NoTraditional and Modern Roles of Both Genders - Research Paper Example

Science Fiction shows the Horrors of the Traditional Patriarchal Society Gender stereotypes have since the beginning of time created a basis for sexism and prejudiced beliefs that favor one gender over another. This trend is so woven into our lives that it has been relayed to other elements of society including at home, the workplace and our society in general. In an article on gender roles and differences, the opinion that imbalance is deep-rooted was expressed. “In parts of the world where women are strongly undervalued, young girls may not be given the same access to nutrition, healthcare, and education as boys. Further, they will grow up believing that they deserve to be treated differently from boys” (Boundless 6). These dogmatic traditional roles place women at a lower pedestal than the elevated platforms that their male counterparts proclaim so proudly. Despite all this discrimination, women have risen to overcome this uphill task through their in born strengths and power. I believe that women are strong, powerful, competitive and equal to men in all avenues of life and if provided with equal opportunities, they are bound to excel even where men have failed. The traditional traits that women are given include sensitivity, apprehension and warmth while in contrasting fashion, the men pose as emotionally stable, dominating, vigilant. These stereotyped traits are in essence transferred to their roles as women end up being viewed as having passive, caring and nurturing and subordination tendencies unlike men. Men on the other hand enjoy a stronger role that proclaims that they are strong, aggressive and dominating over women. However, these stereotyped views are not always reliable as it has been found that either gender has the ability to exhibit roles previously not associated with. As history has shown us, men can also be caring and sensitive while women have shown courage and dominance as is seen in leadership-oriented careers. However, the sexism differs in severity from one society to another as each society has its own values, systems and assigned gender roles. Since time immemorial, art has been used to represent and paint the society as it is. As forms of art, films have been used to advocate for, against or even to represent various aspects in society. Films have been used to depict the rot and evil in society, celebrate the good and righteous and also to issue warning against trends that might affect society in the future. The same principle applies to the acclimated trio of timeless classics: Metropolis, Alien and 2001: A Space Odyssey that in their own unique ways addresses issues of gender, technology, and the ultimate battle of the sexes. In essence, the films show the empowerment of women in society and the fear of the patriarchal male who is disturbed by the change of roles. Through the films, it is evident to see that the traditional man is not yet ready to ‘give it up’ to the woman. In the films, the characters depict both traditional and modern roles of both genders. From the dogmatic narcissistic male in Rotwang and Fredersen in Metropolis, the objective and daring man in 2001: A Space Odyssey to the strong woman in Ridley as she battles for survival in Alien, gender and its role is questioned and alternatives shoved into the viewer’s face with their accord or otherwise. Metropolis represents the most traditional of gender values of the three films. In Metropolis, the society is run and dominated by men. Traditionally, men are in charge and in control and the film capture this from the start. For example, even a visual analysis would call inform any viewer that the society of Metropolis is male dominated. The lack of women characters in the film screams out ‘male domination’ while acting to strengthen the image that men are above women. Peter Ruppert, in his article, “Fritz Langs Metropolis and the Imperatives of the Science Fiction Filming” agrees with this symbolism. Ruppert states that, “Metropolis is a city of men. “The film depicts not only an authoritarian society… but also a patriarchal on, a society where women are excluded from the public arena” (Ruppert 12). Another way that Metropolis shows these traditional roles played by women and men is through the use of the contrasting characters of Maria, Frederser, Freder and Rotwang. Maria is the virgin, nurturing and motherly figure whose ‘love-ability’ scares the main man of metropolis, Fredersen, who sees her as a threat. Rotwang on the other hand builds a robot in the shape of Maria as a sex object. This shows how men view women traditionally, as sex-objects. Freder, on the other hand, even though a playboy as we first see him in the Eternal garden enjoying himself with ‘loose’ women falls for the saint in Maria and begins his traditional quest, to win her love and to fight all obstacles on his way. Everything in the film screams tradition and depicts traditional gender values outwardly. Science and technology has also been equated to women in the film. Huyssen, in his book “The Vamp and the Machine: Technology and Sexuality in Fritz Langs Metropolis,” argues that, “the ‘machine-woman’ in Metropolis is the embodiment of early twentieth century male fear of women and machines, both of which were perceived as threats to patriarchal control.” A deduction from Huyssen’s view is that both women and machines were viewed as threatening in the early nineteenth century; the fear of women is equated to that of technology. (Huyssen 224-226). In Alien, the character of Lambert also represents the traditional woman who is helpless and in need of constant protection by men. This is seen in the way she constantly screams and shrieks at any instance of danger. In the film, when the crew decides that someone needs to go into the vent so as to flush out the alien creature, she does not volunteer as she is the traditional woman, sensitive and helpless. Instead Lambert asks, "Who gets to go into the vent," with a pale face exhibiting fear. Alien employed this character of Lambert to represent the role that the ordinary woman is expected to have as opposed to the other woman, Ripley. Similarly, in A Space Odyssey, no member of the space crew is a woman. The movie shows the belief that women were unsuitable and incapable of performing high involving and crucial task like space travel. The original book that the book was based on, having been written in the 1960’s depicts the existing notion that women were housewives, inept and less intelligent compared to the intelligent, assertive and dependable males. The portrayals of gender in the films go in line with Charles Darwin’s theories of natural and sexual selection. Darwin was the ultimate masculine character given that at the time, in order to pursue science he needed to be aggressive, strong and determined so as to resonate with the society. The films, namely Metropolis, show the ultimate natural and sexual selection similarity. Darwin’s studies on the ‘law of the battle’ found that the male species developed horns, muscles, strong jaws which were for the main purpose for defending or fighting for their female mates. In Metropolis, the similarity is seen through Freder, the lover, who fights against, his father, class and the adversarial Rotwang all for his love, Maria. Similarly, Darwin also viewed women as being incapable of competing with men through his studies on the “differences in the mental powers of the two sexes.” In Sexual Selection, Man. Part II, Darwin writes that, “Woman seems to differ from man in mental disposition, chiefly in her greater tenderness and less selfishness…Man is the rival of other men; he delights in competition, and this leads to ambition which passes too easily into selfishness” (Darwin, 326). As a result, Darwin says that, “The chief distinction in the intellectual powers of the two sexes is shown by man attaining to a higher eminence, in whatever he takes up, than woman can attain” (Darwin, 327). However, this utmost simplicity with which Darwin explains the difference between men and women and seems to question women and their ability in the fields of science and technology is questioned and challenged vehemently in the films that seem to disagree with him. In Alien, set in a futuristic society, femininity is advanced and the woman has an equal place in society with the man. The workplace, the ‘Nostromo’, is as a place of sexual equality. The story allows Ripley, a woman to become the hero who withstands all trials and ultimately defeats the monstrous Alien even though male characters existed in the film. Alien speaks of a society where heroism is not tied to gender but individuality. In the film, when Lambert fearfully asks, "Who gets to go into the vent?" Ripley quickly replies, "I do," without hesitation. Traditionally and scientifically, such a reaction was non-existent and acts of courage in tasks of war were exclusively male. Another man in the film, Dallas, tries to be the ‘man’ and takes his shot at being the hero but the Alien kills him and instead of the ‘masculine hero’ emerging victorious, his failure becomes the advantage of the woman. Metropolis, based on the society in 1927, depicts a time when society’s view towards women was that they are simple, religious or loose. They were sex-objects and prize objects for the men who either had fun with them or possessed them as both Rotwang the scientist and Freder the lover showed. The film was a clear depiction of the times when the man manipulated the society to his own will as is seen through Rotwang. Similarly, in 2001: A Space Odyssey which was released in 1968 the same view exists; that of the superior man who rode spaceships and investigated peculiar phenomena. In contrast, Alien, a 1979 science fiction horror clearly demonstrates the horror of the patriarchal society. The lead role here is played by a woman who defeats all odds to become the only survivor of an Alien attack. Her survival and the fall of women depicts the time when feminism was at its peak. The films, all shot during their own time depict the shift in the roles and values associated with gender as society progressed. In my view, the movies, especially Metropolis and 2001: A Space Odyssey showed a society where there was no tendency of un-biasness in the representation of women in the society. Odyssey had no significant female character while in Metropolis; the society was generally male dominated. However, in Alien, there was equal representation of women in the film and I believe this was necessitated by the shifting beliefs that women are also capable of being as competitive as their male counterparts. These variations however may have been as a result of the diverse needs or issues at that time that the authors wanted addressed. However, this should not make us forget about the bigger picture; that of being useful as a tool of addressing bias that has for many centuries been entrenched in societies all over the world.it also shows the kind of milestones that humanity has taken and that as human scope of thinking changes, women are slowly getting engaged in various fields, their rights are getting recognized and most importantly that the stereotypes surrounding them as women finally gets ironed out. In conclusion, it is paramount to state that just as we learn from the strong characters of Ripley and Maria, women are strong, powerful and competitive as men. Given an equal footing, women have the potential to be at par or even better just as Ripley showed in Alien. Retrogressive societies have no place today and women are now more than ever ready to prove themselves capable. In society today, women are able to rise to leadership positions, own the corporate world and even fight in combat. This spirit needs to be promoted so that the world can achieve a state of gender balance with no prejudices whatsoever. I believe that even though we have come a long way from the society in ‘Metropolis,’ we need to infuse and mix our ‘Ripley personalities’ with the ‘Maria’ in all of us to make our society as Metropolitan as it can ever be. Works Cited Boundless. “Gender Roles and Differences.” Boundless Psychology. Boundless, 14 Nov. 2014. Retrieved 14 Mar. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/psychology/textbooks/boundless-psychology-textbook/gender-and-sexuality-15/introduction-to-gender-and-sexuality-75/gender-roles-and-differences-296-12831/.html De Beer, G., and M. J. Rowlands. "Darwins notebooks on transmutation of species." HIST 2.6 (1960): 32. Retrieved 14/03/2015. Metropolis. Fritz Lang. UFA, Paramount Pictures (US). 1927. http://putlocker.is/watch-metropolis-online-free-putlocker.html. Film. Huyssen, Andreas. "The vamp and the machine: Technology and sexuality in Fritz Langs Metropolis." New German Critique (1981): 221-237. Alien. Ridley Scott. 20th Century Fox .1979. http://putlocker.is/watch-alien-online-free-putlocker.html. Film. Ruppert, Peter. "Fritz Langs Metropolis and the Imperatives of the Science Fiction Filmg." Seminar: A Journal of Germanic Studies. Vol. 37. No. 1. University of Toronto Press, 2001. 2001: A Space Odyssey. Stanley Kubrick. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 1968.http://putlocker.is/watch-2001-a-space-odyssey-online-free-putlocker.html. Film. Film title. Dir. First Name Last Name. Distributor, Year of Release. Medium. Read More