Stereotypes in Movies

Have you noticed that your favorite stars repeatedly play similar roles? Or that women typically star in “traditional” women roles, like damsels in distress? The film industry is overflowing with stereotypes, limiting performers and women even more so.

Fig. 1 After growing up on the Harry Potter set, Radcliffe cannot leave Potter behind.

Close, Murray and Mountain, Peter. A Boy and His Films Grows Up

Before Your Eyes. 2007. Photograph. Warner Brothers Pictures.

Actresses and actors are often defined by one type of role, exemplified by Anne Hathaway and Daniel Radcliffe. Hathaway got her start in princess movies and soon realized that “doing tiara flicks, people don’t take you seriously!” (Hathaway). She found it impossible to land any other genre of film until she auditioned under the disguise of “an unknown theater actress from New York” (Hathaway) so directors would not judge her princess background. Radcliffe similarly found it hard “to break free of the mold that Harry Potter had cast him in,” finally playing an oversexed youth in a film to prove he was not a little kid anymore (Radcliffe) (see Fig. 1). Although there are a small number of stars like Jennifer Garner who kicks butt in Alias one minute and stars in a chick flick the next, most of the film industry is filled with performers repeatedly stereotyped in the same roles, like Jennifer Aniston and Meg Ryan in romantic films and Orlando Bloom in “good-guy” roles.

Fig. 2 This war movie is anything but a chick flick.

 The Hurt Locker Poster #9. 2009. Photograph. Concept Arts. 

Despite many successful female artists, actresses and the people they portray are dominated by male influence. In films “females are marginalized or non-existent, as the boys take over the screen in everything from the Muppet movies to Robin Hood and Peter Pan… Where female[s]… have the lead, as with…Ariel and Belle, their roles are traditional” (Robertson). In most films, men are dynamic power holders, while women are stereotyped as damsels or supporting characters. Further, last year Kathryn Bigelow was the first female to win best director, for her war film The Hurt Locker (see Fig.2). After a century of filmmaking, she is the only woman awarded this honor. Furthermore, many see her as breaking “the stereotypes of women only being able to direct romantic or innocent movies,” but much must still be done to further the influence of women in the film industry (“Women and Hollywood”).

Stereotypes dominate filmmaking, limiting performers and women in particular. The stereotypes prevent performers from realizing their full potential and promote sexism. Both accounts are discrimination, something Americans have fought against for countless years. Action must be taken to stop these restrictive stereotypes to promote true equality. 

Works Cited

Hathaway, Anne. "INTERVIEW: Anne Hathaway on 'Brokeback Mountain' ." Interview by      

                 Ethan Aames. Cinema Confidential. N.p., 20 Dec. 2005. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.

Radcliffe, Daniel. "Now Just a Muggle, With Song and Dance." Interview by Dave Itzkoff. The               

                 New York Times 2 Mar. 2011: AR1. The New York Times. Web. 1 Nov. 2011. 

Robertson, Gail. "Snow Whitey?" Canadian Dimension Sept.-Oct. 1998: 42+. Gale Opposing   

                 Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.

"Women And Hollywood: Tear Down These Walls." New York Times 21 Mar. 2010: 2(L). Gale         

                 Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 1 Nov. 2011.