How Women are Portrayed in Other Texts

Nicki Minaj in 'Starships'

Many women are still being portrayted as being sex objects in any films, music videos and tv programmes, although some as shown as being the main protagonist in the text, showing they are the more powerful character within the text. In a lot of the music videos very are shown as being the target audience and also have some voueuristic characteristics put through it them. Such as specific camera angles to show their femininity and to act in a very sexual manner. This is used to create a male gaze to show off women femininity but also in ways it creates woman gaze in how other some women would like to look like her because she has men looking at her a lot. But not all music videos involve in women stripping down and dancing around in their underwear, there are videos of women singing in a dominant role such singers like this would be; P!nk, Christina Aguilera, Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift. These women use their music videos to act in how society would usually like to see them, so they are seen in the norm. Which is almost a direct binary to some other singers who act in total oppsites, some of these women would be; Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Katy Perry and Jennifer Lopez.

There are many women in tv that are portrayed as being strong independant women who will do what they can like anybody else without using their femine traits. They can be found in a lot of the soap operas on the tv now, these soap would be; Coronation Street and Eastenders. One of the most memorable of strong independant women in the history of soap history would be the infamous 'Peggy Mitchell'. A little old ladie who had to grow up in a tough neighbour hood and bring up two sons and still get the respect from the whole street is not an easy feat but she was one of the only women to be able to do just that.

Linzey Cocker playing Jessica Fisher
in Waterloo Road

There is a large gap in representations of women that would be changed by one factor which would be age. Younger women are portrayed as being troublesome and 'sluttish' and older women are portrayed as being independent and innocent depending on whether they are with someone, have a family or are alone and single. Younger women in TV are seen in a voyeuristic view such as in Waterloo Road, they would always choose the most good looking or bustiest girl to be in the camera shots and play a main role in an episodes, they would be even be viewed in school uniforms and shot in scopophilic camera shots. they would also be shot in long shots to show their figure to show how feminine  they are and also in extreme close-ups of their faces to emphasize how young they are and their facial expressions of how they act. But it is also done so that younger women who watch the programme are able to connect with the actors so then they feel like they can relate to them. But this is still showing that they are being view in a voyeuristic way because there is a male gaze being produced with the way the women are acting, their stances, how they talk and also with the direct mode of address that is made. Depending on the age of the character and the actor most women will be shown to act in a very feminine/girly way. However in most TV programmes with young women in them acting in a sexual way, there will be a binary opposite of them such as either a older parent/guardian who is independent and protective of them or a man of similar age but acts in a innocent way towards her and all other women. This is used to create a situation for the character to overcome a personal quest to reach back into society.

Character Appearances

Ellen Ripley in Resurrection

In any Science Fiction film, the women shown in ther text have been appeared portrayed as being a little 'untidy'. Their dress codes can be described as being scruffy, beaten up and worn out, but in 'Ripleys' case she is portrayed as dressing more masculine than other characters male or female. Main female protagonists will almost always be portrayed as being scruffy and untidy as part as their character, unless they were the main antagonist, they would almost always be dressed very smartly and shown as being clean.

Aayla Secura

Characters who do not play a main role in a text and are just in the background will be dressed nicely and used as male gaze such as 'Twi'leks' in 'Star Wars'. Women have almost always been portrayed as being sex object to public through the media, they have been made to look alluring and appealing so as to attract a section of the audience. These are clear representations of women in sexualised way and it is exploitation as a way of aiming the text at a male audience. But when they are the main protagonist, they retain their sex appeal but also have masculine traits or characteristics, such as fiting skills and handling weapons.

Specific Scenes of Chosen Characters

Ripley in the Alien Franchise

Ripley getting undressed in 'Alien'

This scene I would analyse is one of the last in 'Alien'. I have chosen this one because of the fact we can see Ripley in a very voyeuristic view and see her looking more feminine here than in the rest of the whole film. This scene also can be used to show how women can be very resourceful when in trouble and even when in they are in their underwear. The fact remains that Ripley is one of the most iconic women in Science Fiction but also in cinema history. She is seen battling it out against her foes no matter the situation or the timing as we can see here. Here is one of the few scenes where we can see Ripley acting and looking feminine than she usually does, wearing dirty old work clothes. It shows her acting out of the norm than society would see women, usually being portrayed as being clean, full of makeup and looking after their appearance; Ripley goes against that norm on every level. Until we see her underneath and we see that she still just a little bit girly still.

Chiana in the Farscape Franchise

Chiana acting as a lawyer in 'Dream a Little Dream'

One of the Scenes I would analyse for Chiana would be once from ‘Dream a Little Dream’. This is because even though she is one of the side kick characters, this is one of the few episodes which she is given a main role and main protagonist to play. In this episode she doesn’t play in the normal role of her character, being problematic for everyone or flirting with the ‘bad guys’. In the episode she is portrayed as being lawyer and in some cases an older sister looking out for her siblings. Her dress code however still shows that she is acting informally, even when she is in a court room fighting for her friend’s life. This shows her acting in the same norm as people would recognise her to be in but the fact that she is looking out for someone else other than her own shows her acting also out of her norm. Doing this makes us think that Chiana is growing up and not acting like the child she was originally portrayed as being.

How the Women are Viewed in Their Texts

Chiana (Farscape, Farscape: Peacekeeper Wars)
Chiana is viewed as the child within the text, because she is the youngest but also because she is the most reckless within the whole crew in the series. In the series it takes Chiana a long time to get along with everyone on Moya and to actually create a mutual relationship with the other crew members. Although one of the last characters to be brought into the text, she took the least amount of time to create relationships with everyone else on the ship. Relating closely to Rygel on the fact that they are sometime not reliable and would do some things on the basis it maybe beneficial to themselves. But we also are given a more meaningful relationship of Chiana with D'Argo, a much older man who we would think would not be into Chiana at all given the fact he has a son.

Some of the times within the series we forget that Chiana is essentially still a teenager with people who are a lot older than her, doing this creates a lot of enigmas of Chiana showing that we don't know much about her. In the all of the episodes with Chiana shown we are always given a little bit where Chiana will flirt with someone and get close to them creating a Male Gaze moment which would help into getting people into watch the series and creating quality for the programme.

Ellen Ripley (Alien, Aliens, Alien 3 and Alien: Resurrection)
In the Alien franchise Ellen Ripley's character changes from film to film. In the first film Ellen is seen as being the tactician in survival, mostly because of how she is able to survive through the whole film even when she has run ins with the Xenomorph. With this she gets instant respect for Ellen because of her being able to kill the mass murdering Xenomorph and doing it when she is in her underwear. This helps to create a male gaze for the movie to bring in more people to watch it.

When in Aliens Ellen is still seen as the woman who cant die, this is shown on multiple occasion were she is able to kill a Xenomorph without being injured at all whereas the hardened veteran marines are being killed off one by one and some are just surviving by the skin of their teethes  Half way through the film Ellen starts to take on the mother role when she comes into contact with Newt, this is something we haven't seen in Ellen, this is created stronger when Newt is kidnapped and then is going to be killed by the Xenomorph Queen and then there was the most iconic quote off any Science Fiction film, 'Get Away From Her You Bitch!'.

Essentially Ellen Ripley is portrayed as being the main heroin in the franchise and portrayed as one of the most resourceful women in the whole of cinema history. Ellen Ripley is one of the most iconic women in general to be recognized.

Use of Women roles in the Science Fiction world

Women are seen in many different ways and used in different ways within the Science Fiction world, sometime used in the main protagonists or as an object for the main protagonist to reach. Throughout the years there have been many films and TV series in which women have been used as the main protagonists and not seen as the damsel in distress.





• The Princess or Sex Icon, there are many uses of women being the sex icon for the heroes of the film to win. In almost every film there is a woman who is acting as the princess to be saved from the villain and saves the day in order to win the woman. Such as 'Michaela Banes' in 'Transformers' and 'Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen' and also 'Leia Organa' from the early 'Star Wars' films.

• There have been more substantial roles in which women have filled in very successfully such as the heroes in some action and most Science Fiction films where they aren't so helpless. most Science Fiction films are given a female protagonist because it would help contrast the actual film and are also used as a male gaze to give the film more credit. this has been used many times very well such as 'Ellen Ripley' from the 'Alien' Franchise and also 'Alice' from the 'Resident Evil' Franchise.

• But as easily as there are roles for women to fill in as the sex icon and to be very feminine, they can also be shown as being very masculine, even more so than some of the men in some movies. this can has been shown in 'Aliens' with 'Pvt Vasquez' the marine with a very bad mood and an even scarier bark. Apart from the women being seen as the Sex icon and sometimes the muscle women can be easily used to be shown as the brains and the spy in the film such as in the 'Iron Man' series with 'Pepper Potts'.

Research

For my coursework I am required to choose two texts or people to compare and contrast in order to write about how women are portrayed in Science Fiction films. The two people I have chosen are Lt. Ellen Ripley from the Alien franchise and also Chiana from the Farscape series.

Chiana from Farscape

I have chosen these two women because they portray the different aspects women can act within a science fiction film and tv series. I have chosen Ellen Ripley, the gunslinging, alien killing heroin in your worst nightmares and the slightly psychotic and resourceful Nebari, Chiana, who is known for her siren qualities and bipolar atttude to her work. There are the three main ways we see women in any kind of action film, either the helpless damsel in distress, the bad tempered woman with a big gun or the sex subject within the text.

These two woman both have their similarities together but they also do have many differnence of the two of them. Such as the fact that Chiana looks after her appearance even though she gets into a lot of fights and shoot outs, wheras Ellen has never been seen to be doing her make up or looking after her appearnace. Another differnance between the two is the also the trust that can be held in them, Ellen is shown as doing whatever is right for everyone and to make everyone safe from the 'Aliens' and Chiana is a street-smart, savvy, and mercurial type of character who is willing to scam or steal for an adventure and risk her life for the people she loves when the time seems right to herself.

Initial Media Ideas

For my coursework in A2 Media I would need to choose an idea to analyse and research about within the media nowadays. The idea would be something I could go into great detail about and also be able to do much research on. Some of the ideas I had for my ideas were:

• Representations of Women in Science Fiction Films

• 

  Ellen Ripley from Aliens

  Narrative changes within Comedy
• Representations of Teenagers in Music Videos

My chosen idea for my coursework is 'Representations of Women in Science Fiction Films'. I have chosen to use this idea because there is a lot that has been wrote about Women and Science Fiction films. There has also been many releases of films which portray the main protagonist as being a woman. Im going to need to choose two films to analyse and research about for my Media Coursework. I have also chosen to research this idea because I already have some cultural knowledge about women in science fiction. There is a wide choice of characters and texts I can use for my research including; Star Wars, Farscape, Blade Runner, Alien, Predator and much more. But I think I am going to study and research Ellen Ripley from the Alien Franchise and also Chiana from the Farscape franchise.