Research

 Audience:

Superbad:

Before Superbad was released in 2007 Seth Rogan and Evan Goldberg (writers) had no writing credit of note. However Seth Rogan already appeared in successful films like the 40 year old virgin (worldwide gross of $177,378,645) and Knocked up (worldwide gross of $219,922,417). Superbad's estimated budget is $20,000,000. It's worldwide gross was $170,812,526. 

Booksmart:

Before Booksmart was released in 2019 Director Olivia Wilde hadn't directed any major motion pictures. Whereas all four credited writers Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman have written for many films and TV shows before hand. However the film only had an estimated budget of $6,000,000 and only grossed $24,680,452 worldwide.

When I first had my idea I though these to two films would be good to compare however after further research I decided they are not the right films for my essay. They share very similar narrative structure but that is about it. 

The Hustle and Rebel Wilson:

The 2019 film The Hustle was originally given a R rating by the MPA however star and producer of the film Rebel Wilson represented the film in the NPAA arbitration using her law degree. Wilson's biggest argument for the film was the comparison of both female and male lead comedies. One such comparison was with the film Anchorman which was given a PG 13 rating. The Hustle contained 5 references to the female anatomy whereas Anchorman contained 9 references to the male anatomy and 20 references to the female anatomy. This also happened with the film Mean Girls which was also given a R rating and they also used Anchorman as a comparison however they were still made to remove two jokes from the film (IMDB). This raises the question that does the audience find it more off putting/rude to hear crude jokes from women rather than men. 

I found this line of research extremely fascinating it made me realise that maybe it was the audience deciding how the genders should be portrayed rather than the creators. I feel this will be extremely helpful to use in my essay as audience is such a big part of any media. 

Survey:

After discovering what a big effect the audience has on how the genders are represented I decided to conduct a survey asking the participants to compare two similar comedies one lead by males the other by females. 

First I asked what gender they are in order to grasp who was answering my survey the majority of which were female. 

for my second question I asked their age again to understand who was answering my questions the majority of which were between the ages of 18-24 years old.

I was actually very surprised at the results of this answer the majority of responses said they hadn't seen Booksmart or Superbad although Booksmart is not a very well known film Superbad was a successful and famous comedy film. However out of the rest of the responses 27% preferred Superbad over Booksmart equally male and female. 

This question presented a very equal response with 35.29% of responses preferring The hangover over Bridesmaid but an equal amount enjoying Bridesmaids more. 

58.82% Stated they hadn't seen either film however 29.41% preferred The Other Guys over The Heat. However 100% of the 11.76% who preferred The Heat are female. 

The majority of people preferred Pitch Perfect over American Pie. The vast majority of responses who picked Pitch Perfect were female whereas The people who picked American Pie was spilt equally between the genders. 

Overall I think my survey revealed that the majority of people who preferred the female lead films were female whereas the male lead films were mixed equally between the genders. Suggesting both genders enjoy male lead comedies but the majority of female lead films are only enjoyed/enjoyed more by women. This leads me to hypothesise that typically men find female lead comedies less funny than male lead comedies whereas women find male and female lead comedies equally as funny. 

I decided to do this survey to enhance my audience research and the results really helped to back up the point I made when researching age ratings. I defiantly think that my survey results will help to make my point more concrete. 

Active and Passive Audience:

An active audience is an audience which does something typically it comes when making a decision. For example voting for someone on a talent show or choosing what character to play as on a game. This is found more in new media whereas a passive audience does nothing they sit back and consume the product which means it's more commonly found with old media such as film. 

I researched types of audience hoping I could apply this to how the audience impacts film however active and passive audiences do not help with my research. 

Character Analysis:

Mean Girls:

Written by Tine Fey and based off of the book titled Queen Bees and Wannabes by Rosalind Wiseman. Released in 2004 it had a worldwide gross of $130,126,277. 

Aaron Samuels:

Aaron Samuels played by Jonathan Bennet is the love interest to both the protagonist Cady and the antagonist Regina. Despite being one of the main male characters in the film as an audience we know very little about him we are also given no real reason why Cady wants to be with him other than her initial attraction towards him. After watching the film we only know that Aaron isn't very good at maths, plays on the football team and despite being in an on and off again relationship with her doesn't actually like Regina. The character is given no depth or personality he is over shadowed by the female characters. However this could be very intentional from Fey as the film is meant to be a look into the teenage girls psyche is Aaron's character or lack of meant to symbolise that young women aren't looking for an emotional connection rather a physical one.   

Damian:

Damian played by Daniel Franzese is an openly gay character this was quite uncommon for 2004 and I feel the writers were too scared to develop Damian's character he is only there for comic relief and his characters presence relies solely on the character Janis. Without this character the narrative wouldn't change he offers nothing to the plot. His whole character profile seems to be homosexual and Janis's friend. Despite him being in a large chucks of the film his character seems very one dimensional. It seems like an oversight to me that a character who appears to be such a big part of the film adds nothing except humour to the overall narrative. 

Other male characters:

All of the other male characters in this film Kevin, Mr Duvall and coach Carr act as comic relief but also make inappropriate sexual advances on the female characters. Except Cady's Dad who appears only in the film for context and to guilt Cady, moving the narrative along. 

Cady Heron:

Cady is the protagonist of film she is protrayed by Lindsay Lohan. She starts the film by being naive and ignorant of typical American teenage behaviour. Through trying desperately to fit in and have friends she begins to became a completely different person only a shell of her former self. Cady's character is quite complex and the audience gets an insight into her inner struggles through a monologue. To me being a teenage girl, Cady seems extremely real I feel every girl has been a Cady at some point in their life. This makes the whole film feel very real. However for being the protagonist of a comedy film Cady isn't funny she barely makes any jokes and only works as the straight man for the other characters to bounce of off. This seems quite common in female lead comedies of this era women are funny in the film but never the main character. 

Regina George:

Regina George protaryed by Rachel McAdams plays the antagonist she spends the film being horrible to every other character. However I did notice that unlike most teenage antagonist Regina's character isn't given a reason for being a bully. Similarly to Cady, Regina seems more human, she's a bully because she's pretty and opinionated the film doesn't try to justify her instead her redemption is on her own terms. Her arch is that internally Regina doesn't change she just adapts to being more mature using her aggression in sport. Personally I feel this way of writing young women feels much more real.

Janis Ian:

 

Janis Ian is portrayed by Lizzy Caplan Janis claims to hate Regina because of her manipulation and cruelty towards others however through out the film we see Janis inflicting the same traits onto Cady. Janis is probably the most one dimensional female character all she wants is revenge on Regina and by the end of the film she hasn't learnt anything. However Janis does provide a lot of humour and without her the narrative wouldn't happen. 

Miss Norbury:

Miss Norbury is an extremely important character so it is only right that she is played by co writer Tina Fey. Despite not appearing as the main character Miss Norbury is the moral compass for the female character and drives the social message of the film. Not only is the character kind and level headed but she is also funny and delivers some of the best lines from the film. Again Miss Norbury is a very well written character she has layers making her seem more human.

Comparison of how Mean Girls portrays the genders:

The biggest difference between how the genders are written in this film is depth. All the male characters seem to be very one dimensional whereas the majority of female characters are deeply thought out and so well written. I'm aware that it's impossible to give all the characters in depth personality's however some of the main male characters are very robotic they feel more like plot points rather than characters. It's very apparent that the writers put all their energy into the female characters however this could intentional to highlight the women in this film. 

Anchorman:

Released in 2004 written by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay the film grossed $90,709,367. I choose to compare the two films because they came out in the same year, they were both written by SNL cast members and they both have satirical themes and humour. However the main reason I wanted to compare how these films presented gender is because my previous research proved that a female lead comedy had to fight to be given the same age rating as a much ruder male lead comedy.   

Ron Burgundy:

The character of Ron portrayed by Will Ferrell is used as a vehicle to drive the satirical commentary of the film. However considering that Ron is the main character he has no real personality and his arch to redemption is flawed. Throughout the film Ron is selfish, sexist and acts like a child, once he faces the consequences of his actions and gets fired he does not change. Although it is a comedy the character still needs depth to give the audience a reason to want to root for him Ron has nothing other than humour to make him likeable. 

Other male characters:

I found it hard to write anything distinct about the other male characters in this film although they all have different personalities within the broader picture they all appear very much like the same person with the same agenda. After watching the film they all appear as Ron's worst side even more sexist and against change as he is. Overall I found all of the male characters less like characters and more like caricatures of people with nothing underneath. They were purely there for entertainment.

Veronica Corningstone:

Veronica played by Christina Applegate is one of only three female characters that are named the other two barely appear in the film leaving no lasting effect. However I think Veronica is the only character who actually seems real in this film she's very well written considering the film was written by two men and had no female input, she has lot's of layers and many personality traits. However throughout the film Veronica is almost completely not phased by the sexism that all of the other characters show her. She seems slightly frustrated in the voice over she does but other than that she mostly shrugs off sexual harassment and basically says I'm used to it.  I understand she is rising above it all and that it was how every ambitions woman was treated however I think the film suggests that women aren't that bothered by sexism. I think the film and characters would really benefit from a scene where she has a moment in private where lets out her emotions just to highlight how much it effects her.  

Comparison:

I think that the biggest difference between the genders is the amount of representation of women although this is slightly understandable because it's about women trying to break the industry. However I felt the lack of personalty from all the male characters showed that the writers assumed men just had to be funny to be good protagonists whereas they felt the need to focus all their attentions on the female character and developed her personality well.  

Laura Mulvey visual pleasure and narrative cinema:

"Psychoanalytic theory is thus appropriated here as a political weapon, demonstrating the way the unconscious of patriarchal society has structure film form."

psychoanalysis is the belief that all people possess unconscious thoughts, feelings, desires, and memories.

"Unchallenged, mainstream film coded the erotic into the language of the dominant patriarchal order."

I think these quotes sum up Mulvey's opinion on the male gaze perfectly. It's something many people do not think about and because when cinema started it was a male dominated it only seemed natural the films saw women through a ego driven male point of view and as cinema grew it remained the same so it seems normal now. 

"one implies a separation of the erotic identity of the subject from the object on the screen (active scopophilia), the other demands identification of the ego with the object on the screen through the spectators fascination with and recognition of his like."

Although here Mulvey is speaking about watching female characters on screen being naked or engaged in sexual activity the premise of the point still makes sense while watching all film and TV. The audience see's themselves through one character mostly the protagonist the audience and writers ans creators always see themselves which is other characters get pushed to the back of the mind. Hence why female writers write women very well and the often leave their male love interests underdevelopment and vice versus for male writers. 

"Going far beyond highlighting a woman's to-be-looked-at-ness, cinema builds the way she is to be looked at into the spectacle itself."

I feel this is very true in more modern films its as though Hollywood is desperately trying to correct itself and can still not produce a real female character. For example Charlie's Angels 2019.

"what counts is what the heroine provokes or rather what she represents. She is the one , or rather the love or fear she inspires in the hero, or else the concern he feels for her, who makes him act the way he does. In herself the woman has not the slightest importance."

This is a quote Mulvey uses from Budd Boetticher I think it could be extremely useful to link this to the character profiles I made. 

I found Mulvey's paper extremely educational and interesting I feel I will be able to build on and interpret some of the quotes I picked out. Although a lot Mulvey's paper is primarily about sexual objectification of women in film I feel some of her points are relevant when speaking of gender in comedy. 

Me Too and Times up Movements:

In 2006 Tarana Burke created a Me Too Myspace page where women and girls could share their stories from the sexual harassment or assault they experienced, beginning the movement. However in 2017 Ashley Judd used the hashtag MeToo to tell her story of the sexual assault she experienced from Harvey Weinstein. More people were encouraged to tell their story using the hashtag MeToo. Then at the 2018 Golden Globe awards all the women attending wore black and the men wore pins to show their support for the movement. With the support of over 300 women in Hollywood the movement branched off into the Times Up movement. Although they are very similar Times Up has a specific goal of giving everyone a fair chance and safe workplace. Although these movements help everyone because of the support from the media community it feels as though the world of Hollywood has defiantly felt the most impact.  

https://time.com/5189945/whats-the-difference-between-the-metoo-and-times-up-movements/

https://www.learningtogive.org/resources/philanthropic-meaning-metoo-movement

David Gaunlett's Identity Theory:

Broken into two parts Gaunlett's theory discusses how people are represented through media and how an audience can identify with them. 

In the first part of the theory he states that audiences often get a sense of their identity from the media they consume. It can control how people think they should act however the media does not create identity but reflects them instead. 

The second part of the theory contrasts the how the old media used representation vs how new media does. In the past representation was straight forward and showed simple identities house wives and strong men. The media only portrayed these qualities in the genders so people shaped themselves to act and do as they see through the media. Whereas the media in the present shows diverse and complex representation highlighting that you can be whoever you want meaning that an audience is less controlled by the media now and instead strive to find where they are reflected. 

This theory is very interesting and I think it ties in really well with some quotes I have from Mulvey's paper I think this will help me to write my paper. 

Stuart Hall Representation Theory:

Hall states that the media uses stereotypes constantly to portray people and often it is actually how stereotypes are created in the first place. These portrayals of groups of people come from the hegemonic power that has controlled the media. Hegemonic power is when there is a dominant group in society controlling those less powerful. This means when the media industry was dominated by white men they portrayed people of different gender, sexuality and race the only way they knew how, through stereotypes. 

Reception Theory:

Hall also theorised that media products were encoded with ideas that the creators wanted to highlight. Every media product wants to convey a message however sometimes the message isn't clear to some people and this is were different readings come into it. First there is the preferred reading which is when an audience member see's and understands the message that was intended. On the other hand there is the oppositional reading which is when the audience member rejects the meaning of code and can sometimes therefore add their own unintentional meaning. Also there is the negotiated reading which is a mixture of both this is when the audience member rejects some ideas from the product however accepts or understands others. 

I thought this theory would link really well with my audience research and could help me to widen and make my point sound more grounded giving the overall argument solidarity.  

Van Zooen's Feminist theory:

Part 1:

The theory states that we as a society get our ideas of gender from discourse (communication from the media). Broadly speaking we learn what it is to be female or male from the media we consume. 

Part 2:

It's important to view ideas of gender in terms of context whether that be historical or cultural. For example when considering a media product from the 1950's it's important to understand that society had very clear cut ideas of what it meant to be male or female and what responsibilities you had just because of your gender.

Part 3:

Women are often objectified in the media and Van Zooen believes that this is proof that we live in patriarchal society.

Part 4:

Van Zooen believes that men and women are portrayed completely differently to each other in media women are viewed as domestic whereas men are individuals. 

Part 5:

Additionally Van Zooen discusses that men and women's bodies are shown in completely different ways. Often men show their muscles as a way of exerting strength and bravery it is seen as an accomplishment and something the audience should admire. Whereas a woman's body is something to lust over she deserves no credit for it instead it is something used to objectify her further.  

bell hooks theory:

bell hooks has very set ways of viewing feminism she believes that it is the struggle to end the patriarchal oppression. Also hooks states that feminism isn't a life style choice instead it is a political commitment and you can only be a feminist if you actively fight against patriarchal oppression. Furthermore she states that women are not all discriminated against to the same extend because class and ethnicity both tie in to how women are oppressed. In order to understand the discrimination against women you have to be able to appreciate that their is different levels of discrimination. 

Although hooks theory is interesting and very useful for future studies I can not currently see a way in which I could tie it into my essay. 

Judith Butler's theory of gender performativity:

To understand Butler's theory you must first understand the difference between gender and biological sex. Biological sex refers to the DNA and reproductive organs you have it's biology you have that makes you female or male. Whereas gender is a social construct relying on how you feel and behave determining your gender. Butler's theory states that your gender is determined through your performances, what you do. She believes that performing certain activities that make you feel masculine or feminine are what determine your gender. Butler refers to these activities as rituals you have to do them constantly to make you feel feminine or masculine. Applying this to a media product is simple by having the different genders perform the same rituals constantly and showing this performance to the public can control what an audience thinks is feminine or masculine. 

I think this theory applies perfectly to the gender roles in comedies and could tie in with my audience research and my film case studies. 

This Film Is Not Yet Rated:

In 2006 Kirby Dick made an expository documentary on the age rating company MPAA uncovering how unfair the rating system is when things such as gender and sexuality can determine an age rating. The documentary also considers the censorship the company uses to control creators. Unfortunately I didn't get time to watch the documentary as I feel this would have really added to my essay however I did watch clips and read reviews so I feel it would still be beneficial to mention this documentary in my essay.