A General Look at Gender Stereotypes - Rhys Wallett
Throughout the years, the two genders (and all in between) have had numerous representations in the media, with some positive representations and some negative, and have morphed considerably throughout the ages. As a result, as representations and roles in society of the genders have changed, so have the stereotypes of the genders generally. However, while some stereotypes can be pleasing or non-harmful, there are lots of stereotypes that can be harmful to the views of the genders.
Let's start with the men. As humans have evolved, nature tended to favour men in the primitive times as they would provide for the women and child while the mother would care for the said child and be submissive to the man. Granted, its nothing like this nowadays but as a result, stereotypes linking to this have risen. The first is how all men are supposed to be strong. This originated in medieval times as if men were strong and valiant, they would receive eternal glory and would be heroines. As such, society began to believe that if you weren't strong like Hercules for example, you not in the real sense a 'man' and would be discarded and rejected by women for either wife's or otherwise. This is a total barbaric stereotype as not all men are strong, and this expectation to be 'masculine' has caused much emotional abuse and self-pity for men and as this can link to excessive straining exercise, or can even link to anorexia nervosa, which can cause both physical and emotional damage.
A second stereotype is that men must be in charge of the household. Now typically you would argue this is way worse for the women as they're submissive and were often abused by their husband's (See A Streetcar Named Desire starring Marlon Brando for evidence), but could this be unpleasant for the men?
As men are supposed to be the dominant figure, they are expected to be somewhat cruel and demanding and is plausible that said man would not wish to have this attitude as they would wish to be caring and love their wives. Moreover, they may not even desire a wife due to asexuality, homosexuality or any other logical explanation, thus this can also hurt men emotionally as this expectation to aspire to can cause self-hatred from the said male.
Now to look at the women. Unfortunately, women have a whole case study of regressive stereotypes that still continue to hold back women. One example is that women are expected to a) have children and b) care solely for them. this is again a very unpleasant stereotype as back in the old days, women's primary purpose for existence was to have kids and raise them (with a strong prejudice against female youth.) This provides little joy for women as this stereotype enforces how the men don't help, which means all the burden lies on their shoulder, which leaves little room for a career, social bonding and just generally a life. Plus as infertility amongst women has always been existent, this can result in emotional abuse being faced by the women either by themselves as they are upset they cannot bear children or from others, and in extreme cases can lead to physical abuse, with women being killed in ancient times if they could not give birth. Furthermore, even men can be affected badly by this as if the men wished to raise the child co-dependently and equally with the mother, or even raise the kids as a single dad, prejudice and criticism would be faced by the man.
A second stereotype is that women must always be beautiful. Now as the standards of beauty and ideal look for women have definitely changed over time, the expectation that women should always look their best has most certainly not. Now more than ever, women face criticism from the media and friends and family's to be 'beautiful' which can be very harmful as this can cause low self-esteem amongst women and can lead to many dangerous outcomes like anorexia nervosa, mutilation of bodies and putting dangerous chemicals on your body. This has been known to be a barbaric stereotype, especially due to Photoshop and to Hollywood's standards, actual 'beauty' is next to impossible.
In addition to this, there are many other stereotypes present to both genders which can influence people. For example, if we were to consider males you have the 'nerd' stereotype which typically involves a man who is not muscly and gifted, stereotypically wears glasses and is generally unsuccessful with women. And there is a definite emphasis on this stereotype today, with examples such as The Inbetweeners Movie starring James Buckley.
In this trailer, we can see clear evidence that these stereotypes are shown in the movie, and have been used for comedic purposes. For starters, alongside the nerd stereotype, we also have the idiot stereotype, which is their stupidity and lack of common knowledge is so laughable, their chances with women are as appalling as the nerds. This is shown with Neil in the coach scene where the mise en scene shows a mid shot of Jay and Neil telling Will about how they don't plan to see the Greek structures, to which Neil says "You can see that s*it anywhere" which is clearly a foolish remark as common knowledge tells us greek structures are in Greece only, therefore we can laugh at Neil's stupidity, while feeling sympathetic for him, which is what the director was attempting to do.
In addition, if we are to look at how women are represented in The Inbetweeners Movie trailer, the stereotypes used still provide a negative light as the stereotype that women should be more no than sex objects is clearly used often. An example is how Jay says "two weeks of sun, sea, booze, minge, f*nny and sex." which is how Jay has described women. These rather offensive and degrading nouns which are colloquialisms for women show how the men, Jay, in particular, view women in an almost primal sense, objects of reproductive and sexual utility, and not much else, also portraying women in a negative way. In addition, the stereotype that women should conform to men's standards of beauty is also shown in the movie, when the guys have successfully engaged with the ladies and Jay says "I better not get the fat one." while addressing Jane, which shows how degraded women are portrayed in this movie. If a woman does not possess a body which fits Hollywood's beauty standards, they deserve to be criticised, scolded and degraded by men, is the ideal shown in this movie. Plus, it also shows how selfish, primal and Machiavellian men are, however, it is comedic as the trailer later shows a long shot where Jay is bored while in conversation with Jane, showing punishment on Jay's sake for being so offensive towards women. Therefore as there is the use of Schadenfreude in the trailer, the movie is allowed to use these regressive stereotypes as punishment has been given to these men, making it funny, rather than downright sexist.
Let's start with the men. As humans have evolved, nature tended to favour men in the primitive times as they would provide for the women and child while the mother would care for the said child and be submissive to the man. Granted, its nothing like this nowadays but as a result, stereotypes linking to this have risen. The first is how all men are supposed to be strong. This originated in medieval times as if men were strong and valiant, they would receive eternal glory and would be heroines. As such, society began to believe that if you weren't strong like Hercules for example, you not in the real sense a 'man' and would be discarded and rejected by women for either wife's or otherwise. This is a total barbaric stereotype as not all men are strong, and this expectation to be 'masculine' has caused much emotional abuse and self-pity for men and as this can link to excessive straining exercise, or can even link to anorexia nervosa, which can cause both physical and emotional damage.
A second stereotype is that men must be in charge of the household. Now typically you would argue this is way worse for the women as they're submissive and were often abused by their husband's (See A Streetcar Named Desire starring Marlon Brando for evidence), but could this be unpleasant for the men?
As men are supposed to be the dominant figure, they are expected to be somewhat cruel and demanding and is plausible that said man would not wish to have this attitude as they would wish to be caring and love their wives. Moreover, they may not even desire a wife due to asexuality, homosexuality or any other logical explanation, thus this can also hurt men emotionally as this expectation to aspire to can cause self-hatred from the said male.
Now to look at the women. Unfortunately, women have a whole case study of regressive stereotypes that still continue to hold back women. One example is that women are expected to a) have children and b) care solely for them. this is again a very unpleasant stereotype as back in the old days, women's primary purpose for existence was to have kids and raise them (with a strong prejudice against female youth.) This provides little joy for women as this stereotype enforces how the men don't help, which means all the burden lies on their shoulder, which leaves little room for a career, social bonding and just generally a life. Plus as infertility amongst women has always been existent, this can result in emotional abuse being faced by the women either by themselves as they are upset they cannot bear children or from others, and in extreme cases can lead to physical abuse, with women being killed in ancient times if they could not give birth. Furthermore, even men can be affected badly by this as if the men wished to raise the child co-dependently and equally with the mother, or even raise the kids as a single dad, prejudice and criticism would be faced by the man.
A second stereotype is that women must always be beautiful. Now as the standards of beauty and ideal look for women have definitely changed over time, the expectation that women should always look their best has most certainly not. Now more than ever, women face criticism from the media and friends and family's to be 'beautiful' which can be very harmful as this can cause low self-esteem amongst women and can lead to many dangerous outcomes like anorexia nervosa, mutilation of bodies and putting dangerous chemicals on your body. This has been known to be a barbaric stereotype, especially due to Photoshop and to Hollywood's standards, actual 'beauty' is next to impossible.
In addition to this, there are many other stereotypes present to both genders which can influence people. For example, if we were to consider males you have the 'nerd' stereotype which typically involves a man who is not muscly and gifted, stereotypically wears glasses and is generally unsuccessful with women. And there is a definite emphasis on this stereotype today, with examples such as The Inbetweeners Movie starring James Buckley.
In this trailer, we can see clear evidence that these stereotypes are shown in the movie, and have been used for comedic purposes. For starters, alongside the nerd stereotype, we also have the idiot stereotype, which is their stupidity and lack of common knowledge is so laughable, their chances with women are as appalling as the nerds. This is shown with Neil in the coach scene where the mise en scene shows a mid shot of Jay and Neil telling Will about how they don't plan to see the Greek structures, to which Neil says "You can see that s*it anywhere" which is clearly a foolish remark as common knowledge tells us greek structures are in Greece only, therefore we can laugh at Neil's stupidity, while feeling sympathetic for him, which is what the director was attempting to do.
In addition, if we are to look at how women are represented in The Inbetweeners Movie trailer, the stereotypes used still provide a negative light as the stereotype that women should be more no than sex objects is clearly used often. An example is how Jay says "two weeks of sun, sea, booze, minge, f*nny and sex." which is how Jay has described women. These rather offensive and degrading nouns which are colloquialisms for women show how the men, Jay, in particular, view women in an almost primal sense, objects of reproductive and sexual utility, and not much else, also portraying women in a negative way. In addition, the stereotype that women should conform to men's standards of beauty is also shown in the movie, when the guys have successfully engaged with the ladies and Jay says "I better not get the fat one." while addressing Jane, which shows how degraded women are portrayed in this movie. If a woman does not possess a body which fits Hollywood's beauty standards, they deserve to be criticised, scolded and degraded by men, is the ideal shown in this movie. Plus, it also shows how selfish, primal and Machiavellian men are, however, it is comedic as the trailer later shows a long shot where Jay is bored while in conversation with Jane, showing punishment on Jay's sake for being so offensive towards women. Therefore as there is the use of Schadenfreude in the trailer, the movie is allowed to use these regressive stereotypes as punishment has been given to these men, making it funny, rather than downright sexist.
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