The Portrayal of Women in Film and Tropes

     Hello, my name is Tiffany Franco, and I aspire to work in the entertainment industry creating both films and television shows. As a student currently taking production classes, it is important to understand the art of formatting a screenplay in addition to learning different methods of creating compelling stories. My blog, The Film Guru will explore, commentate, and analyze the art of creating films and television shows. 

    Recently, I came across this Tik Tok about a girl asking her audience about specific tropes they can't overlook anymore in the entertainment industry. Knowing the Tik Tok algorithm, by liking just one of these videos meant I was in for an outpour of these duets or responses to the original question. After scrolling through 'my for you page' to feed my Tik Tok addiction, I was indeed correct! For the next few days, I have been reading comments, watching responses, and overall just absorbing the information; and reevaluating how screenwriters build characters, situations, and stories in general. After diving straight into the rabbit hole of tropes in the industry, I wanted to emphasize how some of these tropes shaped the portrayal of women on screen, in addition to how society has influenced these tropes as well.

    

    So firstly, what is a trope? According to Jason Hellerman's, What Are Movie Tropes and How to Use Them in Your Writing, a trope is "the consistent or expected use of certain characters, situations, settings, and time periods across a specific genre." 

    In Hollywood we often see tropes emphasized within character development. For instance, in many films, we see the protagonist with their sidekick who is often fat and used as comedic relief. This trope often raises questions like why can't the protagonist be plus-sized? Or why is the fat character always funny? Tropes are often depicted by societal norms. Society has painted the mold for supermodels, and anyone in the limelight to be skinny and beautiful. For the plus-size actors, this often prevents them from expanding their acting palette due to this trope and societal norm. It isn't until they begin to lose weight where they are taken seriously as a "main character mold." But overall we have seen this trope being used in movies like Pitch Perfect, Mean Girls, Lady Bird, ParaNorman, and the list goes on. With beauty standards shifting towards expanding the gate of inclusion towards curvy body types, will the trope shift as well?

Julie Steffans played by Beanie Feldstein in Greta Gerwig's Lady Bird (2017)

    The next trope that has been repeatedly overused and needs to retire is the angry black woman. Women of color on the silver screen are often looked at as supporting characters to the (often) white protagonist. Also, their characters uphold a fiery, angsty flare which causes them to act outlandish with rage. It is no secret that this trope has been portrayed in the media for centuries, but how does this affect black women? Black women in society are often overlooked as well, as a result of this trope many have started to repress their feelings and concerns to not feed into this trope. In. society in general, when a woman speaks out about an issue (for example) men counteract their plea by throwing out those phrases that make you want to claw your eyes out, "is it that time of the month?" But for black women, this stigma around them has influenced people to perceive them in a negative connotation, "watch out for her."

This portrayal in the media has force many to overlook the power and strong will behind women especially black women. By labeling them as "hot-headed" or "angry" these labels have overcast their abilities and strength in society. This trope has made it easy for this group to not be taken seriously in positions of power. For actresses playing these roles, like Octavia Spencer, her talent is almost always stripped down to just playing this mold and supporting the lead character. Because of the industry and their lack of diversity (and their tropes), I foresee more black women finally being represented as something other than angry. These women have depth, knowledge, beauty, and goals which Hollywood needs to finally express. 

Minny Jackson played by Octavia Spencer in Tate Taylor's The Help (2011)

    Last but not least, the cool girl trope. It wasn't until I saw Gone Girl (2014) until I uncovered the skeletons of the males' desire for a "cool girl." The cool girl upholds the equivalent of a male's interest (like sports, video games, beer, etc) but with an outer shell of a hot, beautiful woman. The cool girl never gets angry and is not like "other girls." This cool girl has been seen in all sorts of movies and tv shows: Transformers, Gone Girl, and That 70's Show just to name a few. In actuality, the cool girl is a fantasy created by males and their desire to mold the "perfect woman." By upholding these characteristics men in a way influence control over how these women act in a way to please themselves. In Gone Girl, the once cool girl Amy Dunne plots revenge on her husband for subjecting her to this portrayal in which led her to resent him. The cool girl act makes women suppress their true selves in an effort to attract men. 

In society, the cool girl trope puts unachievable desired characteristics on women that men crave. Since these characteristics in media show how successful these women are with attracting men, it alters the way women view themselves. Women at a young age tend to think it is okay to alter their look (and or personalities)to attract a love interest. I find this trope very interesting since it both reflects a far fetched mold of the perfect woman in the view of the male gaze versus the side of women utilizing this (and losing themselves in a way) to become that mold. Lastly, it shows how hard and emotionally draining it is to try to comply with these male standards.

    

Amy Dunne played by Rosamund Pike in David Fincher's Gone Girl (2014)

    As an aspiring female filmmaker, these tropes have often stood out to me. As a woman, it inspires me to help break the mold, and influence a new shift in portraying women on screen. Many of these tropes offer traditional views which call for a change in the industry for new stories and content. Tropes often allude to how society depicts certain aspects of gender roles, beauty standards, and overall behaviors which is interesting to dissect when writing for the screen. 

Sources:

https://nofilmschool.com/tv-and-movie-trope-examples

https://medium.com/pop-off/5-sexist-female-tropes-we-need-to-stop-writing-4b44d629405

http://theoscarbuzz.blogspot.com/2016/05/birthday-take-octavia-spencer-in-help.html

https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2017/11/180225/lady-bird-movie-friendship-romantic-comedy-beanie-feldstein

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/442267625885719014/