Hi. I am currently studying Women in Cinema, specifically Women in action films. I have created a hypothesis. "Are women restricted in the roles they can play in action films?"

I have predicted that my research will prove that women are still restricted in the roles they are casted in, however it has improved gradually since the 1930’s. It is very rare to see women that are not physically appealing and ‘dolled up’ casted for roles in a action film. Despite the difficult testing situations they are put in by their quests they always look unscathed and “perfect”. Even films that try and depict women in a positive manner, such as Kill Bill tend to rely heavily on visual beauty, to satisfy the male gaze of the spectator.

Women are represented as inferior to men in early action films. Men have power; they are physically domineering and hold a mental grip over the women, who are portrayed as physically and mentally weak and feeble. Women it seems wives in particular, are oppressed by their male counterparts.

The general consensus is that the stereotypes cast on women in films have been abolished over time. However IMO it is still ever-present, directors are just making it more subtle and less obvious for the spectator to notice. For example women are now casted in large roles, something that was not present in early pre war films. However what they say and do is often dictated by male protagonists.

Are action films still just as exploitive in the way that the represent women? In classic action films women were portrayed as objects and contributed very little to the plot and the directors were generally exploitive of women. However, it could be argued that powerful, free-thinking action heroes such as Lara Croft (Angelina Jolie) are equally exploitative of women as she is portrayed in a very sexual way and could be equally as objectified in her modern role as an action film in 1932. Therefore, has the action cinema industry changed or are the stereotypical roles just more masked?

Are actresses still casted solely to highlight the power of the men?
How do you think women are represented in the Action Movie Genre? Empowered Female Role Models or Highly Sexualised Chicks with Guns?

Your opinion on the subject will be really helpful and would enable me to grasp what the public thinks of the matter

Thank you!!

Of course women are represented in a stereotypical way in action films – everyone is presented in a stereotypical way in all films, they have to be to reduce a story down to film length. Can you honestly name an ugly actress?

Your selection of Tombraider is strange – Lara Croft is a character developed by computer geeks purely to be attractive to men.

Even if you look at far stronger female leads such as Ripley in Alien you need to question why she parades around in very small pants all the time, although you could argue that the Ripley character is defeminised as the series goes on until the last film when she becomes sexier but less human.

BTW, if you are going to be writing essays on this then it should be "women are still restricted in the roles they are cast in, however it has improved gradually since the 1930s", not "casted" and not "1930's" – you can have a "1930's film" because it is possessive, the film belongs to the 1930s, but otherwise lose the apostrophe. I'm not saying that to be annoying, just trying to stop you getting marked down!

Thanks for the help with my research. Don't worry I will not write casted in my answer that was simply a typo.