The Female Identity in Male-Centric Mediums
Document Type
Panel Presentation
Start Date
19-4-2018 9:15 AM
End Date
19-4-2018 10:30 AM
Keywords
Gender, Identity, Film Analysis
Biography
I am currently a Freshman Yeager Scholar at Marshall University. Growing up, my mom would use car rides to explain the synopsis of whatever book she was reading. By the time I was in third grade, would sit at the playground and explain the plots of Slaughterhouse Five, Oryx and Crake, and Catcher in the Rye to kids who hardly seemed interested. Looking back, it’s no wonder that today I’m a sincere lover of literature and pursuing a double major in English and Art. My favorite topics to explore in art and writing are those of gender, memory, and intertextuality.
Major
English
Advisor for this project
Nicole Lawrence
Abstract
The graphic novel and gaming industries are built on a foundation exclusionary to women. While substantive progress has been made toward the inclusion of women, the nature of these mediums remains reliant on male-centric depictions of women that present them as sexual and one-dimensional counterparts to male characters. The portrayal of women in these male-centric mediums is of pivotal importance in the films Ghost World by Terry Zwigoff and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World by Edgar Wright. Both male-directed films are based on graphic novels by male artists Daniel Clowes and Bryan Lee O'Malley-- and both films focus keenly on the identities of women falling for forlorn and aimless men. How do both directors use intertextuality as a means of remaining true to their story’s initial comic form? And how do they portray and explore the identities of women in relation to men? The portrayal of women in these films span multiple mediums to create a precursory survey of how women are impacted by the male gaze in comics, films, and video games.
The Female Identity in Male-Centric Mediums
The graphic novel and gaming industries are built on a foundation exclusionary to women. While substantive progress has been made toward the inclusion of women, the nature of these mediums remains reliant on male-centric depictions of women that present them as sexual and one-dimensional counterparts to male characters. The portrayal of women in these male-centric mediums is of pivotal importance in the films Ghost World by Terry Zwigoff and Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World by Edgar Wright. Both male-directed films are based on graphic novels by male artists Daniel Clowes and Bryan Lee O'Malley-- and both films focus keenly on the identities of women falling for forlorn and aimless men. How do both directors use intertextuality as a means of remaining true to their story’s initial comic form? And how do they portray and explore the identities of women in relation to men? The portrayal of women in these films span multiple mediums to create a precursory survey of how women are impacted by the male gaze in comics, films, and video games.
