Figure 4a
Figure 4b
Figures 4a and 4b shows a bar graph and a table which shows what films the respondents watched. The important films are G.I. Jane, Tomb Raider and Charlies Angels. The table shows that the films that were most seen were Tomb Raider Terminator and Charlies Angels with 79%, 76% and 84% of the total respondents have watched the films respectively. Fewest people have watched G.I. Jane which would not prove too useful as it is important to my study as the heroine in this film transformed into a masculine female while Tomb Raider and the Charlies Angels heroines kept their femininity to maintain the attractive, seductive look which would contrast with G.I. Jane.
Figure 5a
Figure 5b
Figure 5a and 5b shows a pie chart and table which shows, in percentage, the number or respondents who think Hollywood directors objectify women as objects of desire. Most of respondents (89%) said Hollywood directors do objectify women as objects of desire. With the remaining few who said no, were mainly males with 1 female who stated no. This relates to my problematic, “how are female heroines portrayed in Action adventure films” as this show that Hollywood directors do represent women as objects of desire.
Figure 6a
Figure 6b
In figures 6a and 6b, the pie chart and table shows that a majority of my respondents prefer a Hero in an action film, than a Heroine. Majority of the males and females said that they prefer a Hero which is 82% of the total number of respondents. This is contrasted with my original opinion where males would prefer a Heroine to satisfy the male gaze, therefore heroines are represented as objects of desire. Although my pilot study did not show that the question was a breach of confidentiality, due to sample I have asked to complete the pilot study didn’t mind the question, the main sample for the final questionnaire probably did find the question embarrassing.
Figure 7a
Figure 7b
Figures 7a and 7b shows a pie chart and table which shows what the number and percentage of respondents think about equality in Hollywood Action films. Majority (over 50%) of the respondents said that Hollywood do not represent the Heroines and Heroes equally. This relates to my research as it shows how Hollywood directors portray women. In Laura Mulveys – Visual Pleasure and narrative cinema, she says there is the split between the active/male and passive/female which shows that Hollywood do not represent the sexes equally, but as the new trend of action films which contain a strong powerful Heroine instead of a strong powerful Hero, would suggest that Hollywood would finally be representing them equally. In Marc O’Days – Gender, spectacle and Action babe cinema, he states that the hero and heroine can increasingly be viewed as active and passive which would relate to the new action films containing heroines. This shows a very close trend, as there is a difference of 7 respondents (18%) between “Yes” and “No”.
Figure 8a
Figure 8b
Figure 8 shows a graph which shows the number of respondents who would describe the 3 heroines in Charlies Angels in a certain way. The most responses was “Sexy & Attractive”, with 73% and 65% respectively. This relates to how the heroines are portrayed by Hollywood so therefore satisfying the male gaze and objectifies women.
Figure 9
Figure 9 Shows the percentage of why my respondents linked the Heroines in Charlies Angels with the descriptions. Most of them said that it is to make them a role model for women (35%) with 30% saying it makes them an object of desire. The respondents mainly the females said that the Heroines make a role model for the Women (female gaze) so that women can be like the heroines, which is be sexy, attractive and skilled and with males mainly stating that they are objects of desire.
Figure 10a
Figure 10b
Figure 10 shows what the respondents describe Lara Croft in Tomb Raider as. Similar to the Charlies Angels Heroines, Lara Croft was described as “Sexy”, “Attractive”, “Skilled” and “Smart”.
Figure 11
Figure 11 shows that most of the respondents stated that Lara Croft is objectified as an object of desire. This shows that Hollywood directors portray women as objects of desire which satisfies the male gaze.
Figure 12a
Figure 12b
Figure 12 shows a bar chart which shows how the respondents would describe the Heroine in G.I. Jane. Although most of the respondents have not seen G.I. Jane the few who have said that the Heroine is Masculine, Skilled, Muscular and Smart with their percentages shown in figures 12b.
Figure 13
Figure 13 shows that the respondents think the Heroine in G.I. Jane is represented to make the audience take her role more seriously.
From Figures 8 – 13, the information I have collected shows that Tomb Raider and Charlies Angels are represented as objects of desire, so satisfying the male gaze by making the Heroines “Sexy”, “Attractive”, “Multi-Skilled”, and “Smart”. This is however in contrast with G.I. Jane, where although is similar in “Multi-Skilled” and “Smart”, the heroine is not as attractive and sexy, but rather more “Muscular” and “Masculine” therefore not objectifying the heroine as an object of desire. This shows that the woman had to be represented as more manly/masculine to be taken seriously by the audience.
This primary research method have been helpful in answering my problematic of “How are Heroines represented in action films” as the women are needed to be more masculine to be treated seriously otherwise they are objectified and made into an object of desire to suit the male gaze. Although the question “Would you prefer a Hero or Heroine in an action adventure film” resulted in most respondents preferring a Hero contradicts that male audiences watch the action films to satisfy the male gaze due to most of them stating they preferred a Hero. This question would have been embarrassing to some people, therefore a more thorough pilot study should be conducted as the sample I have given it to did not find it rather embarrassing.
The pilot study I have conducted showed that my questionnaire contained some leading questions I have slightly altered the final questionnaire to correct this, by offering a option to enter the respondents own opinion. I would also have liked to shorten the number of options available for questions 8, 9 and 10, but I have put the amount of descriptions in the question to avoid it being leading as it has a fair amount of the more feminine descriptions and the masculine descriptions. Also what was disappointing was that most of the respondents have not seen G.I. Jane (12 respondents out of 37) meant I had less accurate sample to represent a whole population. I could have improved this by giving the questionnaire to Film Studies students who would have had more academic knowledge on G.I. Jane.
