Women in Film // Research: Film and TV tropes

I found a youtuber going by the name Feminist Frequency, who makes informative videos about tropes in movies.

The Smurfette Principle

This video gives a clear explanation of 'The Smurfette Principle', which is a term that refers to films and TV shows with a cast made up of a group of males with just one single female.

The term derived from the Smurfette in The Smurfs, who is the only female in the entire cartoon. Of course, she had long blonde hair and 'sexy' feminine features.

Reasons a lone female character is included:

• to appeal to women more, without the series/film being portrayed as 'for girls', which normally shys men away from watching.
• adding an attractive element for the male audience, especially as the female character is usually very attractive in conventional terms. (more so than the rest of the cast, unsurprisingly)
• to tick the box of being 'inclusive' of gender and race, however by doing this it doesn't affect how people see women. If anything it will make it worse.

The damage this kind of casting does is it comes across as men being the 'default' and women only existing in relation to men. However, women make up half of the population...

The Big Bang Theory

Penny is the only main female character and she is the attractive, next door neighbour of the four male, 'geeky' scientists. She doesn't understand any of their science lingo and is portrayed as dim and vapid.

The original Star Wars Trilogy

In Star Wars, Princess Leia is the only female in the entire thing. She is the 'princess'... that says it all.

The Muppets

Miss Piggy is very glamorous and typically feminine and flirtatious, making it hard to take her seriously unlike all the male characters.

The Evil Demon Seductress

The Evil Demon Seductress is a female villain that uses her exaggerated sexuality to manipulate and trick men.

The only trait they seem to have is their sexuality, and their appearance is sexualised completely.

It perpetuates the idea that women are controlling and having ulterior motives, and use their so-called sexual power against men.

Megan Fox in Jennifer's Body

Poison Ivy from the Batman series

Even from these promotional photographs it is obvious how much their sexuality is their single trait - blood on the walls, and seductive yet assertive poses.

Manic Pixie Dream Girl

A manic pixie dream girl is described as a woman who comes along with a child like joy and picks up a gloomy, down man with great persistence.
It perpetuates the idea that women are caregivers at their very core -  we can go fix these lonely sad men so that they can go fix the world.

Garden State

Natalie Portman's character comes in to Andrew's life full of positivity and bubbliness. She has unlimited energy and takes to trying to lift the sulky Andrew up. 

500 Days of Summer

Summer brightens Tom's life up instantly by making him more fun and daring with her free spirited attitude. The story mainly focuses on his life and how her presence makes him feel happier.

Damsel in Distress

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DamselInDistress

A character, usually female, is put into immediate danger in order to put the cast in motion. Her plight unites the cast, causing them to put aside their differences and work together to save her or provide the premise for The Quest.
The nature of the distress varies. The classic damsel has been kidnapped or captured and is locked away, awaiting rescue and afraid for her life and virtue. She may also be lost or stranded in a hostile area, trapped, desperately ill, or suffering any number of terrible fates where she needs help to survive.

King Kong

Spiderman

Taken

Alpha Bitch

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/AlphaBitch

See that attractive blonde cheerleader looking down her nose (often literally) and sneering at the frumpy girl in glasses? That's her. Often times, she is the authority of the cheerleading squad and decides who's on and off the squad. The Alpha Bitch is the Distaff Counterpart to the Jerk Jock, and usually his girlfriend; what he does with his fists, she does with a sharp tongue and sharper manipulation. 

Despite being a not-too-bright, unpleasant, bullying, and mean-spirited excuse for a human, she will still somehow be the most popular girl in school, surrounded by a fawning Girl Posse who suck up to her and act as her faithful minions. She's very likely to be a Narcissist.

Mean Girls

Easy A

An 'alpha bitch' is usually someone to make the main character flourish and seem a better person in comparison. The girl will normally be very wealthy and upperclass, with a snobby attitude.

By researching into these female film tropes, I have gained a better and wider understanding of just how ingrained sexism is in our movie industry. Some of these characters are obvious, some or not. Regardless, they are very harmful and feed in to a unequal culture, especially when young girls and boys watch these films. They are easily influenced and it is something people need to be more aware of.