What is the learning objective?
Yr11 GCSE Media Studies
Action Adventure Films
Learning Objectives:
To understand change in the representation of
women over time
To begin to understand the representation of
females in Action Adventure films
Task 1 questions
These will be on action adventure films in general.
There will be two questions, worth 15 marks each.
They might be something like this:
1. A criticism of action adventure films is that they
reinforce racial and gender stereotyping. How far do
you agree with this statement? Provide some
examples to support your views
2. Give three key features of action adventure films and
provide examples to support your ideas.
3. Explain the importance of heroes and villains to the
narrative of action adventure films
Task 2 questions
Task 2 questions will require you to have either
planned an action adventure film or the marketing
campaign for one. 2 questions, 15 marks each. These
might include something like:
1. Provide us with your pitch for your action adventure
film, thinking about setting, character, title and
storyline
2. We plan to use the internet to promote the successful
film. Design the homepage of a website for your film
3. Write a press release to promote your film
Card sort- Women Timeline
In groups of three, place the events in
chronological order
Women Timeline
1896: Alice guy becomes one of the first film directors. The males at her company
agree to let her ‘play’ with their camera and she later becomes the head of their
production company.
1918: For the first time women can vote thanks to the Representation of the
People Act (UK)
1960: The contraceptive pill is introduced in England and America
1967: The Abortion Act is introduced
1970: The Equal Pay Act is introduced and demands equal pay for men and women
doing the same job
1973: Season of women’s cinema at the national film theatre, London.
1979: The first female Prime Minister is elected – Margaret Thatcher
2002: Halle Berry becomes the first black woman to win an Oscar for best actress
in a Leading Role for Monster’s Ball
Today and next lesson:
A criticism of action adventure films is that
they reinforce racial and gender
stereotyping. How far do you agree with this
statement? Provide some examples to
support your views
Activity
Complete the task on women and men in
Action Adventure
Draw the table below and list as many A-list
Actors as you can
What do your results tell us about the
industry?
Men
Women
In pairs analyse the image and identify
‘masculine’ and ‘feminine’ traits. Research their
role in the film and make notes on this.
: Uma Thurman (Kill Bill)
: Angelina Jolie (Tomb Raider)
: Halle Berry (Bond)
: Sigourney Weaver (Alien)
: Jessica Alba (Fantastic Four)
: Demi Moore (GI Jane)
: Kiera Knightly (Pirates of the Caribbean)
: Cameron Diaz (Knight and Day)
: Maggie Gyllenhall (The Dark Knight)
: Sigourney Weaver (Avatar)
: Angelina Jolie (Mr and Mrs Smith)
Women in Action Adventure
Now we will look at the sexualisation of
women and the representation of gender in
action adventure films
How are women typically portrayed in action
adventure films? Discuss
Erotic distraction
Sex object
Damsel in distress
Victim
Male gaze theory
Mulvey’s 1970’s analysis of the male gaze
Mulvey argues that in film women are objects to be gazed on as
the camera acts as the masculine eye from a male viewpoint –
looking at women in a way that reflects masculine desires.
Nowhere has this been more apparent than in the early James
Bond films
‘Bond girls’ were little more than eye candy for the male viewer.
The early Bond women were represented as sex objects and
even given names which indicated their limited ‘use’ within the
narrative: Pussy Galore (Goldfinger, 1964) and Honey Rider (Dr
No, 1962) are perhaps the most memorable.
Task
Make notes on the handout whilst watching
the following clips
Describe how the women in the clip are being
represented to the audience and what affect
this has
Bond girls through time…
Goldfinger
Casino Royale
Representation of women has changed over time
Early films noted for ‘disposable’ nature of female
characters
In later films bond girls were given role of main female
villain – roles of women in Bond reflected change in society
Identify the ways in which the female characters in Bond
films have gained greater narrative significance.
Alien (1979)
Sigourney Weaver in the Alien series attracted the
attention of feminist critics throughout the 1990s.
Although women had long played supporting roles in
action and adventure films, and had taken more central
roles during the 1980s, toward the end of the 1990s
Hollywood cinema began to foreground a glamorous,
sexualized action heroine
The toned bodies of these film's female stars—
Angelina Jolie, Halle Berry, Cameron Diaz—were
markedly different from the more muscular action
heroine of the previous decade.
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider
(2001)
The cradle of life trailer
Charlie's Angels Full Throttle
(2003)
Opening sequence
"Once upon a time there were three little girls
who went to the police academy. Two were in Los
Angeles, the other in San Francisco. And they
were each assigned very hazardous duties. But I
took them away from all that and now they work
for me. My name is Charlie."
— Charlie Townsend, CHARLIE'S ANGELS
Still controlled by a man
Kill Bill
Kill Bill Volume 2
The rise of the female action
star
Bond girls
Alien (1979)
Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001)
Charlie's Angels full throttle (2003)
Kill Bill Volume 2
Do you think these films show a development in film as
a more inclusive place where strong women have a
position?
OR are these simply projections of male fantasies?
Discuss
Reflecting on your animatic…
In your sequence how did you represent men
and women?
What does this say about representation of
gender?