Meriç Serezli

​Abstract

Using a qualitative approach, the current study investigated the strong female characters and their impact on young women. Some semi-structured interviews were held via Zoom, others were face-to-face, and then the researcher used the transcribed material to conduct a thematic analysis. The perception of the sexualization of female characters, the erasure of femininity, and the erasure of weaknesses and character developments were all recurring themes within the results. Although some findings were related to other pieces of literature, unexpected results were also obtained considering the participants were much less inspired by these characters than expected.

Keywords: Hollywood, action movies, strong female characters, empowerment, women, young girls, qualitative

 

 

How Do Today's Hollywood Action Movies With Strong Female Characters Affect Teenage Girls’ Empowerment?

 

Cinema has always served as a reflection for its audience, mirroring their stories in certain ways; as a result, it has become a more convenient method of delivering a comprehensive description of what audiences might interpret as examples to follow in their own lives. Considering that the audience integrates what they watch into their lives exceedingly, the importance of having accurate representations in movies and TV series has been realized. Regrettably, women were frequently side characters in the early days of cinema, "damsels in distress," as they were later labeled. Even when they were given the opportunity to perform, they would be portrayed as hypersexual objects for men's pleasure. (Kinnunen, 2016, pp. 26-28) Mulvey explains this situation from the viewpoint of a conventional heterosexual man embodied in the audience, characterized by a proclivity to objectify women. Her theory is commonly known as “The Male Gaze” theory, she argues that women are "the bearer of meaning rather than the maker of meaning," implying that women are not given roles in which they can lead that scene. (1975, p. 809)

Although Mulvey's theory was put forward decades ago, women have continued to be given the same roles in film and television, with different subtexts. Along with new ideas emphasized by postfeminism the construction of sexualized images is frequently represented as a consequence of an "active decision" made by women, rather than a role selected for them. (Joffe, 2019, 7) This belief and the interpretation of the sensual appeal of these characters as “emancipating by mocking the traditional feminine modesty” create misperceptions in the minds of young girls, as Pennell and Behm-Morawitz (2015, 230) have pointed out.

Nevertheless, with the help of postfeminism, there has been a growth in the number of action films featuring strong women as leads such as Captain Marvel and Wonder Woman. These movies aim to prove the modern action heroine is more than just a woman with a chiseled figure. (Sherick, 2021, p. 3) Hansen states that these women are the new types of heroines who challenge patriarchal preconceptions of what a woman should be. (2018, p. 60) Although these developments seem promising at first, not everyone agreed on this subject. Feminist theorists have addressed a number of problems in these female characters. The majority of the issues concern whether these women are attempting to be men, to be distinct from them, or to become a character more than simple binary oppositions. (Hills, 1998, 4) Brown gave their choice of clothing as an example. He claimed that in order to be regarded as strong, the majority of the action heroines wore only masculine accouterments as a symbol. (1996, p. 64) In this way, their characters could be seen as predominantly masculine and this would lead people to perceive them as strong.

Over the last decade, there has been a significant effort to encourage female audiences by displaying powerful women. Thus, the objective of this study was to understand whether these movies and characters achieve their goals or not. The author has speculated that they may be failing at their purpose to empower women as previous researchers have suggested.

 

Methodology

 

Participants

The requirements for being eligible to partake in this research were to be a woman, to watch enough contemporary action movies in addition to other genres, and to be between the ages of 18 and 20. The reason for the chosen age gap is the belief that they are still open to being influenced by the media more than an ordinary adult. Four students from various universities including Koç University, University of Arts London, and İzmir Ekonomi University were interviewed after their shown interest in the subject. 

 

Procedure

To examine the recurring themes in individuals' different attitudes and beliefs, the study used a qualitative, semi-structured interviewing method. The interviews followed a general structure but also used open-ended questions including some relevant follow-up questions. In the study, one interview was conducted with one person at a time. All interviews were held on in Turkish (which was the mother tongue of all participants) to receive more detailed answers. An attempt was made to keep the interview durations between fifteen and twenty minutes in order to get more complex answers from them.

 

Data Analysis

The interviews were audio-recorded via a mobile phone or through Zoom depending on the student’s location. Then, they were translated into English and all transcribed verbatim by the author. Because the goal of this article is to understand how the female characters in action movies are perceived by young girls, a qualitative approach was used. Finally, within the remaining topics, the interview transcripts were analyzed and compared.

 

Results

 

Three themes emerged from this study: The sexualization of female characters, the erasure of femininity, and the erasure of weaknesses and character developments.

 

Theme 1: The sexualization of female characters

 

All participants underlined one common point in their interviews which was them not judging a character based on their choice of clothing. They further explained that putting a label on a woman by looking at their appearance would, in fact, strengthen the objectification of that person.

The element they care about more is the utilization of that certain character. While they may claim that watching a female character dressed in a certain way is not offensive, it becomes a problem for participants if that outfit creates unnecessary nudity or if the character's only value becomes her body or appearance. Two of the participants gave an example of the same character, Cassie from Euphoria, when the sexualized female characters were being discussed. (Levinson, 2020) They both pointed out that her nudity in the show did not add an element to her story arc or the overall plot, it was only there to grab attention to the show which should not even be why people should be interested in the series. Participant 3 expressed her feelings with these words: “It felt disrespectful to all of us.”

 

Theme 2: The erasure of femininity

 

    One crucial element all participants emphasized during their descriptions of the character they find strong was the fact that how their chosen character shows both conventionally feminine and masculine traits. In their examples, the focus was not on those characters’ masculine attributes such as combatting abilities, instead, the focus was on how they managed to be involved in typically feminine activities. Participant 3 gave Kim Possible as an example of her childhood idol with an indication of her doing cheerleading and having a high school crush while fighting hand to hand with her enemies. Similarly, Participant 2 mentioned Cass from Promising Young Woman as the character that made her feel strong, with the stress on the embracement of her femininity and called her a real person, a natural woman after saying “She wasn’t fully masculinized.” 

    Several participants questioned the reason why female empowerment means taking on masculine traits rather than highlighting feminine traits as empowering. The more they articulated the reasons why they admire certain characters, the more issues surrounding this erasure of feminine characteristics came to the surface. The “Strong Female Lead” trope, in their opinion, dismisses the complexity of authentic womanhood and fosters the notion that powerful women must be tough and cruel. According to them, today’s strong female characters that are intended to inspire many others need to “man up” at some point in the movie as if they are superior because they are not like other girls. The idea that rejecting femininity makes you strong contradicts Hollywood's initial ideology, as participants noticed. 

 

Theme 3: The erasure of weaknesses and character developments

 

With the exception of Participant 4, nearly all of the participants stated that the "Strong Female Characters" feel forced, unempowering, and fake. Participants believe that there is pressure to include strong women in the films; however, the scripts fail to create a variety of characters, which are more important, and eventually create characters with no flaws. Those characters, in participants’ minds, are never ordinary; always wealthy, prestigious, or already strong enough. 

Though Participant 4 reported having her confidence boosted after watching several female-driven action movies, others gave different answers compared to hers when talking about the characters who made them feel more confident. Clarice from The Silence of The Lamb was given as an example. Despite her being terrified of Hannibal and showing her weakness to him, she manages to control herself and this is the reason why Participant 3 gave her as an example. A similar answer came from Participant 2 when she mentioned the name Mulan. She suggested that watching Mulan’s journey, hard work, and day-to-day progress feels earned; therefore, this participant felt motivated afterward. It should be noted all participants including Participant 4 indicated that their wish for the disappearance of the idea that female characters should be physically intimidating or "as tough as boys" in order to be deliberated as strong characters. 

 

Discussion

 

This study intended to provide a general overview of the young women’s thoughts about today’s female action heroines and whether they get empowered by them or not. It was expected from the participants to mention several issues of the “Strong Female Character” archetype based on the literature review. Nevertheless, it was conversely astonishing that most of the participants were not inspired by them even a little bit which is the opposite argument of Koka (2020) since she suggested characters such as Rey from Star Wars is a substantial inspiration for girls with her impressive abilities and her physical strength. (p. 91) Koka further asserts that the high box office sales of movies with female characters as leading ladies in the last decade prove that these characters are loved and adopted by the public. (p. 74)

Though the participants were holding a different opinion than Koka on this particular topic, all participants and most of the authors were in agreement when the sexualization was being discussed. In the research conducted by Pennell and Behm-Morawitz (2015), it was revealed that although sexualized superheroes are expected to be perceived as more inspiring, there was no significant difference between the group exposed to sexualized victimization. (p. 218) This conclusion proves as long as the female character is objectified, her being a hero or a victim does not have a different effect on the audience.

Another issue that was found during the literature review was the recent approach to breaking the settled consensus which is all superheroes should be male and physically strong Therefore, in order to demolish this mindset, the evolution of the new female characters into "deliberately rebellious, masculinized personas" appears to be the core narrative of the new action heroine films. (Kinnunen, p. 32) There was a significant similarity between this phenomenon and the participants' responses, suggesting that "badass" is often brutal and violent, with kindness and goodness versus power. This stems from the assumption that strong women are incompatible with affection, which is often perceived as weakness. 

While the first two themes were predictable given the prior literature, participants' assessment of the lack of characteristics and development in the strong female archetype was an interesting revelation. When investigating the reasons for this result, Hansen’s (2018) observations can be used as an indication. She delineates the action heroine as a direct challenge to norms of gender acceptability since these heroines demand that audiences accept them as more than a woman. (p. 41) Although this approach to creating female characters appears to be favorable on the surface, it is apparent that it might pose problems when examined further. Joffe suggests these characters are not given character arcs where they must confront and overcome their own personality flaws. The reason for this choice is that the sole purpose of action heroines' is to demonstrate that women "are just as good as men." (2019, p. 7) This endeavor to demonstrate their strength resulted in their depreciation in the eyes of society and the participants as can be understood from the answers. 

This study aims to determine insight into the female heroines in action/superhero movies and their effects on young women. However, its lack of representativeness is a crucial restriction since only four women were part of the study. In addition to that, the ages of the participants only varied from 18 to 20. It was impossible to examine a different impact on younger-aged girls who might have given contrasting answers due to legal constraints. This study aims to determine insight into the female heroines in action/superhero movies and their effects on young women. However, its lack of representativeness is a crucial restriction since only four women were part of the study. In addition to that, the ages of the participants only varied from 18 to 20. It was impossible to examine a different impact on younger-aged girls who might have given contrasting answers due to legal constraints. Still, it could be understood as most of the modern action heroines fail to empower women considering the themes that have arisen from the interviews.

References

 

Brown, J. A. (1996). Gender and the Action Heroine: Hardbodies and the “Point of No Return.” Cinema Journal, 35(3), 52–71. https://doi.org/10.2307/1225765

Hansen, I. S. (2018). Feminism - Is The Leading Female Character Strong? The American Representation of the Tough Women in Action Movies. (Master’s Thesis, Aalborg University English Department, Aalborg, Denmark) Retrieved from: https://projekter.aau.dk/

Hills, E. (1998) The Action Heroine As Feminist Figuuration: Mapping The Transgressive Potential of Hollywood’s Post-Woman Women. (Doctorate Thesesis, Queensland University, School of Languages, Culture and Creative Arts, Queensland, Australia.)

Joffe, R. Holding Out for a Hero(ine): An Examination of the Presentation and Treatment of Female Superheroes in Marvel Movies. Panic at the Discourse: An Interdisciplinary Journal, Volume 1, Issue 1 (2019): 5-19 ISSN 2562-542X (Online) 

Kinnunen, J. (2016). Badass Bitches, Damsels In Distress, Or Something In Between? Representation of female characters in superhero action films. (Master’s thesis, University of Jyväskylä Department of Languages, Jyväskylä, Finland.)

Koka, N. (2020) The Evolution of Postfeminism In Film: How The Last Decade (2010-2019) Became A Turning Point In Female Representation. (Honors Thesis, Baylor University, Department of Modern Language, Texas, USA 

Mulvey, L. Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema. (1975). Screen, 16(3), 6–18, https://doi.org/10.1093/screen/16.3.6

Pennell, H., & Behm-Morawitz, E. (2015). The Empowering (Super) Heroine? The Effects of Sexualized Female Characters in Superhero Films on Women. Sex Roles, 72(5), 211-220.

Sheikh, A.R., Sheikh, F.R., Khan, S.U., & Rashid, A. (2019). Discursive Construction of New Female Identity in Latest Hollywood Blockbuster Movies. International Journal of English Linguistics, 10, 265.      

 

Appendix

Interview Questions

1. Could you please name a female character that you felt strong and were proud to be a woman after watching it? 

2. What are their character traits? 

3. What were the elements that made you feel like that?

4. Could you please name a relatable female character.

5. What are their character traits?

6. Could you please name some characteristics of a “strong female lead”

7. Could you please name a strong male character?

8. What are their character traits? 

9. What do you think about the sexualized characters?

10. Could you please name a female character you felt powerless after watching them? Why?

11. Is there a movie or a character you want your future daughter to watch during her teenage years?

12. Who was your childhood idol, and what were his/her traits?