Abstract
This study explores the cinematic feminism of Hollywood mainstream female-leading films by applying Simone De Beauvoir’s existential feminism as a conceptual framework. This study analyses the feminist qualities from the external portrayals of the selected film’s female lead, then justifies the cinematic feminist existence from the internal representations of the female lead from three perspectives including social involvement, power position and self-achievement. This paper assumes that the Hollywood mainstream female-leading films are depicting progressive feminism in recent years through blockbuster superheroes films and also award-winning films. The films’ female lead roles in these two different categories are mostly characterised with higher feminist qualities, given more freedom and choices to transform themselves from immanent limitations to bigger transcendent possibilities. The female leads are given better chances to deal with alternatives, decision-making, and societal involvements throughout the development of the story. This paper uses two methods, quantitative method and qualitative method. The first methodology studies cinematic feminism through measuring the on-screen female characters’ gender external portrayals by using a self-designed coding sheet, as a quantitative content analysis. The second methodology focuses feminist existentialism through discussing the internal representations of female leads by developing film reviews, as a qualitative textual analysis.
Presenters
Fei Jiun KikSenior Lecturer, Faculty of Communication and Creative Industries, Tunku Abdul Rahman University of Management and Technology, Wilayah Persekutuan Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Details
Presentation Type
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session
Theme
KEYWORDS
Beauvoir, Existentialist, Feminism, Films, Mainstream
