Critical Investigation Proposal

       Topic – gender in action movies, Die Hard 5 

·         Secondary texts… Die Hard 4.0, Die Hard original, Hunger Games.

·         Hypothesis – cinema audiences demand and enjoy traditional gender stereotypes

·         Linked production – film opening

 MIGRAIN:

Media representations:

Media representations of men in action movies have been represents as the stronger sex than the females in action movies. Men are represented as the superior characters in action movies for example Bruce Willis is represented as fearless. During the whole of the movie he does things that would put the fear in any man’s heart. He is also shown to be in a loving way towards his family, as in his latest movies they have been family bases. Showing that he is a family man who’d risk it all for his family. Furthermore he has also been represented as a risk taker, risk taking in action movies is really common, life or death situations. The female in the movie who surprisingly has been portrayed and represented in an unexpected way is as a strong individual. Normally the female protagonists in action movies don’t have big leading roles, in this case its stayed the same as Bruce Willis still take the spotlight most of the time. The female in this action movie Die Hard has been represented as also strong and fearless. She appears in the movie well trained in the special forces which is unexpected and breaks common female stereotypes. The movie

Ideology…

Genre:

The genre of the action movie Die Hard is action.  What makes this an action movie are the conventions of an action movie we see in the film. The normal action conventions we see in action movies are explosions. All action movies in films always have some type of explosion a fair few scenes in the movie. We also see that there would be car chases in all action movies where the hero chase the villain or the villains accomplices to where ever they are trying to escape to. Normally we see the heroes driving exotic expensive cars. We also have the women who are always very hot and good looking, this would attract the male gaze and shows how the hero always gets the fit girl. We also have the characters in the movies always using big guns which are always being shot which adds to the whole action theme. There are also loads of fighting scenes which takes place which are mostly fist fights unless a character picks up something to batter in the other person. The females in action movies are represented as the weaker sex by the producers. Who are always in trouble and always need saving. They always have small roles in the movies and are always made to look sexy. Most females in action movies

 Representation…

The representations of the men in the movie Die Hard are strong typical stereotypes. The men in the movie who is John McLane (Bruce Willis) has been represented as a man without fear. This is because we see him in the film doing

Audiences:

The target audience for most action movies depends on what kind of content is with in the film. For example if there’s a bit of gore or any sex scenes. In Die Hard’s case the age rating is a 12A. For 12A movies no one under the age of 12 should be watching this movie, unless accompanied by an adult throughout the whole viewing. The in 12A movies language like “f***” may be passed. The target audience for the Die Hard action movie is 15-50 year olds. The movie targets people that high of an age due to the first die hard movie being released in 1988, so the movie already has an audience.  The movie would apply to certain phycographic; this movie would apply to struggler's as they seek mostly escapism. They would want to watch a movie like this, as they would be able to escape in to the world of spies and special agents running around killing villains.

Narrative:

The narrative in the story is like most other action movies. Die hard has stuck to the traditional action movie narrative. This is where an action hero who is McLain who appears in the movies as a foul-mouthed guy who jokes around when he should be worried for his life. Many Americans describe him as a “badass”. In the movie the whole narrative is about a political prisoner who is being protected by a spy which is john McLain’s son who is the main protagonist in the movie. John McLain then hears about his son being in some kind of trouble so then decides to head over to Russia. They both then find each other and then team up against the villains in the movie in Russia. However, we find that Johns daughter has now gotten involved in some trouble also. John McLain then takes the situation personally and goes on a wild gunfight rampage to get his girl back and save the day.  As we can see that this is a typical action movie narrative, which involves the usual storyline. Everything is okay, then John finds out something’s wrong with his son, which creates the disequilibrium. He then goes on a wild killing spree killing all the villains, saves his son and daughter, he is now the hero everyone’s happy.

Theories.

Genre theories:

Robert Hodge & Gunther Kress, define genres as “typical forms of texts which link kinds of producers consumer, topic, medium, manner and occasion”, adding that they “control the behaviour of producers of such texts and the expectations of the potential consumer”.

http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/Documents/intgenre/chandler_genre_theory.pdf

Audience theories

Gender & ethnicity

Semiotics

SHEP

Social:
The movie Die Hard 5 may affect some of that have watched the movie due to the female protagonist yet again, not having a lead role or being shown of importance. Yet again, females will see that the movie institution has created a movie in which is a repeated product of what people would be expecting, which is the male protagonist with the most screen time and the female left behind and almost forgotten about.

Historical: 

The first die hard movie was released in 1987. The movie title being A Good Day To Die Hard. From the first movie being released and from then on becoming one of the most greatest action movies of all time, they decided to make sequels to the movie. They have produced another 4 sequels which continues on from the first one. 

Economical:

 All the Die Hard movies have made a lot of money in the box office. The movie which had made the most was Live Free Or Die Hard, also known as Die Hard 4. They had made $383,531,464 in June 27th 2007. However the total amount that the Die Hard movies have made is $1,431,184,779. 

Political: 

The political side to this would be equality in terms of gender. Women would and men are not treated equally in today's society as they women would be treated differently to men. Women would in fact get paid less then men even though they do the exact same job. Women in society are still seen as the weaker sex ignoring what women have in fact done in this world. Politically woman want more power, they want more equality in this world which they are not getting. 

Feminism:

Research:

Quotes:

Die Hard – family conflict bases movie/ released on Valentine’s Day – girls get to choose the movies.

Trouble finds John Mclane he’s attracted to it.

John Mclane compared to Bruce willis, not brave “ I’m afraid of mice”

Assault vehicles, helicopters

Quote from female actor Yulia Snigir “it’s better than sex” – action movie.

John Mclane – seen as a cinematic hero, dominant strong, main character.

John : You got  a plan?   Son : not really… run in guns blazing – ACTION.  Spontaneous & unplanned.

“fast pace action film”

Everyday sexism:

Academic books:

Genre Book

Books.
Feminism at the movies - Edited By Hilary and Rebecca Stringer, published 2011
-page 17, The Male Body And The Male Heart, Bruce willis, walking on crushed glass

Women & Film - written by E. Ann Kaplan, First Published in 1983.

-Page 14, Fetishism, female "bodies may be fetishized"
-Page 15, 10 The Image.
-Page 11, 1 - The classical.. "repeated from product to product.. customers expect.."
-Page 14, 9-The Gaze: The Three "Looks" In The Cinema
-Page 15, 11-Sociology And Semiology, "film critics here use the terminology of sex roles"



videos.
Why aren't there more action movies starring women?
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYjBHyJ7zQY