Objectification of Women on Tv and in Movies

Why is it that in TV shows and in so many movies that women are almost always objectified in one way or another? There are so many television shows and movies out there that undermine women in so many different ways. Darren in “Bewitched” is also trying to suppress Samantha’s magic to make her the perfect house wife and she doesn’t try to stop him. In fact, she does everything she can to follow his every wish just so he’ll be happy. In “The Client List”, Riley is portrayed as a sex object. It gives the impression that the only thing women can do is sell their body for sex.

Then there is Mary Jane from “Spiderman” who always needs rescued by Spiderman, giving the impression that women are helpless and always need a man around to save the day. Let’s not forget “The Scorpion King” where king Memnon uses his Sorceress for his own personal agenda. Will watching movies and shows such as these affect how girls see themselves? The Scorpion King is a primary example to the objectification of women in movies. The main female character, the sorceress, has been used her entire life by King Memnon.

He’s kept her prisoner since she was a child to use her visions to give him the upper hand in battle. He forces her to have a vision every day and then tell him if he is going to win or lose his next battle so that he can pick his battles and be more successful in his goal to rule everything. At one point in the movie, Memnon basically tells the Sorcerer that when he’s done using her for her visions he’s going to start using her for his own sexual pleasure. The Sorcerer is more than happy to be taken hostage by Matheyus.

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She later tells him that she only went with him so willingly because Memnon kept her prisoner since she was a child. She was being used her entire life by a man that just wanted to be feared by everyone and rule everything. It portrays society’s typical stereotype of women. Do everything the man wants and please him in any way you can without a single complaint. The Sorcerer makes it obvious that she’d much rather stay with Matheyus, the man who threatens to kill her, than go back to Memnon, the man who has been using her for so long.

This is because in the short time that she’s been with Matheyus, she has already been treated better that she has been her entire life. Memnon has continuously used the Sorceress to give himself an advantage in battle. This is an example of the typical male figure objectifying a woman and using her to get what he wants. He treats her like she’s nothing more than a piece of his property. According to Gloria Steinem, “A female child is left to believe that, even when her body is as big as her spirit, she will still be helping with minor tasks, appreciating the accomplishments of others, and waiting to be rescued” (356).

This quote helps to explain the Sorcerers want to escape but also her challenge in the fact that she has to have someone’s help to escape Memnon. And no surprise, it has to be a man’s help because she wouldn’t have been able to escape on her own. The Sorcerer also feels the need to escape after Memnon informs her of his plan to use her for his own sexual pleasure when he’s done using her for her visions. According to Christine Seifert, “Digging into Edward’s mind reinforces the old stereotype that underneath it all, even the best guys are calculating vampires, figuring out how to act on their masculine urges” (346-7).

This quote helps to explain Memnon’s fights to take advantage of the Sorcerer because according to a myth spread by the Sorcerer’s ancestors, the first time any sorceress has sex she will lose her gift of foresight. So if he wants to keep his advantage in battle, he has to fight his natural male urges. Watching movies and shows such as these can’t be having a positive effect on younger girls. They use female roles that they see on TV and in movies as role models just as much as they use the women around them as role models.

So what are they suppose to think when they see things like that? How are they going to act if they use women like that as a role model? Are they going to know that that’s just pretend and women aren’t really like that? Or are they going to think that they need to do everything a man wishes without a single complaint just to keep them happy, whether they like it or not? Are they going to think that they have to wait for the perfect man to rescue them when things become bad in a relasionship?

It’s questions like these that we don’t have the answers to that we should worry most about. What are girls learning from TV? Works Cited Seifert, Christine. “Bite Me! (Or Don’t! ): Twilight as Abstinence Porn. ” Shrodes, Caroline. et. al. The Conscious Reader. Custom. New York. Pearson. 2011. 343-349. Print. Shrodes, Caroline et. al. The Conscious Reader. Custom. New York: Pearson, 2012. Print. Steinem, Gloria. “Wonder Woman. ” Shrodes, Caroline. et. al. The Conscious Reader. Custom. New York. Pearson. 2011. 354-363. Print. The Scorpion King. Dir. Chuck Russell. 2002. Film.

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