Representation of women in movies and advertisements

Abstract

Movies have been a part of our life from the early 19th century through a series of transactions. Similarly, modern advertisements have been around from the 17th century. They play a vital role in shaping the mindset of the mass population. Ideas and values can be spread through movies and advertisements. Movies are the carrier of information about different cultures and values. People get influenced and inspired by movies. Movies arouse deep feelings and they help people to reflect their own life by watching the story take place in front of their eyes. Moreover, movies help people to understand themselves and the society they are living in. The actors who portray the character inspire the audience to behave or think like that character. Movies are like mirrors of the society. Nowadays, many movies portrays women in a stereotypical and objectifying manner. The misrepresentation of women in movies influence many women in a negative way. Nowadays, wherever we go there is advertisements. We are bombarded with advertisements of everything there is to sell. Advertisements do not only sell products, they sell images, values and ideas. Women are often portrayed as products in advertisements and the models themselves do not have any issue with that. “Self-objectification occurs when individuals treat themselves as objects to be viewed and evaluated based upon appearance.”1 Women are portrayed in a sexualized manner to appease the male audience and gain more viewer and sell. As Laura Mulvey explained in her 1973 essay, “Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema Women” that mainstream media objectifies women, and shows the female body through a heterosexual male lens.2 This paper will discuss how movies and advertisements represent and objectify women to gain more audience and consumers to make profit and how the appearance of women in these movies and advertisements make women feel insecure about themselves and disempower them.