Gender studies

Theories related to gender are particularly impotant in relation to Hollywood films. Feminist theory and queer theory provide different ways of recieving and reading a range of media texts.

Feminist theory is a response to societies assumption that women should be subservnent to men. In relation to feminists consider the way women are represented in media texts.

Laura Mulvey- The Male Gaze. Two ways to watch a film;

1. Voyeuristically- The audience watches unobserved by the characters but also by their audience members. This leads to objectication and narcissistic idendification.
2. Fetishistically- The voyeurism leads to the figure becoming a fetish (objest) so that it becomes even more beautiful and she argues leads to the cult of the female movie star who is celebrated for her looks but considered an object and often treated as such.

Male stars who are not always conventionally attractive and are often more active and dynamic. Therefore Mulvey argues that actresses are on screen to act as eye candy to appease the male gaze, male stars will be taken seriously whereas it is less likely for women e.g. Bond girls.

Gender as performance
Judith Butler argues that we all put on a gender performance. By choosing to be different we might change gender norms and the binary understood of masuclinity and feminity as represented in mainstream media. Butler suggest that,

• Gender is not some inner truth but the presence of recieved meanings.
• Gender is not fixed but constructed.

Contemporory gender representations. David Gauntlett argues that in contempory society, gender roles are more complex and the medis reflects this. Today female role models are glamerous and successful in a way that they were previously not e.g. Beyonce and Destiny's Child, they exploit male gaze but demand respect.