Not Only of Sight and Sound, but of Mind

The United States is a society raised by the media. Before children attend school, they are plopped down in front of the television and are entranced by the bright colors and imaginative settings; as they grow into adults, the pixilated picture of yesteryear is still clinging to its own surreal version of reality. Despite the context of most television programs and films becoming more mature, the media representations presented are deeply rooted into age old stereotypes. According to Rich Beach , in his lecture about media representation to the University of Minnesota, he states "Media representations shape adolescents’ perceptions of experience—their beliefs about gender, class, and race, their assumptions about what is valued in society, and their notions of urban, suburban, and rural life (Beach)." While both movies and television's purpose is primarily to entertain, how they represent people and, to a narrower extent, genders affects the public more than most would believe. Gender representation in the entertainment industry reinforces gender roles and stereotypes and in order for society to move forward, audiences must examine and eliminate these tired tropes still rooted into our society.

Children watch up to one hour and nine minutes a day of television (Holloway, Donell, Green, and Livingstone) and their minds are more exposed and accepting of the positive and negative traits the medium presents, and the responses vary greatly between the two genders. In a study conducted to see how children react to and evaluate media, 197 children were instructed to create their "big daydream" (Gotz, Lemish, Aidman, Moon, 2005); when they were finished, they drew a picture to represent what they were dreaming of. Seventy four percent of the boys and fifty six percent of the girls' "big day dreams" pertained to media. For the boys, they would combine multiple elements from different sources to create the ultimate hero of their day dreams like a young boy imagined he could fly like Superman, crawl up buildings like Spiderman, and have a light saber from Star Wars while another dreamed he was the winner of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire. Boys take away elements that make them feel "successful and powerful" within the realms of their imagination. Not all of their fantasies are the same definition of success as in the case of a young boy who imagined an island where he lived with his wife, daughter, and their talking parrot (Gotz, Lemish, Aidman, Moon, 2005). Research has shown that the cooking show The Iron Chef has been popular among boys because over one third of them claimed that they had seen men doing "domestic" tasks on television, such as cooking and cleaning (Media Smarts). Movies and shows aimed at young boys typically depict competitions and acts of bravery to be the main storyline, but to many boys out there, that does not speak to them on a creative level.

It is no secret that men in real life have the ability to exhibit “feminine” traits such as sensitivity and compassion. However, with most male leads in both film and television deviate from the realms of reality; in fact, three quarters of men use antisocial behaviors in order to solve their problems on televsion (Boys to Men). This common trend all goes back to the idea that a role model for men should be wealthy and successful while maintaining the knight in shining armor façade that has been integrated into the male mind since the days when that saying was relevant.

In an interview entitled “Role Models for Men”, David Guantlette answered Peter Baker's questions concerning the male leads presented in today's media and how they reflect reality:

“People say that it was easier for men when we just had a few, rather monolithic, John Wayne-type role models…Most men were not John Wayne, and no doubt many of them didn't particularly want to be, so perhaps the pressures were worse in the past. Nowadays there's a somewhat broader range of potential role models, including camp and gay ones, funny ones, and that 'traditionally masculine but sensitive at the same time' one which many film actors do these days (Baker).”

More researchers are taking interest in how media representations affect men since the past few decades they have been flying beneath the radar. Media representation research has been more devoted to women than it has to men, but with the unrealistic depictions of women found in mass media and pop culture, women have more to aspire to be and avoid.

Girls take away what they like about media and incorporate it into their own world. Going back to the “big day dreams” study, when the girls recorded their ideal day dream the results were vastly different than the boys. All of the girls took some figure or storyline from a movie or show, like The Little Mermaid or the German show Bumpety Boo (Gotz, Lemish, Aidman, Moon, 2005), but what elements they kept and what they replaced is what makes the results more interesting. The girl who used The Little Mermaid as the basis of her fantasy removes the major plot points of the film and instead focuses on a small chase scene with a shark; she also replaces the fish sidekick with a starfish and instead of going to a sea witch to solve her problems, she has a magical box. This enables her to experience the fantasy of an independent mermaid who is able to accomplish her goals by herself and without the interference of others. Many girls in the study had widely different fantasies but a key element remained in nearly all of them: they had removed the male character(s) and replaced them with either a female or another figure all together. With the girl that used the show Bumpety Boo, she eliminated the two male characters, regardless if they were human or not, were eliminated from her day dream (Gotz, Lemish, Aidman, Moon, 2005). By removing the male protagonists and other characters, the girls were able to experience power and success that many media platforms cannot offer to girls.

That is not to say that there are no female characters for young girls to idolize, but girls are showing that they are dissatisfied with the traditional female characters they are presented with. Despite being in a position of power, like a fairy or princess, girls are still restricted by the way the characters are visually represented (Gotz, Lemish, Aidman, Moon, 2005). The thin, pretty actresses smiling at young girls through the small screen are having negative effects on today's women; eighty percent of girls twelve years old and younger reported being on a diet at least once in their relatively short lives (Beach). While that percentage is shockingly high, it is not surprising when in fifty eight percent of movies women are complimented on their appearance. By showing young girls that beauty is an essential part of gaining success and power, the female media representations are reduced to focusing on material and romantic pursuits rather than intricate, controversial storylines men are often rewarded.

While television shows such as Scandal and Two Broke Girls have their female protagonists' careers as the main plot points of the program, these popular shows are in the minority; twenty four percent of women are motivated by their career on television, and thirty one percent in movies (Beach). This statistic is startling in itself, but especially in North America where women of all races and backgrounds are found working for or running major companies like Marissa Mayer who took over the Yahoo corporation six months pregnant; the controversy at the time she became the head of Yahoo was the fact that she was pregnant and news outlets believed that someone else should take charge, but Yahoo stood their ground in their decision. The lack of representation for the working woman could be because of how many women are actually working in the industry; in The Celluloid Ceiling: Behind the Scenes Employment of Women on the Top 250 Films of 2011, it was revealed that eighteen percent of all directors, producers, writers, cinematographers, and editors were women on the 250 films analyzed (Lauzen). Women are both working and having success within the entertainment industry such as the case of Katherine Bigelow, who was the first female director, in the Academy Awards' eighty two year history, to win Best Director for her film the Hurt Locker in 2010. The eighteen percent of those women have earned their spots on those coveted films, but it again comes down to the lack of representations within their own medium of expression.

"Gender roles are constantly changing, but with the introduction the LGBT [Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transsexual] community into mass media, we are finding that males are no longer 'traditionally' male, and women aren't as 'girly' as before…this changes people's attitudes about gender into a more complex one," Rick Beach, Professor Emeritus of English Education at the University of Minnesota, replied in an interview about gender representations in media. As a new group becomes "socially accepted" into the American society, the media feels a need to incorporate them immediately into a television show or a movie in order to show their support; while this idea is motivated by a stride towards change it is often allowing itself to be held back by the stereotypes clinging to its material . In the successful, long running television show Will and Grace, a straight woman and a gay man are the central characters, but their sexuality does not define who they are; Will, the gay man, is actually portrayed as a normal man who does not give into the stereotypes gay men were often associated with at the time, like having a lisp or flippant hand gestures. The side character, Jack, however, rarely lets a moment go by without announcing his homosexuality and he also "has a lisp and uses a lot of gestures and hand movements as well as exaggerated expressions (Brandsma)." This show is both progressive and detrimental to representing the LGBT community because while Will is a successful lawyer and comes across as a normal, everyday man, the writing staff also incorporates Jack who waves around his tired stereotypes like a rainbow flag. The inexperience of the writing staff or society's perception of homosexuality could be equally at fault for the mixed messages the show presented to its audience, but who that audience is has been changing as well.

Professor Beach went on to say: "Our society is more aware of stereotypes and how they are perpetuated…however, the people who watch TV now are no longer the target demographic [males ages eighteen to thirty five] that has been implemented twenty years prior." With the introduction of the ipad or the tablet, how people watch movies and television programs are radically different than they were five or ten years ago. The eighteen to thirty five year old age demographic now have unlimited access to their favorite programs at any hour of the day, and the generation beneath them are the ones that inspired the change. In a study conducted by The Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University, they found that approximately seventy four percent of teens from the ages twelve to seventeen stated they had access to and occasionally used the internet on their mobile devices, tablets, and other devices (Madden, Mary, et al). "It's an older generation that watches television regularly… they would be more willing to hold onto to those old stereotypes as opposed to a younger audience," Professor Beach concluded when asked about the generation gaps in technology. The idea that this target demographic is still in place despite the same group enjoying their programs from other devices is an obstacle preventing television and movies from moving forward.

The entertainment business has been a central part of American culture for nearly a century, from misinforming the public about the affects of marijuana in Reefer Madness to showing an interracial kiss on Star Trek in 1968. The fate of our youth's future rests within the hands of those creating their entertainment, and especially now that it has been proven that young boys and girls are deviating away from their assigned interests. Boys yearn for normalcy in their male role models, and seeing men perform domestic tasks is a step towards that desire; princesses and fairy tales are losing their edge to their intended audience because girls have seen the same trope used time and time again. Men and women also desire change in the representations pertaining to them because as time goes on, those tired tropes no longer apply to them. Women are climbing the corporate ladders, but have yet to make a solid foothold in the entertainment industry, and while men are the majority of the creators behind television shows and movies, they are beginning to recognize that the protagonists presented are a far cry from the reality they are trying to mimic. With societal changes such as the acceptance of the LGBT community and the everyday use of streaming devices, the general audience is shifting in their age, sexual orientation and, more importantly, their interests. In an ever changing society, it is difficult to constantly redefine the status quo, but if the one wants to entertain the idea of the greater good of their society, they must be mindful of how they or other people are represented in their own entertainment.