Maintaining the Double Standard: Portrayals of Age and Gender in Popular Films

Abstract

An analysis of the top 100 domestic grossing films of 2002 found evidence of a lingering double standard for aging female and male characters. Overall, major male characters outnumbered major female characters (73% vs. 27%); the majority of male characters were in their 30s and 40s, and the majority of female characters were in their 20s and 30s. Both women and men in their 60s and older were dramatically underrepresented compared to their representation in the US population. For male characters, leadership and occupational power increased with age. Men in their 40s, 50s, and 60s were more likely to play leadership roles and wield occupational power than were their female counterparts. As female characters aged, they were less likely to have goals.

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“…Moreover, older female characters have been represented as older at a much younger age than male characters, and, correspondingly, they have been represented as much older than male characters of the same age (Signorielli, 2001(Signorielli, , 2004Lauzen & Dozier, 2005;Lauzen, Dozier & Rayes, 2007;Barrett, Raphael & Gundersson, 2014;Women's Media Center, 2014, 2015Lauzen, 2016). Finally, in the wake of the seminal study by Gerbner et al (1980) of the misrepresentation of older people in the media, a range of studies has shown how negative representations of older people not only infl uence general attitudes toward older people but also older people's self-perception (for an overview, see Barrett, Raphael & Gundersson, 2014).…”

“…Moreover, Lauzen and Dozier (2005) found in their 2002 study of representations of diff erent age groups in top-grossing fi lms that women over the age of 60 made up 8% of characters but 22% of the entire population (in contrast, women aged 30-39 made up 32% of fi lm roles but only 18% of the US population); in addition, in the 2004 study by Lauzen, Dozier and Rayes (2007), women accounted for 26% and men 74% of characters over 60 in prime time television. Most recently, in "Th e Status of Women in the Media 2014 Report", female characters over 65 made up only 3.7% of all characters in the top-grossing fi lms from 2012.…”

Toplumsal Cinsiyet ve Ev Teknolojilerinin Kullanımına Etkisi

“…Kadın spikerler ise, özellikle çok güzel ve gençtir ancak bu özellikleri onlara erkekler kadar otoriter ve deneyimli bir hava katmamaktadır. Sonuç olarak toplum tarafından ciddiye alınan haber programlarında yer alan toplumsal cinsiyet farklılıkları, yetişkinlerin ve özellikle toplumsal cinsiyet kimliklerinden ve rollerinden emin olmaya çalışan ve bu amaçla destekleyici bir güdü arayan çocukların fikirlerinde etkili olmaktadır (Lauzen & Dozier, 2005 (Orhon, 2010).…”

“…Toplumun tüm bireyleri tarafından izlenebilen filmlerde de diğer programlara benzer olarak erkekler; sabırlı, dominant, özgür, becerikli, başarılı iken kadınlar; anne, erkeğe bağımlı, âşık, duygusal olarak yansıtılmışlardır (Lauzen & Dozier, 2005).…”

“…Erkekler genelde bekâr ve bağımsız, kadınlar ise evli ve bağımlı olarak yansıtılmışlardır. Ayrıca yapılan birçok araştırma sonucunda; televizyon filmlerinde erkeklerin güç ve yüksek mevki sahibi birer iş adamı, kadınların ise ev işleri ile meşgul olan birer ev kadını ya da iş hayatında düşük mevki sahibi bireyler olarak yansıtıldıkları, kadınların genelde erkekler ile olan ilişkileri, erkeklerin ise bireysel başarıları ile tanımlandığı saptanmıştır (Lauzen & Dozier, 2005).…”