CAREER AMBITION AND IN ENTERTAINMENT MEDIA

By

GENEVIÈVE MARQUIS

Integrated Studies Final Project Essay (MAIS 700)

submitted to Dr. Nanci Langford

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of

Master of Arts – Integrated Studies

Athabasca, Alberta

August, 2014

ABSTRACT

Films are a reflection of society and culture and thus serve as a source of information for both children and young adults in their construction of identity. By examining several different disciplines such as psychology, visual culture, and gender studies, the paper provides an analysis of the literature found on gender stereotypes in entertainment media – as well as in motion pictures – which reveals that career ambition for leading female characters does not hold sufficient importance in the storyline. Existing research has found that entertainment media focuses on romantic relationships in which both men and women assume roles deemed culturally appropriate. By analyzing the following categories: social standing and social roles; age, physical appearance and representation; education and gender roles; and occupational profession and gender, the paper reveals that female and male roles remain highly gendered and that they are stereotypically portrayed. Knowledge of gender portrayals in entertainment media becomes important because it informs us about the perception of culturally acceptable roles for both women and men. 1

INTRODUCTION

Films are a reflection of society and culture and thus serve as a source of information for both children and young adults in their construction of identity. In this light, the cognitive process involved in the construction of identity is based on situational theory in which both personality and identity are shaped by specific environmental factors that reinforce and influence behaviour (Wallace, 2011, p. 96). Since identity is a social construct that is “closely linked to or aligned with environments external to ourselves” (Wallace, 2011, p. 112), the process of selecting, arranging and understanding information about the self in relationship to the environment is based on perception. To this effect, the process of social perception consists of three elements: the perceiver; the target; and the context (Wilson & Rees, 2001, p. 127). In modern society, the context – or environment – is created and sustained almost exclusively by . Television, film, magazine, newspaper, video, and the internet affect our perception of information about the world in which we live in and about ourselves. In addition, social perception is shaped by a plethora of gender portrayals, one of which is centred on professional occupations.

In this paper I argue that mass media – particularly entertainment media – portrays specific gender norms for women and men. If children and young adults draw information about their world from the media, then motion pictures have an impact on the social education of these individuals (Tanner, Haddock, Zimmerman, Lund, 2003). Assumptions and ideas about gender portrayals on-screen have the ability to influence gender stereotypes off-screen (Lauzen, Dozier

& Horan, 2008). In this light, what messages do stereotyped aspirations and occupations based on gender send out to audiences? More specifically, my research question is: how do the messages about female and male career ambition that the words and images of selected

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Hollywood films portray exemplify existing research findings about entertainment media and gender stereotypes? With this question in mind, the paper sets out to identify different types of gender stereotypes in both entertainment media and motion pictures in order to examine the importance given to professional ambition in the storyline. This examination might help shed light towards understanding the importance of the role that the film industry plays in shaping children’s and young adults’ perception on career aspirations, professions, and gender roles.

Much has been documented on stereotypes in media and this paper contributes to the literature on the subject (Collins, 2011; Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008; Smith & Cook, 2008;

Smith, Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper, 2013). By examining several disciplines such as psychology, visual culture, and gender studies, the paper provides an analysis of stereotypes in entertainment media to answer the question about career ambition. The paper begins with the argument that entertainment media is responsible for portraying specific gender norms between women and men. Moreover, the way by which entertainment media portrays gender stereotypes is responsible for shaping the way we see the world around us. How much emphasis then does the movie industry put on professional occupations? How is career ambition portrayed? While the findings are informative, they reveal that ambition – for both women and men – is a theme that is downplayed in entertainment media, especially in motion pictures. The analysis also calls for a need to re-evaluate themes in movies because if “basic social roles enacted by characters contribute to viewer expectation and beliefs about gender” (Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008, p.

202), then the maintenance of the same only gets perpetuated again and again. In the end, the paper addresses a cross-disciplinary problem in the hope of contributing to a better understanding of how media and films influence perception.

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METHOD

In order to answer the research question, my method primarily draws on literature about gender and occupational stereotyping in entertainment media. The literature selection is an important part of the paper because it allows for an understanding of the topic insofar as to demonstrate what has already been found and what the key issues are. My literature was selected by using Google Scholar, a search engine which provides access to scholarly books and articles which I found to be very helpful. Keywords used for my research were ' and media', 'mass media stereotype', 'media stereotype and interdisciplinary', 'career stereotype and media', 'occupational portrayal and films', 'gender and media', 'gender film analysis', 'gender images and films' and 'gender portrayal and media'. My search yielded a wide range of interdisciplinary results from disciplines such as psychology, sociology, and cultural studies to gender studies and visual arts. In order to effectively select the literature in light of my research question, I sifted through the abstracts of the results and chose literature that dealt specifically with the portrayal of gender stereotypes in entertainment media. Once my literature was selected, I took notes about interesting pieces of information, insights found, and thoughts on how to organize my paper. I also selected literature from previous courses taken in my MAIS program. Having kept notebooks on all my readings, I sifted through them and selected articles that dealt with behavioural studies applied to organizations such as workplace settings. Articles and chapters dealing with psychological formation of identity and social perception were thus selected.

It is important to mention that my method also uses motion pictures. Four films have been selected to examine how messages about female and male career ambition exemplify existing research about entertainment media and gender stereotypes: (1) Morning Glory; (2) My

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Big Fat Greek Wedding; (3) I Don't Know How She Does It; and (4) Bridesmaids. The movies selected were based on purposive sampling – also known as judgement sampling (Palys, 2008) – of leading female character roles that had an impact on me. The selection was further refined to include criteria such as portraying lead female characters as being active players in their personal and/or professional lives, and that the movie genre depicted a somewhat normal day-to-day life.

According to the research studies done on gender stereotypes in the media (Lauzen,

Dozier & Horan, 2008; Smith, Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper, 2013; Smith & Cook, 2008; Collins,

2011), not only do lead female characters inhabit interpersonal roles that focus on , family, and friends but they are often sexualized and lack gainful employment whereas men are depicted in work-related roles. In addition, studies (Steinke, 2005; Seiter, 1986) have found that gender-related stereotypes are not created equal and convey cultural and social assumptions about gender roles. Because visual culture is embedded in films and mass media (Mitchell,

1995), the importance of research conducted on media's impact to act as a source of information for audiences cannot be under-estimated (Tanner, Haddock, Zimmerman & Lund, 2003). This becomes increasingly important when applied to cognitive behaviour in trying to understand the constructs of both personality and identity in which social perception plays a key role. The next section addresses key findings of the research literature.

GENDER STEREOTYPES AND THE MEDIA

In order to understand how the media uses stereotypes to portray women and men occupationally we must first begin by defining the term itself. For Wilson and Rees (2011), stereotyping is “a particular form of perceptual short cut and involves making assumptions and judgements about other people on the basis of limited information” (p. 130). Stereotyping is also linked to perception insofar that it is an unconscious psychological process that requires an

5 interaction of an infinite number of factors and variables which, ultimately, makes the process highly subjective (Wilson & Rees, 2011). The outcome of this mental process produces outward manifestations that can guide and determine behaviour in the perceiver (Wilson & Rees, 2011, p.

126). When stereotyping is applied to entertainment media it is intended to produce visual images. Mitchell (1995) argues that visual images are cultural artifacts that are products of their time as well as being a medium through which messages are communicated to intended audiences. As such, the film industry is deeply engrained in visual culture by reflecting political and social discourses, identity formation, sexuality, and other cultural tendencies (Mitchell,

1995). By being “grounded not just in the interpretation of images, but also in the description of the social field of the gaze, the construction of subjectivity, identity, desire, memory and imagination” (Mitchell, 1995, p. 544), visual culture – though media and films – creates and sustains different forms of stereotyping.

In a study, Seiter (1986) found that stereotypes were not defined in psychological or politically neutral terms but were instead a mirror of the society that produced them. This is also supported by Mitchell (1995). The relationship between popular culture and society constitutes an important variable in evaluating stereotypes in the media. Seiter (1986) uncovered how stereotypes “contain[ed] an evaluation that justifie[d] social differences” (p. 16). For instance, women are usually depicted “in terms of their personal relationships to men and in terms of their sexuality, while white men are rarely described this way” (p. 19). In addition, “qualities such as assertiveness are evaluated very differently depending on the race, class, and age of the group to whom they refer and the group that makes the judgement” (p. 18).

Both television and film industries share common cultural values regarding gender which assign traditional roles to women (Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008). Studies on the construction

6 of gender stereotypes found that the main focus of female characters is centred on their marital role rather than on their occupational role as it is the case for male characters (Lauzen, Dozier &

Horan, 2008). Moreover, research found that the knowledge of a character's occupation has great potential in influencing and reinforcing gender stereotypes in targeted audiences. By portraying women and men in traditional roles, entertainment media reinforces traditional gender stereotypes in which “men represent the ideal or norm against which women are judged. As such, women become the perpetual other, valued primarily in their relations to others, men in particular” (Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008, p. 201). In sum, the knowledge of a character's occupational role and personal role is essential for the construction of gender stereotypes both on-screen and off-screen.

PORTRAYAL OF GENDER AND SOCIAL ROLES IN THE MEDIA

Gender-related portrayals in the media have demonstrated that time and again, women remain under-represented (Collins, 2011; Smith, Pieper, Granados, Choueiti, 2010). Moreover, when women are represented, they “are typically scantily dressed and relegated to stereotypical roles” (Collins, 2011, p. 290). Although women now represent more than half of the workforce, entertainment media still has not adopted the current representation ratio between the sexes

(Collins, 2011). Gender-related stereotypes pervade top-grossing G-rated films in which issues of representation as well as tradition continue to dominate as underlying themes (Smith, Pieper,

Granados, Choueiti, 2010). In addition, female characters' success is measured by how they look rather than by what they do as it is the case for male characters (Flicker, 2003; Steinke, 2005;

Lauzen & Dozier, 2005). By focusing on physical appearances, women are depicted as being younger in age than men by remaining “forever frozen in their 20s and 30s” (Lauzen & Dozier,

2005, p. 437). The underlying effect of showing women in this specific age group contributes to

7 maintaining and reinforcing the double-standard that exists in the portrayal of age and gender in popular films (Collins, 2011; Lauzen & Dozier, 2005; Smith, Pieper, Granados & Choueiti,

2010). Age portrayal between women and men is also reflected in workplace settings where female characters are depicted as having “a more limited range of occupations, h[olding] lower- status positions, and wield[ing] less power than men have” (Lauzen & Dozier, 2005, p. 438).

CHARACTER OCCUPATION BY GENDER IN THE MEDIA

Gender roles and occupations are intertwined inasmuch that they convey and reinforce stereotypes about the lives and roles of both women and men (Steinke, 2005). In the majority of popular PG and PG-13 films from the 1990s onwards, the movie industry emphasizes more on physical appearance of women characters rather than their academics or careers (Flicker, 2003;

Steinke, 2005). The portrayal of occupation continues to be largely gendered insofar as reinforcing the notion that men represent the ideal or norm against which women are judged.

Not only are women characters less present on-screen than males, but “they are often sexualized, domesticated, and sometimes lack gainful employment” (Smith, Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper,

2013). In this light, Smith and Cook (2008) argue that female characters' aspirations are short sighted and women can be classified into one of three categories: (1) “daydreamer is a woman who dreams only of romantic love; (2) derailed is a woman who expresses a desire for one thing and then is broadsided by romantic love; and (3) daredevil is a woman who expresses a goal that will move her towards her ambition” (p. 17). The movie industry continues to depict gender stereotypes by focusing on traditionality surrounding female and male characters (Smith &

Cook, 2008). The issue of gender imbalance – or under-representation – is a reoccurring theme.

Moreover, in US box office movies rated PG and PG-13 between 2006 and 2011, the majority of male and female characters were depicted as being Caucasian with women holding occupations

8 in administrative settings whereas men were most likely to hold occupations in military/law enforcement or arts/entertainment and athletics (Smith, Choueiti & Stern, 2013; Smith, Choueiti,

Prescott & Pieper, 2013). One must remember that in films – like in all other forms of mass media – images are “small snapshots or portraits of women assuming roles that have been culturally defined as appropriate and acceptable for women in American society” (Steinke, 2005, p. 28).

The literature reveals that images of lead women characters holding occupational professions are an important framework that not only informs us on the importance of visual images in films, but also on disciplines such psychology and gender studies. Because “movies and television are simply the most conspicuous, powerful, and pervasive forms of visual culture in our time” (Mitchell, 1995, p. 543), they act as cultural artifacts that reflect the environment in which they were created in. The way women and men are portrayed on-screen also has the ability to affect people's perception on gender off-screen (Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008).

Gender stereotypes in entertainment media send distorted messages to audiences of all ages. In this light, stereotyped messages surrounding tradition and representation have the ability to become normalized with enough time and repeated exposure from viewers (Smith, Choueiti,

Prescott & Pieper, 2013). Furthermore, “this normalization process may spill over to other arenas, where girls/young women and boys/young men fail to question or even perceive gender bias in a variety of academic, athletic, social, or even occupational contexts” (Smith, Choueiti,

Prescott & Pieper, 2013, p. 19). Because “media convey[s] and reinforce[s] cultural assumption about the lives and role of women in America” (Steinke, 2005, p. 27), we must be aware of the social impact that motion pictures have on the creation of both identity and personality, especially in young viewers. This brings us back to situational theory in which “identity is

9 closely linked to or aligned with environments external to ourselves” (Wallace, 2011, p. 112).

Social perception is thus shaped by a plethora of gender portrayals which often take on the form of stereotypes. The following section addresses stereotypes found in entertainment media and more specifically, in motion pictures.

SOCIAL STANDING AND SOCIAL ROLES

Social standing refers to the character's personal life which “reflects her or his romantic relationships” (Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008, p. 200). Existing research on gender stereotypes in entertainment media (Collins, 2011; Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008; Smith & Cook, 2008;

Smith, Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper, 2013) indicates that female characters are evaluated in terms of their marital roles and relationships to men, in contrast male characters are identifiable by their occupational roles. Entertainment media is tainted with traditional gender stereotypes when it comes to depicting romantic relationships. By evaluating women through romantic parameters, it requires media to portray them as “nonprofessionals, homemakers, wives or parents, and sexual gatekeepers” (Collins, 2011, p. 290). The emphasis put on social standing maintains the traditional assumption that women are better suited in domestic roles.

Furthermore, by depicting women in such a manner, the underlying message conveyed to viewers is that women are to choose between work and family which, consequently, divides both public and private spheres into distinct categories that do not overlap. If the public/private dichotomy is the sex-based separation of roles, duties and attributes, then social standing stereotypes also encapsulate the social roles of characters. Social roles are the things “people do in daily life” (Eagly & Steffan, 1984, p. 735). According to research studies (Lauzen, Dozier &

Horan, 2008; Smith, Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper, 2013; Smith & Cook, 2008; Collins, 2011), not only do lead female characters inhabit interpersonal roles that focus on romance, family, and

10 friends but they are often sexualized and lack gainful employment whereas men are depicted in work-related roles. Moreover, in prime-time television programming, Signorielli and

Kahlenberg (2001) found that the main message surrounding basic social roles enacted by female characters “seems to be that women cannot have higher status and better paying jobs and maintain a successful marriage” (p. 20). By portraying women and men in traditional roles, the media – through television and motion pictures – reinforces traditional gender stereotypes in which “men represent the ideal or norm against which women are judged. As such, women become the perpetual other, valued primarily in their relations to others, men in particular”

(Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008, p. 201).

Based on the literature, the selected films reflect the findings on social standing. For instance, in most of the films, the lead female character is first introduced as being single then halfway through the movie she meets her love interest – who happens to be single too – and by the end she finds herself in a steady relationship with him. Being in a relationship seems to be the expected course for the leading female character; and if she is depicted as married she is portrayed with children. The emphasis put on romantic relations – rather than having a solid career – is at the core of the ending of all four movies.

Existing studies show that gender stereotypes with regards to social standing and the representation of couples “tend to present the image that marriage and children are the ultimate goal in life for all people” (Tanner, Haddock, Zimmerman & Lund, 2003, p. 368). Moreover, by emphasizing on romantic relationships, research has found that it also reinforces stereotypes on traditional gender roles by portraying women as caregivers and men as providers (Smith,

Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper, 2013). By maintaining gender stereotypes through social standing and social roles, media is reinforcing assumptions of what is culturally acceptable for both

11 women and men. We must remember that gender stereotypes have a great influence over audiences and as Signorielli and Kahlenberg (2001) have noted, “through long term exposure to television, viewers' career choice may suffer” (p. 20).

AGE, PHYSICAL APPEARANCE AND REPRESENTATION

Studies have found that there exists a correlation between gender stereotypes in popular films and age, physical appearance, and representation. Women are mainly shown to be young,

(in their 20s and 30s), sexy and domesticated while men are shown to be in their 30s to 50s

(Lauzen & Dozier, 2005; Smith, Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper, 2013). The main difference between women and men lies in how success is measured and interpreted. To this effect, women's success is linked to physical appearance in which age plays a crucial part while men's success is measured by their occupational profession (Lauzen & Dozier, 2005; Smith, Pieper,

Granados & Choueiti, 2010). Research has found that “women are under-represented in media, and that when women are present they are typically scantily dressed and relegated to stereotypical roles” (Collins, 2011, p. 290). Findings also reveal that women are depicted in one of three ways: (1) attractive; (2) unattractive transformed to attractive, sexy, and/or glamorous; and (3) sexy and glamorous (Steinke, 2005, p. 39). To illustrate the matter, Morning Glory,

Bridesmaids and I Don't Know How She Does It all portray their lead female characters as physically attractive and wearing revealing clothes; whereas in My Big Fat Greek Wedding, the lead character is shown undergoing an extreme makeover transforming her from ordinary into pretty woman. One of the reason why media – and in particular the film industry – portray physically attractive characters is to generate favourable reactions from viewers (Bazzini,

McIntosh & Smith, 1999). Moreover, by associating beauty with positive traits relating to moral goodness, romantic activity, and life outcome, media entertains sexual stereotypes through which

12 lead female characters are valued on their physical attributes (Bazzini, McIntosh & Smith, 1999).

If the assumption that beauty and goodness share some common link, then naturally a character's success will be evaluated based on this assumption. Research in G-rated films has shown that

“females were more likely than males to be physically attractive, smart and good. Males, on the other hand, were more likely than their female counterparts to be presented as strong and funny”

(Smith, Piper, Granados & Choueiti, 2010, p. 782). In order to be successful a woman must be physically attractive. This relegates her to roles of domesticity, , and subordination to men. In contrast, men's success is measured primarily through their psychological traits rather than physical beauty. The way by which female and male characters are portrayed indicates that there is indeed a double-standard in relation to gender, age, physical appearance and representation.

Lead female characters in their 20s and 30s are over-represented in media and all four films attest to it. Media's obsession on youth for leading female characters has the effect of eclipsing the more mature women from participating in the storyline. Furthermore, by continually emphasizing on age, messages conveyed to viewers concerning women is that they have a short window in which to bloom and accomplish their goals. This reveals that age is an important factor for leading female characters and seems to be an indicative measure for success

– or failure – by highlighting social expectations. Narrowing down women to specific age groups subversively implies “that men have tasks to accomplish in the world, regardless of age”

(Lauzen & Dozier, 2005, p. 444).

EDUCATION AND GENDER ROLES

Steinke (2005) found that – in popular films – female characters are less preoccupied about academics and focus more on physical appearance and relationships. This reinforces

13 cultural norms of which have an effect on young viewers' awareness of gender roles.

Gender stereotyping also allows for a gendering of career categories. “Studies of media use and socialization reveal that media portrayals influence children's notions of appropriate occupational expectations and choices” (Lauzen & Dozier, 2005, p. 444). If disciplines like science and technology are perceived as being intrinsically masculine, then women are further marginalized when they are depicted occupying jobs in these categories. As such, movies are filled with messages about “gender-role-consistent future occupation” (Steinke, 2005, p. 36).

When women do appear in science roles they are presented in a way that focuses more on gender stereotype rather than professional stereotype (Flicker, 2003). Moreover, “if one compares the age of scientists depicted in the films with their academic qualifications, then the women are unbelievably young” (Flicker, 2003, p. 310). Yet again, we find that age has an important impact on the way lead female characters are portrayed by continuously emphasizing on youth.

Although a small selections of films depict women occupying careers in the hard sciences, the majority of movies present women in the social sciences and humanities (Flicker, 2003).

The findings offer interesting information on education at the university level, suggesting that it is an important asset for women who do occupy positions in disciplines such as science and technology. Almost no literature can be found with regards to education for women occupying careers outside the traditional masculine disciplines. For this reason we turn our attention to the film selection. In My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Toula is shown as pursuing her education by attending college in order to change career from waitress to travel agent. In

Morning Glory, Becky has a three-year college degree. While both films mention the education level of the lead female characters, they do very little in associating the importance of academics with professional development and independence. In My Big Fat Greek Wedding, education is

14 portrayed as being liberating but does little to upgrade Toula's skill type as she remains in the category of sales and services1 while in Morning Glory, education is depicted in a way that implies social stratification and inequality by comparing Becky’s college degree with men who have higher levels of education.

The portrayal of academics in the media is one that requires more research to be conducted. Findings have demonstrated that women in films who have undergraduate and graduate-level education are still subject to gender stereotype over professional stereotype

(Flicker, 2003; Steinke, 2005). Furthermore, gender stereotypes that lead female characters face are tainted with sexual stereotypes that present women as young, physically attractive and in subordinate career positions to men (Flicker, 2003; Lauzen & Dozier, 2005; Steinke, 2005). In sum, research has found that occupational profession is still a gendered area in which representation and tradition continue to dominate (Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008; Collins, 2011;

Smith, Pieper, Granados, Choueiti, 2010).

OCCUPATIONAL PROFESSION AND GENDER

Studies have indicated that women characters hold limited occupational professions when it comes to films (Smith, Choueiti & Stern, 2013). A relationship also exists between occupational profession and education as mentioned previously with the gendering of career categories. By representing the majority of women in disciplines such as social sciences and humanities, and men in hard sciences, it reinforces the perception that women have less occupational selection than men. The findings also document a relationship between gender and occupational professions insofar that women are often relegated to stereotypical roles centred on traditionality and domesticity, (Collins, 2011; Smith, Pieper, Granados & Choueiti, 2010;

1 Category based on occupational structure by skill type as determined by Human Resources and Skill Development Canada.

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Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008). Women's depiction in entertainment media thus requires an understanding of gender roles and stratification (Tuchman, 1979). Furthermore, the “under- representation of women, including their stereotypic portrayal, may symbolically capture the position of women in American society – their real lack of power” (Tuchman, 1979, p. 12).

Research has also found that gender stereotypes for women are centred on both their personal relationships and their sexuality (Seiter, 1986). In addition, “women are often depicted in marginalized and powerless roles once married with children” (Tanner, Haddock, Zimmerman

& Lund, 2003, p. 369). The question now begs to be asked: can femininity and occupational success go hand in hand? Studies seem to indicate that women – as depicted in the media – are coerced to make a choice between family and career. In the odd cases that women are depicted as having both, they are shown as being constantly torn between the two. For example, in I

Don't Know How She Does It, Kate is the embodiment of a woman who has both family and career. At times, Kate's marriage seems to be heading down the drain when she is shown prioritizing her career. Although she is scorned for having chosen to embrace both career and family, Kate nonetheless shows the viewer that she can succeed in her marriage and in her job, but with a high cost of constantly being judged and put down by her entourage.

By accentuating on traditional gender stereotypes, media reinforces and maintains cultural assumptions of what constitute acceptable gender roles. Research indicates that messages conveyed in motion pictures about gender and occupational profession are very important because media acts as a both a reflection of society and as a source from which children, adolescents, and young adults gain information about their world (Tanner, Haddock,

Zimmerman & Lund, 2003).

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CONCLUSION

Overall, professional ambition for lead female characters – as shown in the literature and in the selected films – is over-shadowed by romantic relationships which implies that both marriage and children “are the ultimate goal in life for all people” (Tanner, Haddock,

Zimmerman & Lund, 2003, p. 368). It is important to mention that the paper reports common themes related to career ambition and stereotypes in entertainment media which are based on traditional gender representation – and interactions – of both Caucasian women and men belonging to the middle class (Collins, 2011; Lauzen, Dozier & Horan, 2008; Smith & Cook,

2008; Smith, Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper, 2013). In this light, limitations pertain to race, class and sexual orientation. The messages about female and male career ambition that the words and images of selected Hollywood films portray exemplify existing research findings about entertainment media and gender stereotypes in a number of ways. First and foremost, research has demonstrated that when it comes to professional occupations, other variables predominate over ambition such as romantic relationships, social roles, physical appearance, and age. These variables are grounded in gender stereotypes in which representation and tradition continue to play an important part. Secondly, what the literature about media stereotypes – supported by the selected films – are teaching us becomes very important because “media exposure not only contributes to children’s and/or emerging adults’ occupational socialization, but also sex-role stereotyping, self-, and body dissatisfaction” (Smith, Choueiti, Prescott & Pieper,

2013, p. 2). In this light, more in-depth research of both visual culture and social perception is necessary to examine long-term repercussions that films – and other forms of media – have on the identity and social construct of young viewers. The paper began with the argument that in situational theory, “specific environments reinforce and influence behaviours, ultimately shaping

17 an individual's personality” (Wallace, p. 96). As such, the way in which women and men are portrayed in films send messages that can contribute to a distorted view of reality. The selected literature has shown that stereotypes in the media are reflections of society, thus perpetuating age-old perceptions on gender. Studies conducted on occupational content in motion pictures not only “teach and reinforce that girls have fewer employment options that do boys” (Smith,

Choueiti, Stern, 2013, p.2) but also that certain occupational sectors are assumed to be off-limits to women. Knowledge of gender portrayals in entertainment media becomes important because it informs us about the perception of culturally acceptable roles for women and men, and how there remains barriers for women to overcome in these assumptions.

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