:
|
You talk as if film makers have some reactionary agenda.
|
Usually it's just ignorance or lack of thought, but sometimes people have an agenda they want to push in the media. Maybe less so in film, but certainly in other areas.
:
|
No one is saying that current gender roles have to be reflected in fiction, but they undoubtedly have an influence on it. When people write gangsters, or secret agents, or soldiers, or whatever, do you think the fact that they are more likely to make them male is due to some desire for the status quo, or because their perceptions of such people are shaped by reality?
|
Yes, current gender roles have an influence on what film makers and others in the media show in their work. I'm arguing that the gender representation in fiction also goes back and reinforces people's views on gender roles, often detrimentally. Creators of fiction have ample opportunity to challenge those views, yet they rarely do - this is probably down to their perceptions, yes, but it can also show outdated views. Look at how male-oriented video games are, despite statistics consistently showing roughly half of the audience for video games is female; and the previously mentioned stats about women being half of the audience for action movies.
:
|
It's little more than a century since women's suffrage? Social change happens slowly? Whatever it is, it's probably a bit more complex than 'duh media'.
|
Of course, but it's a factor, and shouldn't be ignored.