Analysis at the level of discourse – Feminist Stylistics

This is a modified version of a forum posting I made in IVLE:

Feminism has come a long way since Mill’s article(Analysis at the level of discourse – Feminist Stylistics) had been written in 1995, it has been more than ten years since this article was written. Females are no longer portrayed so negatively in the media(although this negative portrayal still exists), perhaps due to the actions carried out by feminists to improve their positions in society and also due to contemporary society, where traditional beliefs no longer hold so firm a position.

Here are some examples where female traditional roles have been subverted:

Characters/roles


In Mill’s article, she mentioned that “characters and roles for women and men in fiction and other areas are informed by stereotypes of what is appropriate according to gender norms. This is extremely restricting on women in particular, since they are restricted to inactivity, sexual attractiveness, or self-deprecation.”


- The Matrix

In the film the Matrix(made in 1999), most of the female casts play an active role in the film. The character of Trinity, played by Carrie-Anne Moss, is considered as just as important a character as the main protagonist who is Neo. Without her, Neo would not have survived in the film, because Trinity saved Neo twice in the film. Another character, Switch, played by Belinda McClory, is equally as active a female character as the other male characters – they fight side by side in the movie, without any sexual difference. Only once in the film is there a female character casted as a sexual object – The Woman in the Red Dress, whereby she has all the attributes of a perfect woman, she is voluptuous, sexy, and blonde with curves.

- My Sassy Girl(Jeon Ji Hyun) (but she is still portrayed as a sex object)

My Sassy Girl is the famous Korean film(made in 2001) that propelled Jeon Ji Hyun to stardom. In this film, the character portrayed by her is fierce, and is often seen bullying the other guys in the film, especially the male protagonist. This is unlike the typical role of a female character. An example is in the beginning of the film, whereby she shouts at the guy that do not give up his seat for the elderly, the guy is so intimidated by her that eventually he stands up and offers his seat for the elderly.

Although much of Jeon Ji Hyun’s film role in My Sassy Girl is considered as positive and active portrayal of a female character, she is still portrayed as a sex object. This is evident in some of the advertisements that she appears in, an example being the Banned Giordano CM where she dances sexily and shows off her body. Thus, this goes to show that even though some success has been achieved in trying to make man and woman’s roles to be equal, there still exists a stereotypical notion of female roles, especially as being a sexual object.





Banned Giordano CM:








- Charmed

“Charmed is a U.S. television series by Aaron Spelling about three sisters who are powerful good witches known throughout the supernatural community as "The Charmed Ones." The main protagonists in these series are the three female characters namely Holly Marie Combs - Piper Halliwell, Alyssa Milano - Phoebe Halliwell and Rose McGowan - Paige Matthews. In every episode of this series, they would have to battle demons and other supernatural beings who consist mostly of “male demons”, which they succeeded in vanquishing. Their roles in this series are active, and they are present throughout the entire series, with the exception of Rose McGowan who just joined in Season 4. Also, other male characters in this series only acts as the supporting cast, in direct oppositional to traditional male roles. One of the supporting casts is Leo Wyatt: portrayed by Brian Krause, whose character has since being temporarily removed in the middle of the 8th season of this series.
Although the three sisters are portrayed as being independent and active in the series, they still need their male counterparts. For example, when the character of Leo Wyatt was removed temporarily, Piper Halliwell, who is his wife, still can’t let go of the fact that he is gone. This is shown when she expressed reluctance in leaving her house to assist the other sisters in fighting demons because she wanted to take care of her baby son where he was taken care by Leo Wyatt previously when he was around.


- S.H.E World of Warcraft Coke Ad

Advert Link:




This advertisement was made in 2005 for promoting the massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) World Of Warcraft in the Mainland and Taiwan. In this advert, the three girls are portrayed as their normal selves working for their company. When the boss wants them to pose as scantily dressed in an advert, in order to attract and increase the viewership of the audience, they resisted and turned into night elves in this advert. Their boss is in turn transformed into the Orc of the Warcraft universe. The advert ended in the three girls defeating the Orc in the Warcraft universe and returning to their normal selves in reality. But the boss in reality, turns out to become scantily dressed himself at the end of the advert. This advert shows the triumph of feminism against traditional roles for the female character whereby the roles of S.H.E and their boss are exchanged because at the end of the film we can see that the boss himself is scantily dressed, instead of S.H.E.

Although the portrayal of S.H.E was positive in the advert, they are still marketed as being cute and feminine. This can be seen from their latest album Once Upon A Time 不想長大 where their image on the cover of the album is as dolls(traditional associated image for girls).

On a final note, I feel that feminism has indeed come further since Mill’s writing in 1995. Female portrayals in the media have improved to a certain extent, although the stereotype of woman being cute and sexual objects, etc is still present.