Updated and improved introduction

How far does "The Hunger Games' and 'Salt' challenge the stereotypical representations of women in mainstream Hollywood cinema?

The representations of women in films tend to vary; there are many different genres of films that portray females in diverse circumstances influenced by societies expectations of women, leading to the diverse female characters throughout Hollywood cinema. I will be centering on the action genre and how female protagonists are represented and how it challenges the stereotypical representations in mainstream Hollywood cinema today.  I chose to focus upon this certain genre because female action roles aren't represented as what is thought to be the stereotypical female character that is represented through cinema today. The two texts I will be focusing on within my coursework are 'The Hunger Games' and 'Salt'. Both of these protagonists are represented as a contrastive role opposing the stereotypical representation of females. Firstly I will discuss whether or not the female bodies, within these two texts, are being objectified for the male audience; here I can discuss to what extent Laura Mulvey's theory of The Male Gaze is being used. I will also discuss to what extend the female protagonists rely on men in relation to how independent they are and how they look after themselves compared to how the stereotypical female is represented. Lastly I will discuss how they think and act and their ideologies and whether or not its relevant for today or dated. For my investigation I'll use theories such as Laura Mulvey's, The Male Gaze to discuss how both protagonists are represented in comparison to the stereotypical female. I can also discuss how feminism has an affect on the representations of my two protagonists and how feminism has had an impact on the progression and change based upon the representations of women in cinema today.