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The Curious Case of Gender Identities in Films

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The Curious Case of Gender Identities in Films
Assignment No. 2B by

Justin Wie Mao Sheng (S8927155Z)
Group No. 1 (G1) Academic Writing WRIT001/Term 2 – 2010/2011

I declare that this Assignment is my original work and all information obtained from other sources has been cited accordingly. Turnitin Similarity Index

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Course Instructor: Shirley James

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Literature Review “Eroticized as a woman and masculinized as action heroine” (Smelik, 2009) – this seems to be inevitable for any woman who ventures into the world of cinema, occupying nontraditional roles particularly in the action-genre because such films have become synonymous with a cardinal male figure. What then is left for females in this male-dominated genre? Can a female action-heroine, considered unconventional and non-traditional, exist without ultimately emphasizing a more dominant male, hence re-articulating gender stereotypes? I will, by discussing how gender patterns in films affect gender identities, argue that this is not likely, simply because of hegemonic masculinity. Eschholz & Bufkin (2001) established the difference between (biological) sex and gender and how they were linked to criminal violence in films, concluding that film depictions of a “structural hierarchy” emphasizes women (femininity) being physically and emotionally subject to their masculine counterparts. Gilpatric (2010) however, focuses on violent female action characters (VFACs), claiming that although VFACs appear to breakaway from stereotypes, it is albeit a masculine manner. Hence such claims are superficial because VFACs are most commonly depicted as dependent and subject to a more dominant male, ultimately serving his interests (Gilpatric, 2010; Esccholz and Bufkin, 2001; Neuendorf, Gore, Dalessandro, Janstova and Snyder-Suhy, 2010). These stereotypes continue to

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