How far does 'The Hunger Games' and 'Salt' challenge the
stereotypical representations of women in mainstream Hollywood cinema?
The representation of women in films tends to vary; there are many
different genres of films that portray females in diverse circumstances
influenced by society’s expectations of women, leading to the diverse female
characters throughout Hollywood cinema. I will be investigating the action
genre and how female protagonists are represented and how they may challenge stereotypical
representations in mainstream Hollywood cinema today. The stereotypical female role that is often
represented through cinema today "The film industry never seems to lack action
films and there always plenty for the market to choose from however how many of
those have women in a leading role? A handful" (5). I will be focusing on
'The Hunger Games' (1) and 'Salt' (2) where both of these protagonists are
represented as a contrastive role, opposing and challenging 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 The Male Gaze can be
applied. Secondly I will discuss to what extent the female protagonists rely on
men in relation to how independent they are in comparison to how the
stereotypical female is represented, I can also discuss whether or not they have
been given male characteristics in order to represent them as a strong,
independent characters and how this isn't stereotypical feminine. I can discuss
how feminism has an effect on the representations of my two protagonists and base
it upon the representations of women in cinema today. Lastly I will discuss
their ideologies in relation to their actions on screen.
In films women don’t tend to be portrayed as strong, independent
women “male characters are much more likely than females to be portrayed as
leaders” (10) but instead "women are regarded as objects of fetishistic
display for male viewers' pleasure." (3). But "for the past five
decades, the action genre has undergone a similar but less remarked-upon shift,
as female characters have slowly but steadily evolved beyond the universal
'hostages, victim, or conquest' archetype and became the heroines of their own
action sagas". (4) My first case study The Hunger Games represents the
female protagonist, Katniss, portrayed by Jennifer Lawrence, as the opposite of
what is expected of the stereotypical female role "Katniss has qualities
usually given to boys: a hunter ... she's intrepid and tough, better at killing
rabbits than expressing her feelings, a skilled bargainer in the black market
for meat." (6). It's already been established that Katniss isn't a
glamourised, stereotypical female character and taking into account Laura
Mulvey's theory The Male Gaze, isn’t apparent in this film to the extent it is
in the majority of mainstream Hollywood cinema due to the slight
objectification of the female body. "Fundamentally, a women presented in
the screen scene should be very erotic, so that she attracts the spectator's
attention" (3), The Hunger Games opposes this as the narrative consists of
24 tributes, 12 boys and 12 girls aged between 12 and 18 selected to go and
fight to the death on live television resulting in subverting to the
stereotypical female role due to the fact women aren’t regarded as being
violent or killers. Through the narrative of the film Katniss is made to look
desirable not only for the audience of the film but for the people of the
Capitol within the film. “Her prep team waxes, plucks, and scrubs her. Her
designer, Cinna, dresses her in fire and precious gems to make her as beautiful
as possible” (12) and this exploits her femininity. In one of the opening
scenes of the film we see Katniss is having a bath before the reaping; even
here she isn't being objectified as the camera only focuses on her hands and feet
while she cleans, the shots are cut back and forth quickly and the frames of
her hands and feet are close ups which is the highlight the living conditions
in District 12. We see that the bath she is sat in is only just big enough for
her to sit down, along with this there is a bucket to gather water to pour over
her. Before this sequence there was non-diegetic music playing and once this
sequence starts the music stops and there is only the diegetic sounds of the
water in the bath which helps to highlight the reality of the situation. Salt,
my second case study, represents its female protagonist, Evelyn Salt, as a
strong female role stated she’s “determined to singlehandedly save the world
from nuclear annihilation” (8). Instantly we get to understand that Evelyn Salt
challenges the stereotypical feminine representation. When it comes to
objectification in Salt there is more in consideration to The Hunger Games but
there still isn’t an excessive amount, and the objectification that is
existent, it’s subtle. Throughout the majority of the movie “she is dressed in
turtlenecks and long pants. She is dirty and bloody” (11) which isn’t
considered to be sexy or feminine. In the few opening scenes when Evelyn is
going to work we see her wearing a tailored outfit and a pair of heels, contributing
to the mise-en-scene, that exposes her leg due to there being a slit up the
side of her skirt. Here this is revealing a lot of her leg which attracts the
attention of the male audience and creates scopophilia. Throughout this scene
there is no fragmentation of the female body which goes against the male gaze
so this challenges mainstream Hollywood representations of women. The camera
shots are paced quite slowly which keeps it realistic to the audience.
In mainstream Hollywood cinema
today we don't see many strong female leads representing the female population;
“over 50 percent of female teens on screen in 2012 were shown in sexy clothing.
So were nearly 40 percent of women between 21 and 39” (7). The Hunger Games and
Salt both challenge the stereotypical representation of women in film today by
presenting their protagonists as strong, independent women. Adding to the fact
both females are strong and independent they don't rely on men a lot during the
film, which again challenges a stereotype of women being reliant on men and
weak. We see in The Hunger Games especially, once Katniss enters the arena she
is left to fend for herself and needs to try and survive. We know from the
beginning of the film that Katniss is the protector and supplier for her family
as she no longer has a dad and this helps represent her independence and
strength. There’s a scene nearing the end of the film when there is an announcement
made that two victors may be crowned if they originate from the same district.
We see close ups of Katniss’ face when she realizes both her a Peeta can go
home, the purpose of the close ups show her facial expressions clearly. Also
some non-diegetic music starts which builds hope for the audience. The
non-diegetic music builds up which signifies Katniss could be close to Peeta
and once she’s found him the music cuts of and it goes back to the diegetic
sounds. More music then plays softly in the back ground which contributes to
the intimate moment where Katniss is recovering Peeta from his camouflage.
There’s more close ups which highlight the situation and helps to focus on the
connection of the two characters. This challenges the stereotypical
representation of women as it is normally the male’s job to look after and
protect the female but in this scene the roles have been reversed. In Salt,
Evelyn is generally seen alone as she is trying to avoid contact with
individuals after the accusation made at the beginning of the film. So
throughout the majority of the film we see Evelyn fighting for herself. Evelyn
has made her way home and we start to see her become more independent. When she
realizes her husband isn’t at home there are close ups of the chair fallen over
on the floor and a half eaten sandwich which indicated a possible abduction.
After this there is then fast cut close ups of a gun and a big rucksack which
is to help Salt once she’s ran away. When she entered her house she picked up a
big trench coat and puts it on. We usually associate trench coats with males
from the film noir era which also signifies a hero and this leads us to the
idea of her been given male characteristics in order to be seen as a heroic
character as it isn’t seen as a feminine trait. There is also non-diegetic
music playing which adds to the tension of the scene because we know people are
already coming after Salt. This contributes to Salt’s strength and independence
as we are seeing her prepare for what is ahead of her in the future and how
she’s got to fend for herself. “Feminism is a social movement that has had an
enormous impact on film theory and criticism” (14). Feminism hasn’t just effected
the representation of women in film but also the role of women in the film
industry “women still earn less than men in movies and it is still difficult to
name more than a handful of female film directors” (15). What needs to be
considered when analyzing objectification in any film is how the female role is
portrayed, especially for the male audience. We have to consider their wardrobe,
their actions and how the camera focuses on them. We know from both of my texts
that both protagonists don’t wear revealing clothing immensely and the camera
doesn’t linger on specific body parts vastly,
“Feminism … used to describe the whole series of ways in which women are
degraded and undetermined, primarily by men” (15). The Bechdel test is a theory that can also
determine to representation of women in film. It’s “a simple way to gauge the
active presence of female characters in Hollywood films” (13). What the Bechdel
test stands for is whether or not two female characters within a film have a
conversation which doesn’t revolve around the subject of men. Firstly, The
Hunger Games is a very good example of this theory as hardly any conversations
between two female’s centers around the subject of men. This gives a positive
representation of women as it shows that women don’t always have to be
discussing men. On the other hand, Salt would fail the Bechdel Test. This is
only because throughout the whole film Evelyn Salt doesn’t have contact with
any other female characters of the film; this is because there aren’t really
any other female characters that she can converse with.
“Ideology is sometimes identified as a body of ideas reflecting
the social needs of an individual, group, class, and culture” (16). From both
of my texts we gain an understanding that both protagonists have their own set
of ideologies that are reflected through their actions. Katniss is a very
heroic character and is set on looking after not only herself but also the
people around her, “She plays mother to her sister. She plays mother to her
mother.” (17). When Katniss is in the arena she comes together with a small
girl from District 11 called Rue. Katniss is set on keeping Rue safe as she
reminds her of her own younger sister Prim who Katniss volunteered for at the
beginning of the film, these actions contribute to the representation of
Katniss’ ideologies. We also see this when Katniss is looking after Peeta in
the arena when he is recovering from his injury. There is a specific scene
which I think shows her consideration for other people which again represents
her ideologies. Twenty minutes towards the end of the film when Peeta has
recovered a significant amount that they can start hunting for food. Peeta then
goes to collect some berries so they have some food for the day. Not long after,
a cannon fires which signifies the death of a tribute; there are quickly cut
shots of Katniss running through the trees trying to find Peeta and the fast
pace represents urgency and worry. There is the diegetic sound of rustling
trees and panting as Katniss races through which makes it seem more realistic
for the audience. When reunited there’s a close up of Katniss and Peeta and a
quick cut to some berries in Peeta’s hand that Katniss sharply throws away
which shows her dominance over Peeta. When it comes to Katniss’ feelings for
Peeta she “is left never really knowing the “truth” of her own feelings for
Peeta” (18) but in this scene its evident there is some feelings there due to
her actions and ideologies. It is very prominent that Katniss cares a lot about
the people she values and is set on keeping them safe. Katniss’ ideologies are
very relevant to society today as people value their loved ones. Salt is different when it comes to Evelyn’s
ideologies. We see two different sides of Salt in this movie. At first we think
she is this Russian spy she was accused of being but as the film progresses we
understand that what she is doing is for the greater good, she’s “determined to
singlehandedly save the world from nuclear annihilation” (8). The aim to save the
world is a way of representing her ideologies. An example of this is when she
is reunited with the Russian defect. Later in the scene we see Evelyn and the
Russian defect having a drink together when Evelyn suddenly smashes the bottle
of drink over his head. When doing this there is a close up of the bottle
strikes his head, there is non-diegetic music which builds up to this and adds
tension to the scene. After smashing the bottle she repeatedly stabs him in the
throat with the shard glass. The camera is hand held and moves in time with
Salt. The cut is quickly paced which build up the tension of the sequence. A
few seconds later we see her with three grenades and a gun. This sequence has
been edited into slow motion which emphasizes her actions while tossing the
grenades into rooms and firing the gun. Just before she throws the grenades there
is a low angled shot of Salt as she is walking through the corridor and this
connotates dominance and power that she holds. There is a mix and non-diegetic
music which is very dramatic and there is the diegetic sounds of the grenades
exploding and the gun firing which gives a realistic feel to the scene. This
scene helps us to understand that Evelyn wants to save the world and by doing
so she might have to get her hands dirty and kill a few people to save the
world.
Through my investigation by analyzing certain scenes within the
films as my primary research, conducting secondary research and applying
theories that Katniss Everdeen and Evelyn Salt challenge the stereotypical
representation of women in film to a certain degree but also represent women to
be strong and independent. Especially in the action genre of film there aren’t
many roles comparable to Katniss and Evelyn to help represent the women of society
and they are both respectable roles models for today’s generation of teenagers.
By discussing the Male Gaze we know that women don’t always have to be
objectified on screen to be noticed by the audience and are to some degree good
role models for girls today because they aren’t being objectified for the male
attention.
1) The Hunger Games
2) Salt
15) Andrew
Butler – Film Studies
Word Count:
2,228
