How stereotypical
are the representations of woman in the action genre, with particular reference
and analysis of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft and Tomorrow Never Dies from the James
Bond franchise
For my research investigation I plan to discuss, how
stereotypical are the representations of woman in the action genre, with
particular reference and analysis of Tomb Raider, Lara Croft and Tomorrow Never
Dies from the James Bond franchise. My aim within this investigation will
be firstly, to question whether these films stick to the stereotypical female
character roles who have little importance to the narrative, for example a
damsel in distress. Secondly, whether the characters break the stereotype of a
traditional representation of females and gender roles and instead portray a
strong feminine character, which is in control and doesn’t rely on the male
characters. Lastly I will be investigating if woman are often represented as
using their body and beauty to gain power over males, rather than their minds
and intellect. To assist my analysis I will apply the theories of The Male Gaze
by Laura Mulvey and Prop’s Narrative theory. I will apply these theories
to assist my three above objectives. Another theory I will apply is binery
opposition to the James Bond franchise as there are usually two women: A
strong, dominant woman and a more passive woman, binary opposition will allow
me to compare and contrast these woman to see how their representations differ
from each other.
A dictionary
definition of representation describes it as “a widely held but fixed and over
simplified image or idea of a particular type of person or thing.”(1) Women, in
the past, have had a very obvious stereotypical representation within film that
has developed somewhat throughout time. “Women were a symbol of family, Keywords
associated with women some 50 years ago were children, home and household” (2).
This sums up the stereotypical view of women that, you could say, is still held
in modern society. However, producers have to be subtler at how they represent
this issue as we live in a modern world, where past feminism is frowned upon.
Tomb Raider was a revolutionary film, when it was
released. It depicts a young, attractive and athletic woman living in a large
mansion and having two male servants at her command. This does contrast to the
stereotypical representation of women because it represents a woman who has
power over males, which is unusual in modern film. However, to discover if this
film totally opposes this representation I need to use Propp’s narrative theory
to see if Lara advances the narrative and therefore breaks this stereotype.
Lara could be given the role of hero in Propp’s theory, as she is the character
that under takes the quest to search for “The Triangle of Light”. This suggests
that she should be able to advance the narrative. This role is usually taken by
a strong, dominating male character so it is unusual that a woman undertakes
this role. “Findings showed that 58.6% of VFACs (violent female action characters)
were portrayed in a submissive role to the male hero in the film, and 42% were
romantically linked to him.” (5) This demonstrates that it is quite rare for a
woman to be the dominant character in an action film as well as only acting as
a goal for the male characters, but does this statistic apply to Lara Croft? “Women continue
to be shown as sidekicks to more dominant male heroes” (5) It is a common held belief
that woman are given the role of sidekick (A role in Propp’s theory), or
“sidechick” (5) and don’t add to the story other than to act as a reward for
the male hero. To discover whether Lara’s Character is a female hero
and therefore whether she advances the narrative I analyzed a key scene in the
film where both she and the illuminati agents are trying to collect a piece of
the triangle of light. Lara uses her intelligence to work out the 2000-year-old
puzzle and then uses a battering ram like device and her momentum to destroy
the crucible that holds the first piece of this magical triangle. She manages to
do this before the villain (another of Propp’s roles) and she manages to escape
with it, while defending herself against both illuminati agents and resurrected
stone temple guardians. This shows that she is not a damsel in distress that are
often seen in action films and that she can defend herself against many strong
male characters. This character shows that she can advance the narrative she
can stop some dangerous people from potential destroying the world.
In hindsight, Lara croft looks like a strong and
dominant female character that doesn’t need any help from the male characters.
She is strong, clever, athletic and violent, which are all the characteristics
that many male heroes have. However on further analysis this may not be the case.
One of the last scenes in the film shows the villain blackmailing Lara to
reunite the triangle in order to reverse time and save Alex West with who she
is romantically involved. This clearly shows that’s she is not always in
control of the situation all the time and she has to obey a dominant male. This
characters late in the scene, when she reunites the triangle as this starts a
race between the protagonist and the villain. The Race takes place in a
mystical cloud like location with the Triangle in between the two of them. She
manages to beat the villain to the target and then reverse time back to the
moment when West dies and then fatally wound the villain. This shows that she
can be a dominant character and that she is able to defeat many male characters.
