representation of women 30 mark question 8/3/17

Thanks to the advancement of women's right years ago and a rise in female artists across all forms of media there is a broader representation of women in today's society, at least in the first world. While the traditional housewife stereotype is still present in certain media it is far less prevalent but there is an argument towards the sustained utilisation of the male gaze. However there are certain characters and people who manage to avoid or withstand these trappings.

The first of these is Ronda Rousey, a female MMA fighter who has been fairly successful in her sport in recent years. She has been featured in Sports Illustrated on several occasion, featured in a standard and swimsuit issue. This is where it could be seen that she falls into the lines of objectification, but the Photoshop work done to her in these images never try to objectify her as they don't try to compromise her physique or edit her breasts/ass to make them unrealistic. This is more easily viewed as showing off a great, in shape body (as in not 'size 0'/super skinny) like how photos of a male body builder would instead of pandering to a male audience. But nevertheless she is wearing a swimsuit instead of a sports top (like one she would wear in the ring) with shorts, which while more modest than a bikini and perfectly functional for swimming may detract from her ability to inspire and empower other women as she is treated like a model rather than an athlete. This may represent a societal flaw or a flaw in the media by not being able to separate models from athletes when it comes to women, but going the male bodybuilder route would result in a character portrayal reminiscent of Ripley from Alien/Aliens, a character who critics have accused of seeming strong by acting like a man instead of as her own character; from this perspective there is no 'winnable' approach, but at least by framing her as a model it respects her feminine side and it is important to note that she was likely chosen for her athletic ability and fame instead of her looks as while she isn't ugly by society's standards she isn't at the level of attractiveness that most traditional models are known for.

Another fantastic representation of women is Clementine from Telltale's video game series 'The Walking Dead', which is adapted from the comic book series of the same name. Across the three instalments ,or 'seasons' as they are called due to their episodic story telling, the player sees Clementine grow as a person through the story and their own decisions. In 'season 1' Clementine is a main character but not the protagonist of the game at that point, instead the player plays as Lee who is an African american man who over the course of the game looks out for Clementine. It is difficult to assess the length in which Lee protects Clementine as a paternal figure as it is partially determined by the player's choices. The game lets the player chose from for dialogue options when they are prompted or a response. this can determine how great of a father figure Lee ends up becoming. But no matter the player's choices Clementine is still an innocent little girl  with a a keen eye and intelligence. The player often finds useful hints or essential items to progress the story through Clementine, which results in her being helpful to the player as opposed to an annoyance; this works well with her personality because while she does ask questions like kids do she never becomes whiny and while she gets scared she has the courage to push on. Because of this she doesn't end up as a damsel in distress, she is a child who needs guidance, one who learns and grows like children do. It serves as a nice reminder that Girls don't have to grow up to serve others or conform to standards of beauty and that they shouldn't let these things confine their personality (even in a zombie apocalypse).

On a different note films can be somewhat antagonised for the lack of good female characters and while it is a contested issue there is strong evidence that Black Widow (played by Scarlett Johansson) from the Marvel cinematic universe is a good example of a female character. Critics may point to her Introduction scene as to why she isn't and it is an understandable argument: she is wearing a dress while she is tied up being interrogated by minor unimportant villains (all male) during which the audience is given a clear view of her chest, this is until she is told by her superior (also a male) to finish the situation which prompts a fight scene where she quickly defeats several opponents in a disadvantageous position before walking off. While the 'male gaze theory' can be applied here, there is clear indicator that she was in control during that scene and that she is clearly capable of holding their own; she tells her superior that she is getting the information he wants out of the villains despite being the one that is tied up which indicates that she was going to pull off some manipulation or reversal to get a good outcome without the superior's intervention. Second of all she defeats the bad guys rather quickly and in a humiliating way as they got beat by someone who was tied up to a chair and wearing impractical clothing (evening wear is not ideal for hand to hand combat obviously). This is akin to something that James Bond or Ethan Hunt would be able to pull off and helps show how skilled of an agent she is to the audience. Only Black Widow and Thor (who's entrance comes much later in the film) involve action scenes which suggest they cared enoguh about this character's portrayal to introduce them in an exciting way. Contrast this to Hawkeye, who has amazing sharpshooting skills that ideally should be more practical than Black Widow's talents; he is defeated by and then used by Loki (the main villain of the film) and when he engages with Black Widow in a one on one fight he is the one who loses. In this context he is under mind control and is probably been instructed to kill her because she is an enemy, meanwhile he is her friend and so she logically would want to incapacitate him as opposed to killing him. So not only did she beat her male counter part, As both of them are ordinary humans with no super powers, but she managed to beat him while he was fighting with murderous intent (which would mean he wouldn't show any mercy towards her). That is enough evidence alone to show she is a strong representation of women regardless of the admittedly blatant fan service.