not help herself instead she follows orders and waits for someone to save her. She is naïve and does not think out of what she believes will happen, although what she believes in does come true at the end. Buttercup rarely appears and speaks throughout the film. This is a great example of how women were not given main speaking roles instead they acquired a small role where they are portrayed as being weak and naïve. Today, women are given a chance to take on a role with a variety of characteristic. Writers have created leading roles that allow women to be portrayed as strong, hardworking, caring, and many other attributions. As seen in “The Hunger Games” series Katniss Everdeen volunteers herself to go into The Hunger Games in place of her sister (Ross). Katniss who is played by Jennifer Lawrence is portrayed to be strong and brave in the film, she shows no fear in trying to defend what she believes. Through this film woman are given a sense of bravery and initiative since Katniss herself decides to stand up and take part in the game. Katniss is aware of what she will have to go through, but decides to continue with what she believes. Writers have changed the different view of women from being fragile and naïve to being strong and brave over the course of …show more content…
According to Caitlin Corsetti’s article, “8 Horrible Things You Probably Learned From Cinderella,” she points out an important detail about Cinderella of how she does not try to escape her lifestyle until the prince comes looking for her after the party (Corsetti). Cinderella lived with her step-mom and is treated as a maid; she is scared to speak her mind and does exactly what she is told. She decides to attend a party where she dances with the prince and falls in love. The prince does everything in his power to find Cinderella and comes looking for her. In the film Cinderella has lived a happy ever after with her prince, instead of doing something for herself. Now writers have started to create roles where women decide to save themselves rather than wait for their prince charming. Writers create roles where women become independent and do anything they can to help themselves. In the television show Shades of Blue, the writer created a leading role that portrayed a single mother who is able to provide for her daughter. Harlee Santos is described as, “a charismatic single mother and resourceful detective at the heart of a tight-knit crew of Brooklyn detectives, who often leads the team to step outside the limitations of the law in order to effectively protect their precinct and their own,” in the about section of NBC (NBC). Harlee does anything