Women representation in cinema throughout the years

Fighting for their rights for the women is even more complicated when cinema only represents them in a very sexist way This is how it started, women characters on screen were always the same character, the same profil : the naive, innocent, and submitted woman, just seen as a beautiful and fragile object that needs to be saved by the male protagonist

From the beginning, cinema was nourrishing the idea that women are nothing without men, an idea against which they had fight, and still fight today

The cartoons are a perfect example, with princesses definited by their beauty and sweetness, and men as strong, courageous and chivalrous savior Men are the powerful characters from the start of those famous stories, Cinderella and Snow White illustrate this very well Moreover, Cinderella and Snow White fits the sexist stereotype of a woman staying at home to clean and take care of the house

In the 90s, the storyline of the male figure saving the princess in distress changes and evolves in cartoons and animated movies

Princesses have their fate in their own hands, they get the power to decide, choose, and take action, even if in they end up with a man

For example, in Beauty and the Beast (1991), Pocahontas (1995) or Mulan (1998), the female protagonists are intelligent and courageous It continues afterwards, cartoons getting away from the sexist cliché and the typical profil, each character gets their own characteristics, personality features, and become more complex

Today, there are still many progress to do, female protagonists are most of the time white and straight, the minorities are under-represented, even more as protagonist characters, and the speaking time of women is still lower than men’s one, the beauty is still emphasized But since the past few years, we see more and more female characters who claim all this, for example with Blue Is The Warmest Color (2013), telling the story of a young woman discovering her homosexuality, The Shape of Water (2017), having a deaf woman as the main character, or most recently with the best Oscar winning movie, Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), picturing a middle-aged chinese immigrant woman. Some examples of movies highlighting woman fighting for their rights and

In cinema, it is the same, during many years, women are seen by their beauty only, they are represented as a desired object by male characters They are here to serve only seduction, and make the protagonist look like a hero when he has to save them from a situationIt has slowly evolved with time, with the apparition of female characters represented as strong women, who can defend themselves ; Star Wars (1977) marks the turning point with Leïa and her strong personality, she stands up to her male peers, and gets to be a heroin They are still many degrading aspects, but it opens a new door for female characters in cinema, for example with Kill Bill (2003) and its story of a woman who gets her revenge by killing of the people who betrayed her, or with the serie Buffy the Vampire Slayer (1997-2003), the perfect feminist picture

Buffy the Vampire Slayer tells the story of Buffy, a teenager who deals with highschool, disappointments in love, and new friends the day, and fights the vampires in town and saves the world at night, making it a good representation of teenagehood, and showing Buffy as an heroin, a sensitive but strong, young but intelligent, scared but courageous woman

-Lonie