By Eden Haddad
With humanity’s technological advances, it comes to no surprise that preexisting issues would evolve alongside it. With cases such as gender inequality, that exist on all levels of society and in all forms, it is only natural to be able to witness its evolution and track it in the different shapes it can take on. When considering an industry as large and as lucrative as Hollywood and the film-making industry as a whole in the West, it comes to no surprise that the grip it holds is one that reverberates behind the scenes and through the screens. The constant attention afforded to this trade and the people involved in it builds a mounting pressure of conformity to maintain the attention provided as positive rather than negative, especially when considering the nuances of sex and their appeals, and the different expectations placed on different genders.
Considering their existence in the limelight, and the existence of those above them in rank in the shadows, it is only obvious that a power imbalance would prevail as well. Gender and power have long since been intertwined and the best example of the multiple degrees of its existence can be found in Hollywood, specifically the numerous ways power can be wielded to reinforce harmful gender norms, stereotypes and expectations externally, as well as its different internal shapes.
The Portrayal of Women in Cinema:
When cinema in the West began, it was an instantaneous success. Everyone was interested to see the moving picture, and as time progressed and different genres emerged, cinema began to be both a form of escapism and an idealized alternate path for humanity to take inspiration from. It was supposed to show the best and worst of the human race, to discuss and display issues with the gravitas of art. While there remain some aspects of that left, however, the majority of the industry is simply and only concerned with the monetary facet that can be gained—the machinery of capitalism has made it so, thus the focus would shift. It no longer was about art or truth, but marketing. And what better object to market than humans? With humans, one can mold them, shape them into whatever prevailing trend is occurring at the time, taking a heightened interest in a specific physical feature to an almost obsessive standard that is unattainable. The recipients as well, are being conformed as the image of the so-called “perfect human” worms its way unconsciously into the recesses of the mind. It begins with the people behind the camera, shaping the story and the actress to fit the eyes of the viewer. The sexualization that women endure creates a lack of autonomy which is perpetuated in a cycle of exploitation.
In an effort to maintain this standard, great lengths must be taken by actresses in order to remain pertinent in their field of work or face unemployment. In the age of social media as well, this must be further taken up for relevancy to remain high. By being marketed by the industry, one eventually begins to market themselves, removing responsibility from the institution and placing it on themselves. The inner pressure to constantly be received as perfect leads to harmful effects, such as a teenager actress dressing and behaving as though she was much older, leading her to become sexualized as well. The cycle continues, because of the aid of its exploitation.
Power as the Ultimate Master:
The power that the audience wields over both the cinema and their own realities is a considerable one that reflects the state of society as a whole. Society has become fixated on how to turn a profit from every possible angle that could be created, that it sells whatever trend is having breath breathed into it. For the current time of this paper’s writing, sex is the trend that is being sold. The eroticization of human bodies has become a fixated must in all forms of art and it has spawned an industry steeped in shallowness and power abuse. Growing up in the culture of media and social media, the foremost image printed among the inner lens of my eye was one of the perfect woman—the epitome of beauty that women everywhere were to aspire to. She was the lead in all stories, the woman meant to portray all women and everyone shaped themselves after her. So, when they naturally fell short, they took it upon themselves to “fix” that – in every possible, achievable way. Makeup, plastic surgery, extreme weight loss plans that are a thinly veiled shroud for eating disorders… and as trends died and were born again, the facial features of the perfect person changed.
She began to be ethnically ambiguous. Obviously Caucasian, but with ethnic features that cannot be obtained naturally. Previous trends were augmented on a drastic scale, with people having surgery to look like other races, and claiming themselves as that race. Meanwhile, these different races faced racism and microaggressions, because of their birth. It’s a pattern of exclusion that further drives this twisted idea of beauty that is normalized. It is a performance that is brought to reality and carries dangerous health side effects that are considered to be normal collateral damage – something that is worth it. Among our Lebanese society, this is seen from generations past. Plastic surgery is so normalized that pre-crisis, the banks offered loans for that purpose. An entire institution is built to prey on human vulnerability and the want and need to be better than oneself.
It is impossible to separate power from the issues of gender, especially in the case of Hollywood. After all, there still remains much to be said about the abuse that can occur in such situations. Multiple people have spoken out about it as well, with an entire movement taking place in 2017 titled “metoo”. However, in the nuances of power, the abuse one suffers at their own hands remains to be a subject that requires expanding upon, expressively due to the external influences playing on the unconscious nature of it and its material effects. What is seen on the big or small screen is fiction, yet it is hard to see it as such when our own fantasies, hopes and dreams are projected onto it. The blurred line between reality only serves to cause harm and benefit a power-hungry, money-hungry society that feeds off of such instances. Indeed, if there was to be a unanimous confidence and comfortability to occur in each person overnight, the entire film industry would scramble and be turned on its head.