Her (2013); Spike Jonze subverts audience perception of gender roles
This essay will discuss how producers define audiences for their products, how media products are created for
specific audiences and how the audience can respond to these products.
The film industry as a whole is a large business full of different genres, styles, influences and therefore full of
different audience. In 2012, Box office figures in the US where around $10.84 billion in tickets. In this essay
that looks into audiences and how they are attracted to certain products- I will be focusing on the
romance/drama genre of film production. Now stereotypically the romance genre would be aimed at a female
audience because of its female gendered narratives and characters. With this in mind I would like to discuss
gender representation in film and how Spike Jonze has attempted to not only subvert the stereotypes of the
21st Century but further its expectations with his film, Her (2013).
Producers use industry research methods in order to get the best idea of who the audience is for their product.
Quantitative research is effective when addressing a large group. Quantitative data is all about numbers and
percentages, information on audience viewing figures for media products, examples of this data can be found
on BARB (Broadcast Audience Research Board). RAJAR (Radio Joint Audience Research) allows us to look at
radio listening figures. Qualitative data is the opposite, instead of focusing on figures, qualitative research
focuses on specific comments and views on the product, quality over quantity. Qualitative research can be
done through a variety of methods such as questionnaires, focus groups or even face-to-face interviews. When
looking more in depth at audiences a producer has to think of the audience profile. This includes demographics
(gender, race, age, sexuality and socio-economic status.) The socio-economic status of an audience depends
on where they are classed in society.
The scale goes from E to A:
A- Higher managerial, administrative, professional e.g. Chief executive, senior civil servant, surgeon
B - Intermediate managerial, administrative, professional e.g. bank manager, teacher
C1- Supervisory, clerical, junior managerial e.g. shop floor supervisor, bank clerk, sales person
C2 - Skilled manual workers e.g. electrician, carpenter
D- Semi-skilled and unskilled manual workers e.g. assembly line worker, refuse collector, messenger
E - Casual labourers, pensioners, unemployed e.g. pensioners without private pensions and anyone living on
basic benefits
(National Readership Survey)
The primary audience for the film, Her could be argued as female. This decision could be based on factors such
as the coloured used throughout the mise-en-scene. For example the pastille toned salmon coloured shirts of
Theodore along with the melancholy soundtrack makes for a more relaxed and almost fuzzy atmosphere,
whereas a stereotypical male is into bold block colours, with high tempo music to match the explosions and
fight scenes. We see this in films like The Expendables (Dir: Sylvester Stallone, 2010). This idea of male oriented
films links to the idea of the hyper-masculine, and its over-exaggerated look at the male form, both physically
and mentally. The target audience would be aged around the 23-40 mark. This age group seems most suitable
for this film as it covers topics that appeal to both young and old audiences alike. The strong technology
element will appeal to the younger audience because they have been brought up in an innovative time where
the idea of a self-reliant operating system isn’t so far stretched. The older generation of viewers will have a
greater understanding of the emotions Phoenix has because they will have or certainly know someone who
has gone through the divorce process. In-terms of race and religion there isn’t any outstanding evidence that
would exclude certain demographics. However, certain ethnicities may be offended due to culture dominance
of western values and underrepresentation’s of ethnic minorities. The target audience would be
predominantly heterosexual due to the fact that Theodore has a relationship with a female OS. However this
doesn’t mean that people of other sexual orientations will not enjoy this film, it’s just that Jonze didn’t explore
those particular narrative paths. I would argue that the socio-economic status of the audience ranges from E to
B. Nearly everyone has gone through a break at one point in their lives, whether it be good or bad they still
have. Theodore’s job in the films diegesis is a letter writer. He is sent information by a client and then
composes a letter to said clients Son, Mother, Girlfriend etc. From what we see of his apartment he earns a fair
amount of money, enough to buy the new operating system anyway. The audience could relate to his more
expensive material items and his lifestyle.
Maslow’s hierarchy of needs is based on the theory that a human being has five stages physiologically, safety,
love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization. His theory also states that the human mind and brain has
parallel processors running at the same time, thus many different motives can occur at any same time.
When making a film producers have to take into account who their target audience will be. There is no point
making a film without an audience in mind. Her (2013), follows to story of a lonely writer, Theodore (Joaquin
Phoenix) who buys a new operating system. As the film progresses a relationship develops until all that is
missing is the physical element and even that has a solution. This film allows us to look into a future were
technology plays such a vital role in civilization and I think Warner Bro’s (distributor) has based their marketing
on that concept. The operating system is very similar to apple’s iOS7 virtual assistant, Siri. This film has been
made in a time were technology does have a substantial role in everyday life and Jonze has taken that idea
and developed to the next level were we as human being don’t actually need interaction with other humans.
In this sense the target audience is very wide and includes members of the public that interact with smart
technology such as iPhones, androids, IPads on a day to day basis. . ‘Though I am not of the generation that
has come to use the internet for dating purposes, my guess is that those who have and do will find a lot that’s
accurate and scary about this projection of our possible collective future.’ This quote from Nick James’s review
only reinforces the idea of how appealing a relatable theme can be.
Another element of the film that would indicate the target audience is how the characters are constructed.
Theodore (Phoenix) is portrayed as vulnerable and alone while he is going through the divorce process.
Romance films typically focus on women and how they deal with divorces and breakups and give male roles a
typically egotistical and misogynistic role. This could mean one of two things, that Spike Jonze is giving female
audiences a different character to focus on instead of the generic character or, he is broadening the audience
type by making this genre of film more accessible to men without them being embarrassed due to the male
lead role. However, we can’t give all the credit to Jonze, there have been a couple of role that have subverted
the genders roles, films such as Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Dir; Simon West, 2001) with Angelina Jolie fore
fronting female action films. 500 Days of Summer (Dir: Marc Webb, 2009) is another film that allowed males to
venture into the Romance genre with a different character .The actor’s performances connote a slightly
different message than the typical romance/drama. Producers can sometimes use actors who are aesthetically
pleasing rather than their acting ability and so I feel that the actors used in Her subvert this theory. Scarlett
Johansen can be argued as one of the most attractive actresses in the film industry today. So it would be
typical to include her in this film to give the male audience something to focus on and yet only her voice is
used and so audiences are able to focus on the content rather than the looks. The other female characters
Amy Adams, Rooney Mara and Olivia Wilde aren’t used in typical roles either. This could imply that Jonze has
tried (and arguably succeeded) in making a gender neutral film that focuses more on the acting and content
rather than the actors appearance. Granted, there is a small scene of the film in which a celebrity (in the films
diegesis) is sexually objectified, however it could be argued that Jonze is recognising what the future could
entail in terms of online pornography as he makes several references to it. It is also refreshing to see that he
has allowed his future to hold some cynical elements as he could of easily made the films diegesis a utopia,
which would of made perfect sense as the visual elements of the film are smooth and sleek. Other evidence to
reinforce that idea of a gender neutral film would be the male roles. The two significant male characters in the
film are played by Joaquin Phoenix and Chris Pratt. These two do not fit the romance typical visual persona, for
example, The Vow (Dir: Michael Suscy, 2012) and The Lucky One (Dir: Scott Hick, 2012) include actors such as
Channing Tatum and Zac Efron. Whereas Joaquin Phoenix and Chris Pratt, don’t fit the generic ‘hunk’ role.
Male roles today are varied, compared to 10-20 years ago were a majority of male characters were hypermasculine. Actors such as Arnold Schwarzenegger, Wesley Snipes, Sylvester Stallone and Jean-Claude Van
Damme were the icons of the 80’s/90’s with films such as Total Recall (Dir: Paul Verhoeven, 1990) and Double
Impact (Dir: Sheldon Lettich, 1991). However, in the 21st century we as an audience want a more developed
character that is able to show more than one emotion. Joaquin Phoenix’s character Theodore Twombly is
shown at various stages of his divorce process. His emotions fluxuate as the narrative progresses, taking him
from alone and vulnerable to energetic and goofy with the quick change of a scene. Joaquin Pheonix character
perfectly personifies the needs of the 21st century audience. As Nick James wrote in his review of Her, ‘He’s
more the sensitive metro sexual that many advertisers would like more men to be.’ (2014)
Stuart Hall’s audience theory focuses on the audience reading of the underlying messages. Preferred,
negotiated and oppositional are the three categories we as the viewers are put into. In this film the strongest
message that can be read is the idea that within a few years the need for human interaction will become
obsolete. The idea that technology will take over our lives is not so far stretched that we can watch the film
with a safety net of ‘that will never happen in our time’. This links to Blumlers and Katz Uses and Gratifications
theory and how we as audience seek out different media in order to meet our consumer needs. Again the four
basic categories are educational, entertainment, identity, and socialisation. When seeing a film you can’t
categorise it as one genre, for example this film covers three, drama, romance and sci-fi, that’s the same with
the theory. We as the audience expect so much today that to see a film for just one reason would be almost
unheard. Not only is Her entertaining but audiences could easily gain a sense of identity from the film. The
lifestyle of Theodore and his material possessions could be very appealing to an audience.
No two audience members will share the same view on a film. This is because each audience member will
decode the film differently. For example, one audience member may focus more on the romance element of
the film, while the person next to them may be engrossed by the technology used in the film, while the person
on the other side of the room may just focus on the comedic element. This idea that each audience members
has different interpretation links to the uses and gratifications theory and how we all watch media as a whole
for our different consumer needs.