eprintid: 148
rev_number: 13
eprint_status: archive
userid: 30
dir: disk0/00/00/01/48
datestamp: 2018-02-05 11:06:35
lastmod: 2018-02-05 11:06:35
status_changed: 2018-02-05 11:06:35
type: thesis
metadata_visibility: show
creators_name: Mc Crudden, Shauna
title: Women in film 1986-2016: Has their representation improved or worsened?
ispublished: submitted
divisions: MAJ
full_text_status: public
keywords: Women in film, Gender, Representation, Stereotypes
abstract: Women in film have been consistently underrepresented over the years. The representation of women and minorities in media is incredibly important, as people need to see themselves reflected back in the stories they consume.

Young girls should be able to see well-written, 
complicated characters that are able to stand on their own without a man or anyone else. It is possible for the lack of representation to negatively affect the attitude towards women in society.
 
This dissertation examines the 31 top-grossing films over a 30-year period, between 1986 and 2016. This is to analyse whether the representation of women in film has improved in the types of roles and increased in numbers, or worsened in the same respect. I conducted quantitative and qualitative content analysis on the 31 films and looked at the characters and how they are shown in each of the films. 

The analysis showed that there is a pattern of roles that women play which haven’t really changed in 30 years. And it also showed that while the numbers of women have indeed increased over the years and the roles have slightly improved, there is still a lot of work to be done on the stereotypical and similar roles that women are often reduced to.
date: 2017
date_type: submitted
institution: Griffith College
department: Faculty of Journalism and Media Communications
thesis_type: masters
referencetext: Bandura, A. 2001, Social Cognitive Theory of Mass Communication, MediaPsychology, 3, 265-299. [Online] Available at http://cogweb.ucla.edu/crp/Media/Bandura_01.pdf(Accessed 28 December 2016).

Behm-Morawitz, E and Mastro, D. Mean Girls? The Influence of Gender Portrayals in Teen Movies on Emerging Adults' Gender-Based Attitudes and Beliefs, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Vol. 85, No. L Spring 2008.

Berelson, B. 1952, Content Analysis in Communication Research, Foundations of Communication Research, American Book-Stratford Press Inc., New York, (Online) Available at: http://pubman.mpdl.mpg.de/pubman/item/escidoc:2281462/component/escidoc:2283003/Berelson_1952_content_analysis.pdf (Accessed 7 June 2017).

Bunche Center. 2016, 2016 Hollywood Diversity Report, [Online] Available at: http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/2016-HollywoodDiversity-Report-2-25-16.pdf (Accessed 12 May 2017).

Bussey, K and Bandura, A. Social Cognitive Theory of Gender Development and Differentiation, Psychological Review, 1999, Vol. 106, No. 4, 676-713.

Child, B. 2016, Twitter Attacks on Ghostbusters' Leslie Jones a symptom of fan entitlement, The Guardian, [Online] Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/film/filmblog/2016/jul/19/twitter-attacks-onghostbusters-leslie-jones (Accessed 1 July 2017).

Cochrane, K. 2011. Why is British public life dominated by men?, The Guardian, Sunday, 4 December.

Davis, G. 2013, Geena Davis' Two Easy Steps To Make Hollywood Less Sexist (Guest Column), Hollywood Reporter, [Online] Available at: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/geena-davis-two-easy-steps-664573(Accessed 20 July 2017).

DCU, 2016, DCU Professor publishes major study on Irish journalists, [Online] Available at: http://dcu.ie/news/2016/july/s0716r.shtml (Accessed 17 May 2017).

Dixon, T. and Linz, D. 2000, Overrepresentation and underrepresentation of African Americans and Latinos as lawbreakers on television news, Journal of Communication, 50, 131-154.

Doyle, S. 2014, The Feminized Society Myth, In These Times, [Online] Available at: http://inthesetimes.com/article/16157/our_feminized_society (Accessed 20 July 2017).

Gauntlett, D. 2005, Media, Gender and Identity, Routledge: London and New York. Gerbner, G. and Gross, L, 1976, Living with television: The violence profile, Journal of Communication, 26.

GLAAD, 2017, 2017 GLAAD Studio Responsibility Index: Overview of Findings, [Online] Available at: https://www.glaad.org/sri/2017/overview (Accessed 19 May 2017).

Green, C. 2013, The Effects of Romantic Comedies on Women and Female Adolescents, Proceedings of The National Conference On Undergraduate Research (NCUR) 2013, University of Wisconsin La Crosse, Wisconsin, April 11 - 13. [Online] Available at: http://www.ncurproceedings.org/ojs/index.php/NCUR2013/article/viewFile/658/340(Accessed 14 May 2017).

Hansen, A. 1998, Mass Communication Research Methods, NYU Press, New York.

Harris, R. 2004, A Cognitive Psychology of Mass Communication. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Publishers.

Haskell, M. 2016, From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies, University of Chicago Press: Chicago.

Heusinkveld, O. 2015, Why does media representation matter?, Wakemag, [Online] Available at: http://www.wakemag.org/sections/voices/why-does-mediarepresentation-matter (Accessed 22 February 2017). Hickey, W. 2014, The Dollar-And-Cents Case Against Hollywood's Exclusion of Women, FiveThirtyEight, [Online] Available at: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-dollarand-cents-case-against-hollywoods-exclusion-of-women/ (Accessed 16 May 2017).

Hogan, H. 2016. Autostraddle's Ultimate Infographic Guide to Dead Lesbian Characters on TV, Autostraddle, Available at: http://www.autostraddle.com/autostraddlesultimate-infographic-guide-to-dead-lesbian-tv-characters-332920/ (Accessed 19 May 2017).

IPU, 2017, Women in national parliaments, [Online] Available at: http://www.ipu.org/wmn-e/classif.htm (Accessed 18 May 2017).

Johnson, K and Holmes, B. 2009, Contradictory Messages: A Content Analysis of Hollywood-Produced Romantic Comedy Feature Films, Communication Quarterly, Volume 57, Issue 3. [Online] Available at: http://www.cinematherapy.com/pressclippings/Johnson-Holmes.pdf (Accessed 12 May 2017).

Krippendorff, K. 2012, Content Analysis: An Introduction to Its Methodology, SAGE, California.

Lauzen, M. 2016a, It's a Man's (Celluloid) World: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top 100 Films of 2015, Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film. [Online.] Available at http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/files/2015_Its_a_Mans_Celluloid_World_Report.pdf(Accessed 28 December 2016). Lauzen, M. 2016b, The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind-the-Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 100, 250, and 500 Films of 2015, Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film, [Online.] Available at: http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/files/2015_Celluloid_Ceiling_Report.pdf (Accessed 29 December 2016).

Lauzen, M. 2017, It's a Man's (Celluloid) World: Portrayals of Female Characters in the Top 100 Films of 2016, Center for the Study of Women in Television and Film. [Online.] Available at: http://womenintvfilm.sdsu.edu/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/2016-Its-aMans-Celluloid-World-Report.pdf (Accessed 22 December 2017).

Leeuwen, T and Jewitt, C. 2001, The Handbook of Visual Analysis, Sage, London.

MacGuill, D. 2016, We now have more female TDs than ever before - but do we really have gender quotas to thank?, The Journal, [Online] Available at: http://www.thejournal.ie/women-in-32nd-dail-election-2016-2630150-Mar2016/(Accessed 18 May 2017).

Manatu, N. 2002, African American Women and Sexuality in the Cinema, McFarland Publishing, North Carolina.

Media Smarts, Queer Representation in Film and Television, Canada's Centre for Digital and Media Literacy, [Online] Available at: http://mediasmarts.ca/digital-medialiteracy/media-issues/diversity-media/queer-representation/queer-representation-filmtelevision (Accessed 19 May 2017).

Merriam-Webster Dictionary. (Online) Available at: https://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/content%20analysis (Accessed 7 June 2017).

McCray, T. 2011, Examining the Roles of African-American Academy Award Winning Actresses Between the Years of 2000-2010, The Penn State McNair Journal, Volume 18, Pennsylvania, [Online] Available at: http://forms.gradsch.psu.edu/diversity/mcnair/mcnair_jrnl2011/files/PSU_McNair_Vol18.pdf (Accessed 12 May 2017).

McKee, A. 2003, Textual Analysis: A Beginner's Guide. Sage, London.

McKinney, K. 2015, Almost half of 2015's top movies failed the Bechdel test, Fusion, [Online] Available at: http://fusion.kinja.com/almost-half-of-2015s-top-movies-failedthe-bechdel-test-1793853784 (Accessed 15 May 2017).

McKinney, K. 2016, A third of 2016's top movies fail the Bechdel test, Fusion, [Online] Available at: http://fusion.kinja.com/a-third-of-2016s-top-movies-fail-the-bechdel-test1793857928 (Accessed 15 May 2017).

McQuillan, M., 2000, The Narrative Reader, Routledge, London. Morgan M. 1986, Living with Television: The Dynamics of the Cultivation Process, Hillsdale, Available at: http://web.asc.upenn.edu/gerbner/Asset.aspx?assetID=1591(Accessed 28 December 2016).

Mulvey, L. 1975. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Screen, Oxford Journals, 16 (3): 6-18. [Online] Available at https://www.amherst.edu/system/files/media/1021/Laura%20Mulvey,%20Visual%20Ple asure.pdf (Accessed 28 December 2016).

Neuendorf, K, Gore, T, Janstova, P and Snyer-Suhy, S. 2007, "Bond Girls," Shaken and Stirred: A Content Analysis of James Bond Films, Conference Papers, National Communication Association, Chicago, Illinois.

New York Film Academy, 2013, Gender Inequality in Film, [Online] Available at: https://www.nyfa.edu/film-school-blog/gender-inequality-in-film/ (Accessed 2 July 2017).

New York Film Academy, 2014, Looking at Black Inequality in Film: An Infographic, [Online] Available at: https://www.nyfa.edu/nyfa-news/black-inequality-in-filminfographic.php#.WRs7pGgrK02 (Accessed 9 May 2017).

O'Connor, B. 1984, Aspects of Representation of Women in Irish Film, The Crane Bag. Vol. 8, No. 2, Media and Popular Culture, 79-83 O'Connor, O. 2016, Opinion: A woman's place is in the Oireachtas, The Irish Times, [Online] Available at: http://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/opinion-a-woman-s-place-isin-the-oireachtas-1.2564637 (Accessed 18 May 2017).

Reynolds, M. 2017, Machine learning reveals lack of female screen time in top films, New Scientist, [Online] Available at: https://www.newscientist.com/article/2123926 machine-learning-reveals-lack-of-female-screen-time-in-top-films/ (Accessed 2 July 2017).

Rose, G., 2007, Visual Methodologies: An Introduction to the Interpretation of Visual Materials, SAGE, London.

Sampson, M. 2016, The Main Character in ‘Rogue One' is a Woman and some ‘Star Wars' bros are freaking out, Screen Crush, [Online] Available at: http://screencrush.com/rogueone-female-lead-angry-fans/ (Accessed 1 July 2017).

Sims, D. 2016, The Ongoing Outcry Against the Ghostbusters Remake, The Atlantic, [Online] Available at: https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/05/the-sexist-outcryagainst-the-ghostbusters-remake-gets-louder/483270/ (Accessed 2 July 2017).

Smelik, A. 1999, “Feminist Film Theory”, in Pam Cook and Mieke Bernink (eds), The Cinema Book, London, British Film Institute, 353-365. Smith, S. 2008, Gender Stereotypes: An Analysis of Popular Films and TV, The Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media. [Online] Available at https://seejane.org/wpcontent/uploads/GDIGM_Gender_Stereotypes.pdf (Accessed 28 December 2016).

Smith, S., Kennard, C and Granados, A. 2009, “Sexy Socialization”, in Shriver, Maria (ed). The Shriver Report: A Woman's Nation Changes Everything, Simon and Schuster, New York.

Smith, S., Choueiti, M and Pieper, K. 2015, Inequality in 700 Popular Films: Examining Portrayals of Gender, Race, & LGBT Status from 2007 to 2014, Media, Diversity, & Social Change Initiative. [Online] Available at: http://annenberg.usc.edu/pages/~/media/MDSCI/Inequality%20in%20700%20Popular%20Films%208215%20Final%20for%20Posting.ashx (Accessed 29 December 2016).

Stam, R., Burgoyne, R., and Flitterman-Lewis, S., 1992, New Vocabularies in Film Semiotics: structuralism, post-structuralism, and beyond, Routledge, London.

Stemler, S., 2001, An Overview of Content Analysis, Practical Assessment, Research & Evaluation, Volume 7, Number 17, June, [Online] Available at: http://pareonline.net/getvn.asp?v=7&n=17 (Accessed 9 June 2017).

TVTropes (a), Madonna-Whore Complex, [Online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MadonnaWhoreComplex (Accessed 14 May 2017). TVTropes, (b), The Hays Code, [Online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode?from=Main.HaysCode (Accessed 17 May 2017).

TVTropes, (c), Bury Your Gays, [Online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/BuryYourGays (Accessed 19 May 2017).

TVTropes, (d), Stuffed into the Fridge, [Online] Available at: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/StuffedIntoTheFridge (Accessed 19 July 2017).

Ulaby, N. 2008a, The 'Bechdel Rule,' Defining Pop-Culture Character, National Public Radio [Online] Available at: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=94202522 (Accessed 15 May 2017).

Ulaby, N. 2008b, The 'Bechdel Rule,' Defining Pop-Culture Character Transcript, National Public Radio [Online] Available at: http://www.npr.org/templates/transcript/transcript.php?storyId=94202522 (Accessed 15 May 2017).

Wood, J. 1994, Gendered Media: The Influence of Media on Views of Gender, Gendered Lives: Communication, Gender, and Culture. Chapter 9, 231-244. Wadsworth Publishing, Boston. Appendices
citation:   Mc Crudden, Shauna  (2017) Women in film 1986-2016: Has their representation improved or worsened?  Masters thesis, Griffith College.   
document_url: http://go.griffith.ie/148/1/Shauna%20McCrudden%20MAJ%20DISSERTATION.pdf