Media Investigation

How do the representations of females differ in the action film industry, with particular reference to ‘Iron Man 3’ and ‘The Hunger Games’?

Studies have demonstrated that the representations of females often conform to stereotypical roles, for example "only 16% of protagonists in film are female" [1]. The action film genre is one that is criticised for using only two main roles and archetypal representations of women in narrative, either falling into the strong female stereotype or the princess/sex object stereotype.

In order to portray and understand the vast difference between the representations of women in 'Iron Man 3' [2] and 'The Hunger Games' [3], I will effectively analyse each text and apply different media theories to help establish a conclusion. I intend to explore how the females in these texts are represented, both aesthetically and characteristically, to question if stereotypical representation is present. In order to do this, I will apply Laura Mulvey's 'Male Gaze' theory and Jacques Lacan's 'The Gaze'.  I will also be examining whether the texts I’ve chosen are gender biased by applying the Bechdel test to them and establishing whether the texts reflect the time and society in which they were made. This will also help me to ascertain whether females are under represented in these texts, in relation to time and importance. I also intend to discuss the hypodermic model to question these so called constructed representations and present ideologies of the females in these texts in order to allow me to outline the differences between the representations, and question why it is that they differ.