Bibliography

“I do think Hollywood movies get it wrong when they show women in action roles – they basically make them men.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2012/sep/13/james-cameron-hollywood-action-women-wrong

Salt was originally intended as a vehicle for Tom Cruise; the script was successfully rewritten for Angelina Jolie when she commented to a Sony executive, "I want to be Bond.”

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/01/the-rise-of-the-female-led-action-film/251678/

"And not as a victim or as a scream queen, but as a physically and mentally capable person."

“Conversely, The Hunger Games' Katniss Everdeen, is protective of her sister, whose place she takes in a televised death match. But she shows notably little desire to become a parent herself. Even her romance is partly for show.”

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-19061388

“Though movies used to oscillate, according to Wloszcyna, between the "seductive supervixen" (Angelina Jolie in Tomb Raider) or the "macho tomboy" (Keira Knightley in Domino), they now feature a new breed of complex, fully-wrought female protagonists.”

http://jezebel.com/5929503/movie-studios-are-finally-cashing-in-on-the-female-protagonist

“chick with a gun,”            “Croft uses her beauty to her advantage and always goes after what she wants.”

http://www.helium.com/items/2322178-women-empowerment-female-action-hereos

“Katniss is by no means traditionally feminine”

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-hunger-games/articles/159399/title/gender-roles-series

stats - video game target audience (Pretzech, 2000)

(Olafson 1997, p100)

Example of a positive respresentation of the female protagonist in The Hunger Games.

Katniss is viewed with the camera from a high vantage point in contrast to the men from a low vantage point - this shows the dominance of the male gender over the females.
When see misses the first shot the men laugh and shake heir heads as if they are not surprised (stereotypical idea because she is a girl.)
The second time when she hits it perfectly she is ignored by them.
Is she needing approval of when? or is she trying to prove a point by trying to break the stereotype and prove their male view wrong. The bow at the end indicates sarcasm and disaproval and anger towards what they think.

The waitresses are also female (serving the men.)

Investigation

MEDIA QUESTION: HOW ARE FEMALE PROTAGONISTS REPRESENTED IN 'LARA CROFT: TOMB RAIDER' AND 'THE HUNGER GAMES'?

Within this investigation I want to look at how female protagonist are represented in the action genre and specifically the two texts 'Lara Croft: Tomb Raider' and 'The Hunger Games'.  Some audience members might stereotypically believe that the first expectations of both female protagonists are that they are a dominant and positive representation of the female gender, but are they actually represented in this contemporary form or are they still being objectified in the ways Laura Mulvey discusses in the male gaze theory. I firstly will explore the female protagonist’s reliance on men, secondly I will investigate if their ideology and mindset is relative to the present or some what dated? Lastly I will discuss the representation of female body, are females still being objectified, is a realistic body images being projected and if so why is this the case? To help answer my investigation I will apply relative theory such as audience theory such as uses and gratifications, Laura Mulvey, The male gaze.

In recent years there has been an increasing number of action heroines within the film industry (1). Women in modern society are seen as equals to the male gender leading the way for strong, female characters to be created in the film industry as a means of inspiring and encouraging this outlook that may have not have been seen in the past. However it is hard to depict whether they are being represented in the idealistic way imagined; are they dominant, powerful women or are they just simply seen as a “chick with a gun” (2)?

The first case study I looked at was ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ in which actress Angelina Jolie plays one of the most well-known female actions heroes. Despite her character being portrayed as this tough female who is not only intelligent and beautiful but is control on the males around her, within the film she is still very much sexualized according to Laura Mulvey’s male gaze theory (3). Throughout the film the character’s heavy layering of sexual signifiers such as her glasses, holster and garter belts, short shorts and long swinging hair automatically build her up as a visually pleasing aspect taking away the seriousness of what she is supposed to be representing. Some people may see it as Croft using her beauty to her advantage in the film to gain what she wants (4) but her persona as a ‘seductive supervixen’ is still not diverting away from the past stereotypical female roles in film like it claims to be attempting to do (5). Originally Lara Croft was created as a video game before later being made into a film, the idea being that the male dominant audience of the video gaming industry could almost control this idealistic women who could be seen in a sexual manner but still play an action genre game; this being said even with the expansion of this into the film industry and the widening of the audience she is still associated with this original by many people. It could be said that she is not this image of empowerment nor is she operating outside the boundaries of traditional gender restrictions, so by being the way she is conforms to the stereotypical gender role.

However saying this there are particular elements of her character in the film which do keep to the idea of the female protagonist. In the ‘No Guns’ scene of Lara Croft: Tomb Raider she is positively conveyed as a dominant female. She not only takes control at the beginning of the scene by telling the other men to leave so she can deal with the antagonist on her own so they don’t get harmed but she also successfully defeats him with her body strength alone despite him being a being a dominant male. Unlike other scenes she is not sexually objectified in anyway but they camera. The camera angles mainly show her facial expression, followed by long shots of her fighting the antagonist.

(1)  http://brickfive.com/article/rise-female-action-hero

(2)  http://www.helium.com/items/2322178-women-empowerment-female-

      (3) google book - ‘Inside the Gaze’

     (4) http://www.helium.com/items/2322178-women-empowerment-female-

(5) http://jezebel.com/5929503/movie-studios-are-finally-cashing-in-on-the-female-protagonist