See Below

Monique Diaz

Gender roles in the Film Industry

Journal 1

Gender roles have conspicuously changed in the twenty-first century to the extent that people no longer pay much attention to gender in giving responsibility to different individuals. The different roles are further exhibited in the different media used for passing information across the world. Notably, media outlets often try to imitate the culture in the environment, which explains their role in helping understand the roe of gender differences in the contemporary world. For purposes of this journal I will use the third season of AMC’s The Walking Dead, because I view it as one of the seasons in the film in which women were put to the test and showed courage and strength to keep people together despite challenges from those around them.

Notably, the images of women in the film reinforce the lessons learned in class. Women are portrayed as being a source of reason and progress within the community. At one time, one of the female characters seeks assistance from a male character with the hope of getting to learn how to be a midwife. Irrespective of the challenges the individuals have to go through, she finds the strength to learn a new skill for purposes of helping out a friend. If she were not strong enough, she would have sat back and hoped that everything would turn out well with the pregnant member of the group. The effort put in by the female character reveals the goodwill possessed by most women in the society. They would rather go beyond their means to help those that they care about, which explains their roles in the family setting.

Similarly, consistent with the classroom discussions, male characters are shown in

the film as being in position of leadership and constantly taking the chance protect the

rest of the family. The film has always had a male reader within every group of settlers,

which alludes to the stereotype that men are often authoritative and efficient in leadership positions. However, they are not always rational as the film portrays one leader being on the verge of condemning a group member to death for purposes of self-preservation. Male relationships with the rest of the group are not always smooth either. There are several instances where the male characters disagree with each other or with the group leading to constrained relationships between themselves or with the group.

Therefore, gender roles in the society primarily follow the common stereotypes with men often being associated with leadership roles as women are left to promote cohesion within social settings. However, the film also did portray women taking leadership roles by taking charge of the situation and effectively making the appropriate decisions in light of the circumstances surrounding the said individual. Notably, the media has been keen to pass the message that the world is changing and gender roles no longer define individual actions. Was it the case, women would be cast in films with their sole responsibility being attending to their children and the larger family, with limited chances to show their leadership and ability to influence change within the society. At this rate, the twenty first century is most likely to see a total achievement of the gender parity across economic and social circles.

Journal 2

The role of women in men-oriented responsibilities has been the hallmark of

discussion by feminist groups with most of the insisting that women need to receive equal

opportunities as men. Notably, if such an achievement were made, there would be a

significant improvement in gender equality much to the extent of nullifying the reasons

for existence of such groups. The media has been at the forefront of portraying men and

women undertaking responsibilities that were thought previously to be in the male or

female niche, an idea that adversely affected gender equality. In this journal entry, I will use Quantico, a movie series that premiered on ABC in 2015 to discuss the role of women in the society and the influence the media has in depicting the possible areas of improvement or achievements made in moving towards gender equality.

The series is set in Quantico, a federal agent-training center, where the first evidence of gender equality and disregard for gender roles is made clear with the inclusion of all gender and race in hiring trainees for roles that would otherwise have been considered better if they were left for men in the society. This is a actor that shows consistence with the classroom discussion on the improvement in the society’s perception of women in the contemporary world. If the film were made in the early to mid-twentieth century, chances are that the women in the film would not receive as advanced roles as they did in the twenty-first century. Although the film may have wished to advance a feminist agenda, its inclusion of a significantly high number of influential female characters in the films premier episode says a lot about the role of women in the society.

Notably, the characters receive their first test in the first episode whereby they have to investigate each other. It is in the scene where they all have to pick a file on either of the students at the academy that women are shown to be confident enough to find something that the bureau could have failed to see in vetting the different students. Courage and leadership is again seen in this scene since none of the women sits back to have the male characters take the files first. They all join in the fray as everyone tries to find the file belonging to an individual he or she finds interesting. The role of male characters is also exemplified in the scene to show the improved nature of relationships between men and women in the twenty-first century. They relate well with their friends and offer assistance where necessary.

Gender roles are well represented in the first episode and neither of the gender is

uncomfortable having the other take a leadership position. For instance, the school’s

leader is female and has a male subordinate who she helped overcome a drinking problem. Were it not for the interaction and acceptance of the woman’s competence, he would have found it hard to answer to a female senior in an institution, which, according to stereotype, men ought to be better leaders.

Therefore, Quantico offers insight into a social issue that many would have taken for granted. It shows that the line between the two genders has grown so thin that there is no reason for different institutions to overlook one’s qualification because of his or her gender. Although the film was made for entertainment purposes, it answers questions to some issues the society views as being contentious.