In the aforementioned story “The Girl Atlas”, physical transformations, and their intended effect on the reader are further explored: “’The Girl Atlas’ demonstrates the appeal of such stories to a pre-adolescent female audience through its emphasize of physical transformation and body image that are of central concern to such readers” (Williams 47). As previously discussed, the story focuses on Lana gaining invulnerability in order to convince Superman to marry her. By the end of the story Lana has gained a lot of muscle due to exercise, something that is traditionally considered masculine. She blames Lois for her new, less feminine appearance: “That scheming hussy egged me on to do hundreds of things that require exercise! She knew I’d develop huge, powerful muscles so I’d become ugly-looking!” (Bernstein, “Girl Atlas” 8).
While Lois’s romantic focus is primarily set on the strong, superhuman Superman, she loses interest in his human alter ego Clark Kent. The relationship between all three characters has previously been explored in the Action Comics series, but continues to play a major role in Superman’s Girl Friend. One of the most significant stories regarding Lois’s ambiguous relationships is “When Lois Lane Forgot Superman”, which was published in the seventh issue of the series. In the first two panels of the story, Lois and Clark are reporting on a play, which elicits a range of emotion in Lois: she believes that while Superman is a “prince”, she is a mere “commoner” (Bernstein, “Lois Lane Forgot Superman” 1), therefore she can never marry him. Lois herself believes herself to be inferior to her male counterpart, thus putting herself in a subordinate position.
The objectification of women isn’t restricted to clothes alone. The manner in which a female character addressed in some of the dialogues and songs clearly references her sexuality and how a man is going to exploit it,” commented actress Taapsee Avers. Hemanth Kumar made a conclusion that there is a growing trend in objectifying and sexualising women. In this I fully agree. Due to the objectification of women, many children and teenage girls believe that in order to be beautiful or appreciated, they would have to be sexy.
The feminist movement has allowed women to question these representations. Sexualized and objectified, this is not new, but neither has it ceased to be. Even today, female characters in superhero films are in the minority, but their roles are rarely the main ones. Of course, more and more effort is being made to change this, we are looking for strong, independent women such as Beatrix in Kill Bill or a clearer example in Alien where Ripley, embodied by Sigourney Weaver, became in charge of a spaceship and orders men to fight with her against a pack of monsters. Ripley’s character has not shown any sign of sexual appeal during the trilogy at any moment.
While men have always featured prominently throughout history, women tend to be more of an afterthought, and especially in fiction, women tend to fall into strict archetypes that allow very little deviation. This holds true in Apuleius’ novel The Golden Ass, but many of the female characters also exhibit great agency and power that women in other Roman stories tended not to have. There is a wide range of female archetypes in this book but they are also deep and complex characters that should not be pigeon-holed into one category. One of the first complex female characters that Lucius, the main character, meets in The Golden Ass is the servant girl Photis. While Lucius is staying with his friend Milo, Lucius’ aunt Byrrhena warns him of Milo’s wife, Pamphile, who practices witchcraft, she tells him instead to turn his attention to Photis, saying on page 22, “So even though it has its hazards, Photis must be your target (Apuleius).” So Lucius listens to his aunt and he discovers that Photis is as sharp-witted and sexual as he is, much to his delight.
Considering other movies from the last few years such as Non-Stop or The Wolf of Wall Street it is easy to spot that men and women are still often presented in a typical gender manner. Nevertheless, recently the representation of female characters has also been improving, women are gradually becoming more prominent in the movie industry. In Hollywood, there was a certain rise of casting women as the main characters who take matters into their own hands and are no longer waiting for men to save the day. By making female protagonists as strong and independent, the
Heldman (2013), states that women who are grow up in a culture with widespread objectification tend to view them as objects for desire for others. This is an old stereotype but is still obvious today because many women are put in positions where they have to use their sexuality to fight crimes while men on the other hand don’t have to objectify themselves because most male characters are presented as independent. Marla McConnell (2014) argues that, as media has become a powerful force in shaping the worlds perception of itself. This means that the more we are accepting the stereotype that men are more superior than men in movies that’s how it’s going to be because the media keeps reminding us that’s how its supposed to
The female characters are definitely not your typical female figure as they are everything from ravishing beauties to lying wenches, spies, and secret service agents. Nevertheless, beneath all of the double personality, the theme of irresistible romance that overpowers the women and men of the novels makes for novels full of thrall for any historical romance
Gender equality is the state in which access to rights or opportunities is unaffected by gender, as defined by Oxford Dictionary. Over the years, the media’s portrayal of women across various platforms has changed vastly, resulting in the ever-changing perceptions of gender equality. The media has always portrayed women as the stereotypical meek and demure sex that can be easily overpowered by the other. This inevitably creates a hierarchy among the sexes. However, in recent years, heroine based films have started making their way to box offices, no doubt altering perceptions people have of gender equality.
Female characters have undoubtedly experienced a lot of transformation in Literature over the time. They have shifted from archetypal roles of noble, weak and suffering figure in a patriarchal world to strong characters, they have achieved or are striving for equal rights for themselves. Their portrayal as complex characters has created a new wave of feminist writers, readers and characters. South Asian writers choose to use English as a tool to address global audience extensively. Being an author, Hanif has deployed power through the character of a Christian nurse “Alice” who is below ordinary by her status in the narrative.