This was the main English project for the first semester. We had to choose a topic relating to Social and Civic Responsibility, a 21st century skill. We were encouraged to choose a topic that related to what we wanted to do for the Zenith Project, a self-directed project that occurs during second semester.
I chose to do gender norms in books and movies. This ended up turning into relationships and gender norms and books and movies. I chose my topic because I want to write a book for my Zenith. We had to create a five to seven page long research paper, with two primary sources. I used a combination of books I had read, and interviewed the psychology teacher at Mountain View High School as well as a self-published author.
I enjoyed learning more about gender norms in general, and finding ways books and movies both challenged and conformed to these stereotypes set by society. I don’t think it’s my best work I’ve done, but I enjoyed the process of researching.
Here is my paper. (Beware, it’s 7 pages without the Works Cited!)
Relationships and Gender Norms in Fantasy Books and Movies
How do books and movies portray harmful gender norms to consumers, and how do they affect a person’s mind? Movies and books are prime examples of how messages, both good and bad, can be spread across the world. As agents of socialization, movies, books and TV shows can show the consumer gender norms and ingrain the behaviors associated with each gender. This often happens before people enter kindergarten. In a Dove campaign, little boys and older people were asked to “run like a girl”. As a joke, they purposefully ran lazily. But when they asked the little girls who hadn’t been exposed to these gender norms, they ran as fast as they could. (Myers, Alex) These little kids were influenced by how the genders were represented in media and in society around them. Fantasy novels and movies portray the different genders and relationships in society in accordance with stereotypes shaped by history and society’s values. These portrayals of different stereotypes can negatively affect how a person views and accepts different behaviors in life, both in and out of relationships.
To understand the role of gender norms in today’s society, a person must understand the difference between gender and sex. Often times, gender and sex are linked together. They are not, however, dependent on one another. While gender is a social construct, sex is biological. Our bodies and anatomy determine what sex we are. As a society, we created gender based on the different ideas of how a male and female behaves and acts, before assigning it to a sex. By assigning different behaviors to different sexes, we create gender norms. (Trier Bienik et al. Gender and Pop Culture) Carson Rietveld, a psychology teacher, states that norms can be centered around anything, even as something as small as colors. (Rietveld) These ideas and behaviors are then used throughout popular culture. Popular culture references the content, such as books, movies, images and more. These mediums provide a template for how a person should act if they relate to the characters portrayed. TV shows and movies provide a visual example of the stereotypical high school student. As an elementary school student or middle school student watches, they pick and choose which character they can relate to the most. A young girl will see a female high-school student and believe that is how they are supposed to act. (Shadraconis, Leaders and Heroes: Modern Day Archetypes.)
These stereotypes are exemplified and spread through the consumption of fantasy books. The stereotypical fantasy follows a male hero with a talent to distort reality to favor them, and reach the high standards both set for them and set by themselves. “The word hero has connotations with adversity, challenges, honor, strength and victor.” (Shadraconis) The word “hero” can often send subtle messages telling consumers that men are the saviors, men are the heroes, men are stronger in heart, mind and body. “The disproportionate numbers of males in central roles. . .” Alison Flood, The Guardian’s books reporter and former news editor of the Bookseller, encourages “. . .children to accept the invisibility of women and girls and to believe they are less important than men. . .thereby reinforcing the gender system. . .” (Flood, Alison) Tonhi Gailey, an independent researcher for ResearchGate, states “While men are given the lead roles and are usually the focal point of most forms of literature, women are oftentimes left in smaller, less substantial roles—placed mainly for the men to utilize as needed.” (Gailey, Tonhi)
Portrayals of romance in literature are often heterosexual, especially in novels aimed for young children and adults. These portrayals send the message that this person — someone of the opposite gender — is who the reader is supposed to fall for. Interactions within the relationships convey the ‘correct’ way to act in a situation, assigning gender roles such as taking out the trash, doing the laundry, and more. These gender norms have been so ingrained in our society that when a person meets a homosexual couple, they ask “who’s the man in the relationship and who’s the women?”. By relating chores to gender, these stereotypes completely ignore homosexual relationships. The constant portrayal of heterosexual relationships diminishes youth’s exposure to these ‘other’ relationships, and take away a chance to see themselves in a character within a book.
Books and movies often opt for the cliché romantic tropes. These portrayals can often create a polarizing environment for the consumers of the media. Popular tropes can normalize harmful behavior seen in relationships. This normalization and romanticizing of abusive relationships within these tropes makes it hard for young people to recognize the signs of a harmful relationship. “Gender stereotypes appear to be having a significant negative impact on young people’s expectations and behaviours when it comes to intimate relationships,” asserts Hall & Partners, in a research summary commissioned by the Australian government as part of The Line Campaign, which combats the behaviours and attitudes that support violence against women. Their research found that “1 in 4 young people think it’s pretty normal for guys to pressure girls into sex,” and “1 in 4 young people don’t think it’s serious if a guy, who’s normally gentle, slaps his girlfriend when he’s drunk and they’re arguing.” Another 15% believe that it’s okay for a guy to pressure a girl into sex if they’re both drunk, and 16% believe that “women should know their place.” (Hall & Partners The Line Campaign) These statistics show how the consistent normalization and romanticization of abusive relationships translate into people accepting these actions as normal parts of a relationship, and becoming unconcerned with the consequences. They start to view what could be the beginnings of an abusive relationship as acceptable behavior when drunk.
These gender norms also appear heavily in movies, from completely original movies to movies adapted from a popular book. While the movie The Hunger Games is based off of Suzanne Collins’s book of the same name, the movie provides a visual aid for these gender stereotypes. At first, it appears that Katniss and Peeta, the two main characters and the main romantic pairing in both the book and the film, break the gender norms. Katniss appears to be more masculine, as she is physically strong and is skilled at archery. As the movie progresses, we see Katniss begin to rely on her emotional attachments to characters to stay alive. In the movies following the first, Katniss “. . .is forced to don tight-fitting outfits, accentuate her boobs and butt, and wear an excessive amount of makeup,” states Aanya Kapur, a psychology major at Williams College. She continues, “They describe her as being “very valuable”; not for her masculine traits but for her. . .feminine characteristics.” This effectively diminishes the value of having an outstanding athletic ability, pushing girls to ‘act pretty’, as that’s where they’ll be most useful — just like how Katniss was viewed as a symbol for a rebellion, not a leader of the rebellion. This “powerful narrative for girls to look pretty,” states Alex Myers, a self-published author of The Seamstress, causes them to “starve themselves or develop these super unhealthy eating disorders.” Even with the harmful eating disorders, Myer’s continues, “the way society sees things, is that no matter where you’re at, if you lose weight, that’s healthy, and it’s not.”
While many books and movies follow this ‘formula’ to create characters, relationships and plotlines, some do not. Following the story of a female assassin turned Queen, the New York Times bestselling series Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas, breaks through these stereotypes. Celaena Sardothien, later known as Aelin Galathynius, is the land’s best assassin at only 18. Despite being raised surrounded by boys, she remained in touch with her feminine side. Instead of simply placing a female into a male’s role, or creating “men in drag” (Balay, Anne), Maas centers her novel around an empowered, independent, and feminine heroine. Described as “Elegant, feminine and utterly wild,” (252, Queen of Shadows) Aelin adheres to many of the stereotypical feminine traits. She refuses to take let someone die after hearing a friend scream for her, showcasing her empathy. At the same time, Aelin is “fire, and light, and ash, and embers. . . she bowed for no one and nothing, save the crown that was hers by blood and survival and triumph.” (142, Queen of Shadows) She is fierce, powerful and stubborn, while remaining feminine. Rowan Whitethorn, a major character in ToG, is the stereotypical male love interest and main character– muscular, handsome and loyal to no end. Aelin described him as “Tall, broad-shouldered, every inch of him seemingly corded with muscle, he was a male blooded with power. . .she realized he might have been handsome were it not for the promise of violence in his pine-green eyes.” (14, Heir of Fire) Rowan pushes Aelin to her breaking points in both her powers and her temper, coming off as rude and uncaring. As the series continues, we see him grow as a person. We see him express emotions male characters normally don’t express. In Queen of Shadows, Aelin returns to playing the pianoforte, playing her favorite song for Rowan. When she finished, “. . .Rowan’s eyes were lined with silver, his throat bobbing.” (295, Queen of Shadows) Rowan was almost moved to tears, an action many male characters, especially lead characters, don’t get to do. By presenting characters with little emotion, or only capable of showing a select few such as anger, media portrays any emotions other than these as something that’s not for them. (Flood, Alison) Maas widens this narrow world view of masculinity with her characters.
Along with Throne of Glass’s defiance of the gender stereotypes, Netflix’s She0Ra and the Princesses of Power has a similar character that challenges the gender norms. A character named Bo is the best archer in the world. However, his favored outfit includes a crop-top with a heart on it, as well as shoes with hearts on it. Bo is unafraid of showing and talking about his emotions with others, while remaining an outstanding archer. (Netflix, She-Ra and the Princesses of Power) Netflix defies stereotypes attached to males and warriors with the creation of Bo, showing that one can be both emotionally available while still being powerful.
Movies, TV shows, and novels all portray romance, whether it’s the entire plot of the movie or a subplot within it. Often times, these adhere to the formula of what the creator knows will work well. But along with these mediums that follow the stereotypical romance tropes, many of them also combat these stereotypes. In Alex Myer’s novel The Seamstress, the most important relationship isn’t romantic, but rather a friendship between two aromantic characters. (Myers, Alex) While there are beginning to be more characters who identify with the LGBTQ+ community, often times they are side characters, and do not represent the spectrum as well as they should. In Sarah J. Maas’s A Court of Thorns and Roses series, multiple types of relationships are depicted and emphasized. Maas depicts strong familial bonds between friends, while having multiple abusive relationships between lovers and family. (Mass, Sarah. A Court of Thorns and Roses)
These gender norms and relationship standards aren’t all bad. “Gender norms can simplify conversations and relations. If we all grow up knowing the male in the relationship is going to take out the trash, and the women is going to do the dishes, then in all of these relationships these chores will get done, and there won’t be a fight about it.” (Rietveld, Carson) By simplifying relations between two people by applying these gender norms to ourselves and the people around us, fights and confusion can be avoided when in public situations. These gender norms can also teach consumers specific skills and knowledge that they can use later in life. (Marcus, Rachel et al. ODI)
As gender and relationship norms continue to be entrenched in books and movies, grown adults and young children continue to face the consequences and adverse effects the stereotypes has on their minds, their behavior and self-esteem. As popular books are made into movies, and as a wider audience is reached, these stereotypes teach the consumers about how society expects them to act, and who they are expected to fall for. The people reading and watching the media learn from the way the characters are portrayed, and their behaviors are shaped by what they see. Abusive relationships can become hard to detect after seeing multiple relationships romanticized within the media, while the images of the ‘perfect person’ can cause a person to starve themselves and the assumption that all weightloss is good. While the majority of the media presents these gender and relationship norms consistently and either purposefully or accidentally promotes them, books such as Throne of Glass, as well as the TV series She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, provide examples of people who defy stereotypes in their own way, whether it’s showing an empowered feminine character, or an emotionally available, crop-top wearing archer.
Works Cited
Austen, Chuck. She-Ra and the Princesses of Power, created by Noelle Stevenson, performance by Jordan Fisher, et al., season 1, Netflix, 13 Nov. 2018.
Balay, Anne. “‘They’re Closin’ up Girl Land’: Female Masculinities in Children’s Fantasy.” Femspec, PDF ed., vol. 10, no. 2, 2010, p. 5.
Flood, Alison. “Study Finds Huge Gender Imbalace in Children’s Literature.” The Guardian, Guardian News and Media, 6 May 2011, www.theguardian.com/books/2011/may/06/gender-imbalance-children-s-literature.
Gailey, Tonhi. Gender Roles and Hero Myths: Can Gender Inequality Ever Be Justified? 2017. Researchgate.net, www.researchgate.net/publication/ 317237452_Gender_Roles_and_Hero_Myths_Can_Gender_Inequality_Ever_Be_Justified. Accessed 13 Nov. 2018.
Hall & Partners. “The Line Campaign.” Open Mind, 27 May 2015.
Jacobson, Nina, et al. The Hunger Games. Performance by Jennifer Lawrence, et al., Lions Gate Entertainment Inc, 2012.
Kapur, Aanya. “Popular culture: questioning or confirming stereotypical gender roles?” The Prolongation of Work, Williams College, 18 May 2017, sites.williams.edu/engl117s17/uncategorized/ popular-culture-questioning-or-confirming-stereotypical-gender-roles/. Accessed 28 Nov. 2018.
Maas, Sarah J. Throne of Glass. Bloomsbury Young Adult, 2018.
Myers, Alexandria. Personal Interview 12 December 2018
Rietveld, Carson. Personal Interview 10 December 2018
Shadraconis, Sophon. “Leaders and Heroes: Modern Day Archetypes.” Scholarship @ Claremont, scholarship.claremont.edu/lux/vol3/iss1/15.
“Social Norms, Gender Norms and Adolescent Girls: a Brief Guide.” Edited by Rachel Marcus and Caroline Harper, ODI, Sept. 2015, www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/9818.pdf.Trier-Bieniek, Adrienne M., and Patricia Leavy. Gender & Pop Culture: a Text-Reader. Sense, 2014.