"I
don't know about you but I can't shoot a gun… I've never even tried. To be
honest… I wouldn't trust any of those guys to wash my clothes."[1]
To what extent
does the representation of women in The Walking Dead challenge traditional
gender stereotypes?
Over
the years there have been many traditional roles of women in TV shows. Now that
we are living in a modern society some TV shows and some parts of shows still
show the traditional roles of women. For example, The Walking Dead[2] have
been showing these roles in since the show first aired in 2010. The Walking Dead
is a TV show that airs every Monday at 9pm on FOX TV[3]. The
story is about a zombie apocalypse and is focused on a group of survivors that
have to go through many different tasks and situations in order to survive in
this post-apocalyptic world. There are traditional male and female roles
involved that point towards the way society has not really changed over the
past few years and still clings to tradition. Alongside The Walking Dead I will
be making sure that I refer to two other texts. They will be The Sarah Connor
Chronicles and Desperate Housewives. These are texts that I want to be able to
explore and use for and against the question.
Feminism
has a big part to play. Feminists believe that both women and men should be
equal in society. For example “Some feminists believe that all
genders should always be treated in exactly the same way. They think that
people should not think that a person's gender is
important.”[4] This means women getting paid the same as men, women
being allowed to go out and not have to stay at home and be a housewife or have
a male take on that role. A feminist wants to be treated the same as men so
getting paid the same and having rights that should be equal etc. There are
different types of feminists. For example, liberal, radical, Marxists and socialist,
cultural and eco feminists.[5] You can
have women that go extreme with being feminism and believe that they should
only wear clothes made by women because they feel that men have power over
them, and you get feminist that aren’t as extreme and believe that they should
get the same amount of maternity leave like men should etc. So, there are
different types. Even though it is acting feminists can still say and show what
they feel is right about the situations and what is being aired on TV shows. For
example, a quote by Dr. Cullins that supports this is “They all have
expectations for the way women and men, girls and boys, should dress, behave,
and look[6]”. This means that
society and has expectations and beliefs that women and men should act and be a
certain way. They want to become more modern and get rid of the traditional
roles that have stuck by them for many, many years. Years ago women weren’t
allowed to have a job or go out with friends. They would have to stay at home
take care of children, feed the family. This was a role of a traditional
housewife. Women now want to get be more independent and not have this role.
Years ago teenagers had to get married at a young age and automatically have a
family because of the way they were brought up and the way society told them
how to act. This would make it wrong for them to want to study and make a
career for themselves. Over the years the role has changed where you can get
married at 40 years old and it will be ok. Society has adapted and it’s become
natural for women to get married when they are older and not have children like
they would have had to 50 years ago.
Over
the couple of years the role of a “typical woman” or “typical housewife” has
changed. For example, “The
young woman is a supporter, someone who can stay home and help with household
tasks while the men earn income and develop their education.[7]” Women aren’t seen in
that way as much as society itself has changed and has become used to the fact
that women are developing more and more. Women aren’t seen as this as they can
get a job and work and not have a family or a partner and this will be seen as
a good as many women want to be like this. If a women sees a another woman
earning a double amount of money that they do, not have a family or anything to
tie them down or have children and can afford to go on holiday every year-they
will be jealous because they will envy this role as that women is seen as
strong and independent as they don’t need a male figure to rely on. They can do
it for themselves. This is the role that Michonne in The Walking Dead shows.
She can do things for herself and defend herself. This is something that women
hope to be and they watch this. In some cases women are still showing that
traditional stereotype but not as much. For example, in TV show The Sarah Connor
chronicles, Sarah is shown as a strong young mum who fights off a female robot
which is seen in a sexual way. Feminists don’t want to be seen in that way.
They want to be shown as equal women who don’t depend on anyone and work for
themselves, who fight and argue without anyone’s help. But why is still hard to
show this?
However,
Michonne in The Walking Dead isn’t seen in a sexual way. This could be by the
way she’s dressed or how she acts. Because she acts masculine this may not
appeal to the male audience. Laura Mulvey[8] believes
that films and advertisement that show women are there to please the male
audience. This is because they could be shown in a sexual way or that the
company uses an attractive woman because they know that if they an attractive
women they will get more views or the male audience will buy whatever the women
is on. For example, John Berger (1972)[9] studied
the European nudes and he found out that women are often shown in front of a
mirror and painted. This could because they want to show how they look and what
they could change on their body to be more attractive. Also, Berger said that
“They reassure men of their sexual power and at the same moment deny any
sexuality of women other than the male construction. They are evidence of
gendered difference. Because any effort to replace the women in these images with
a man violates ‘the assumptions of the likely viewer.”
We
will be focusing on The Walking Dead a great TV show that presents females as
independent and are able to handle themselves. This TV show does show some
hints of stereotypes with the women in the show but it also contradicts itself by
showing the non traditional side which is the part that should be shown more in
TV shows and films. The women in this show are shown as strong, independent women
who are defending themselves everyday from evil people and the zombies that
they have to fight. The men are also taking care of themselves. Women aren’t
associated with fighting or have anything to do with it. Women normally
associate aggressive behaviour with men. Women in The Walking Dead aren’t like this and
they can handle seeing blood and gore, they can handle getting a few bruises or
getting a wound. These are women that other women may see and find inspiring as
they may want to be able to not let that tradition define who they are.
The
way that Michonne dresses is simple and plain-she doesn’t wear dresses or carry
handbags as she needs to carry weapons to defend herself. They don’t have
luxuries like that for them to wear and they wouldn’t set it like that as they
need it to be realistic. They can’t show a woman in a dress fighting a zombie
as it doesn’t work. The setting in the show is always dull and has a scary
atmosphere about it. Women don’t carry weapons around with them but because she
needs to kill zombies she needs to carry it so that she can survive. Michonne
and Carol have to be like this. They have to show that they can survive and
that they don’t get upset when someone close by dies because they are used to
it now. Normally women would be sensitive and emotional when seeing things like
this happen but when put in difficult situations you have to be tough and
that’s hard for women as in general they are emotional. “Many women believe that they can do what they want, when
they want and how they want. You can have many different types of women like
aggressive, sad, happy, seductive, and manipulative but a majority of them
aren’t what they used to be or what they are[10]”.This
shows that they can be how they want to do what they want without anyone
judging them. You get different types of women that take things differently but
a majority of them are becoming more masculine in the roles they take one and
what and how they act. Everything is changing.
For
example, at one point the women will be fighting and killing then in the next
episode they will be caring for children and babies and providing for the
friends and family around which means that they would be cooking for everyone.
This shows that women can show their traditional stereotypes but it would be
good if they showed the other side to it as well so that it shows that women
shouldn’t be underestimated by what they do and how they do certain things. It’s
good that women can show their natural maternal traits but when they don’t want
to be portrayed in that way then it’s hard to show that as many roles are
dominated by men. Even men are showing their maternal side in TWD (The walking
dead) when they have to care for the children or cook. So, it’s not just women
that has to do these things-men can also do it. Therefore, domestic work is not
just restricted to women but also to men.
This
is difficult for people to understand as still to this day they will still not
let women do a certain role because “it’s a man’s job” or won’t let women play
the strong female character as much in films. This does still happen. Most
films nowadays and TV shows do let women be the protagonist but they still have
a slightly traditional role of being a sex object and damsel in distress in
between. You won’t often see woman play a normal aggressive, masculine role as
they think they can’t do it or that it will upset other females because they
are shown to that extent. For example, “These
women engaged in masculine types of violence (fought against males and
strangers most of the time, often used weapons and caused high levels of
destruction), yet retained feminine stereotypes due to their submissive role
and romantic involvement with the dominant male hero character.[11]” This shows that women will still have
to show their feminine side. For example, they could be killing someone but be
seen as a sex object or be a sidekick for a male actor etc. They want to be
able to show much a wider role that they can do rather than being someone’s
sidekick and have a bigger role. It’s a fact that men get a job more quickly
than women and women don’t get the bigger role in movies because it wouldn’t
seem right for that role to be played by a woman. This is why there are
feminists around as they believe that it should be equal the way the men and
women are treated. These are roles that are in the action genre and thriller
roles. They think because it’s a female they can’t fight or be aggressive. The
roles that women have will always stick on them.
Some
females are still traditional themselves they believe that they should be
housewives or only stay in the kitchen and be known for it. For example when
women are being shown in a tough way they will still sometimes be in the
background, rather than the limelight. For example they will have a strong male
character then a sidekick which would normally be a woman and this happens in
TV and in films. “Despite an increase in tough and even violent female
characters in American films, women continue to be shown as sidekicks to more
dominant male heroes and they are also frequently involved in a romantic relationship
with them.[12]”
This shows that women still don’t get the main part they would like to play and
be stuck with the part that still portrays them as weak and sensitive females.
When women are being shown in this way
then it’s harder for people to process that times have changed and women can be
aggressive and rude or be violent just like men can be. Women should be allowed
to play the roles that a man can. Why can’t they? Because there not supposed
to? It’s not a good thing for this to keep happening as i said times have
changed and they should be able to do whatever role they want and feel
comfortable with. For example, “You can have
many different types of women like aggressive, sad, happy, seductive;
manipulative-but a majority of them aren’t what they used to be or what they
are “supposed” to be like 30 years ago or less[13].” This is true as many women can be like
this and do think like this.
Sarah Connor is a good representation of what women can do what
they want, when they and how they want and they can show this in the TV
industry. Sarah Connor is a well-known TV show that is part of the terminator
played by Arnold Schwarzenegger. You can see that they changed the role to
women as they thought that women would be right to play this role-and they were.
This show was successful, and it showed other women how women can be or what
they can do. For example, the way Sarah fought or knew how to do certain things
was empowering to some women. This showed that she wasn’t acting like a damsel
in distress (Propp)[14] like a
lot of people would expect from women to be because of the way society portrays
and stereotypes females. The Sarah Connor Chronicles did show and spark many
problems as many people didn’t believe that women should condone violence. The
other character that was played by a woman who was the robot was not an enemy
but a friend and she was shown as a sex object due to the revealing and tight
clothes (Mulvey)[15]
that she was wearing and the way that she represented herself. Even though, she
was a good actor and was supposed to be seen in an aggressive way she wasn’t as
many people couldn’t see pass the sexual object phase that she had. Feminists
believe that women shouldn’t be seen as sexual objects and seen as equals and
be seen in good ways.
However, in TV show ‘Desperate Housewives’[16] Bree
Van De Kamp is shown as a sexual object and is a feisty character. She is known
for getting her way through poisoning people, being aggressive towards male
characters etc. Even though this isn’t a TV show that relates to action packed
programmes like TWD and Sarah Connor chronicles[17], it
still makes sense to use it as it’s something that supports my question that
females are showing that they can be non-traditional and do what they want.
Bree has been a character that has shown her funny side and serious
side-meaning that if something went wrong she would make sure that she fixed
the problem with killing or hurting them. Bree shows her power through the
clothes she wears as they are seductive and she uses her sexuality to get her
way. Whereas Michonne and Sarah use their mind and strength. This shows that
Bree knows what men and women want and goes and does it. Bree knows she is a
sex object for men and uses that to her advantage to make the opposite sex
weaker and tries to hurt them like that rather than using her strength. Being sexy
and older is all she has. Michonne, Sarah and Bree all have something in common
and that’s that they are women and that they share traits that aren’t a
traditional role that women take one. You don’t see women fighting in road or
women killing other people as much because it’s not in their nature. But now
that society are allowing films and TV shows to allow for people to watch what
they can do-opens the frame of mind that women can be like this and that they
should feel underestimated in what they do. For example, if a women was a
playing a role of a cheerleader and she needs to act unintelligent-a lot of
people are going to think that because she isn’t smart she can’t do anything which
isn’t true.
In conclusion, the walking dead has challenged the traditional
stereotypes by the way that the females have to act in order for their role to
be good. The walking dead women do sometimes show their sensitive side but
because of the role that they are playing they need to stay fit and healthy and
fight a majority of the time and be strong minded. Women are seen as seen as
weak minded sensitive and sex objects. TWD doesn’t show these things. If women
are seen as a sex object in TWD its not by the way she dresses or how she walks
it’s how they are and what they act like. You don’t need to be women to cook,
clean and look after kids. Men can do the same and the walking dead does show
that. Many TV shows and films need to show women in the best of their ability
of what they can do and not keep them in the same role that they are used
to-this could be a damsel in distress or a sidekick etc. Women have a lot more
to show than the role that get given and this shown in The Walking Dead.
Word
Count: 3,180
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