A quick study of misogyny in Marvel and DC's adaptations (movies and TV shows), and the evolutions in recent years of the vision of female characters.

1. Gender Inequalities in
Super-heroes movies
November 17, 2018

2. Why is the place of women in superheroes movies so
important?
“Cultural messages about gender within popular media can
become normative and influence real-world perceptions.”
Hillary Pennell, Elizabeth Behm-Morawitz (The Empowering (Super) Heroine? The
Effects of Sexualized Female Characters in Superhero Films on Women)

3. Tests and tropes

4. The Bechdel Test (1985) : three questions to perceive the
place of women in a movie
Are there two
named women in
the movie?
Do these women
talk to each other?
Is this conversation about
something else than a
man?

5. Bechdel test: statistics analysis
Movie that passes the test
Movies that don’t
2000
2005
12
4
8
2005
2010
8
2010
2015
17
9
8
2015
2018
20
12
8
6
10
4
Before
2000
4
4
6
10
49 %
51 %
All movies (Marvel & DC): Chronologically:

6. The Smurfette principle
“A group of male buddies will be accented by a lone female,
stereotypically defined… The message is clear. Boys are the norm,
girls the variation; boys are central, girls peripheral. ”
Katha Pollitt (in the New York Times, 1991)
Justice League (2017)

7. Women in refrigerators
= A female character who is harmed/killed/raped only to
serve as a motivation to the male hero to beat the bad guys
Green Lantern #54 (1994)
The Dark Knight : Rachel is killed to make Batman angry and then is
forgotten for the rest of the movie.

8. The over-use of harmful cliches

9. The love interest
Mary-Jane
(Spider-Man trilogy)
Lois Lane
(Man of Steel)
Christine Palmer
(Doctor Strange)
Sharon Carter
(Civil War)
Characteristics : pretty, bland and useless

10. The mother figure
May Parker
(The Amazing Spider-man)
Frigga
(Thor)
Martha Kent
(Man of Steel)
Characteristics: supportive, worried and comforting

11. The femme fatale
Selina Kyle
(The Dark Knight rises)
Natasha Romanov
(Avengers)
Ivy
(Gotham)
Emma Frost
(X-men : First class)
Characteristics : violent, sexy and manipulative

12. The problem with female costumes
1975 2016 20182012

13. Consequences of sexualisation of female characters on
women’s psyche
Body esteemEgalitarian gender role beliefs

14. Male behaviour: the dismissal of women’s opinion and
feelings
Deadpool (2016)

15. A new beginning for female characters?

16. For too long, producers didn’t believe in female superheroes
Elektra (2005) and Catwoman (2004) were just badly written and badly acted.

17. However, some others studios such as Pixar knew it was
possible
The Incredibles (2004)

18. The success of Wonder Woman: a change of paradigm?
Wonder Woman (2017)
93% of positive reviews
412
Box-office (US) in millions
330
325
291
229
Wonder Woman
Batman V Superman (2016)
Suicide Squad (2016)
Man of Steel (2013)
Justice League (2017)

19. The start of a new area
“The success of Wonder Woman is wonderful. It makes us
incredibly happy. Finally, we can put to rest the falsehood
that audiences don’t want to see female characters.”
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige
Captain Marvel (2019)

20. When women are not the lead, they’re still strong and
independent
Brunhilde
(Thor: Ragnarök)
Okoye
(Black Panther)
Gamora
(Guardians of the Galaxy)

21. Equality should not be the only goal of a movie: the most
important is still to make a good movie/show.
Supergirl (2015-now)

22. Thank you for your
attention
RIP Stan Lee
source: Maître et Talons)