Women make up 50% of film and television audiences, and yet are largely underrepresented in popular media. This medium of entertainment carries enormous influence over our cultural attitudes towards gender and gendered identities, and much of the messages we receive are ripe with misrepresentation.
In an infographic by the New York Film Academy is a series of statistics detailing the stark under and misrepresentation of women in recent film history. The statistics are as follows: of the top 500 films produced between 2007 and 2012, 30.8% of speaking characters were women, 28.8% of women wore sexually revealing clothes, and 26.2% of women actors get partially naked. The few women who appear in these films are limited to a sexualized and objectified identity. Only 10.7% of these 500 films featured a balanced cast where half of the characters are female. I believe that this is important because Hollywood is a mirror. Entertainment is a reflection of a society. How frequently and in what ways women are represented says a lot about our culture. And presently, American culture seems to be saying women are worth less than men.
The Bechdel Test is a gauge of female presence in film and television. There are 3 criteria to pass: 1) there must be 2 named female characters, 2) they must speak to each other, 3) they must speak to each other about something other than a man. This test was initially created as a joke in the 1980s by comic book artist Alison Bechdel. Since then, it has become a very real feminist tool used to highlight the pervasive lack of women doing more than simply appearing in the media. 30 years later, and less than half of 2013’s Oscar nominations for Best Picture passed this test. I feel that this sends a message telling audiences that women are inconsequential. Women are unsubstantial. The female identity focuses on the notion that, as John Berger states in his book “Ways of Seeing”, women appear, while their male counterparts act. It perpetuates the gendered identities that are facilitated to us from cradle to grave, from advertisements and music videos, and perhaps even our own parents. The media seems to be telling us that men and women must fit within the boxes of masculinity and femininity (respectively) and that failure to do so is aberrant.
Yet, the media also has the ability to empower. It has the ability to subvert these ideas and to provide a space with which to critique and learn from the messages the media sends and how to ameliorate this situation. “Orphan Black” is a television series that airs on BBC America, currently broadcasting its second season. It is perhaps one of the best shows I have ever watched (and I confess that I am a TV addict; I have seen many to compare the show to). Not only is the plot, the acting, cinematography, editing, and directing fantastic, but the show overwhelmingly passes the Bechdel Test. Each and every female character of “Orphan Black” possess agency. She is her own individual, with faults, ambitions, fears, strengths, and eccentricities that vary across a rich spectrum of diversity. She is not a plot device, or an object of male fascination, but a human being. Beyond this, the show’s central focus revolves around identity and I believe that after taking this course, “Orphan Black” deserves discussion.
Tatiana Maslany plays multiple versions of herself.
The show enters with a street hustler named Sarah Manning, who witnesses the suicide of a woman bearing an uncanny resemblance to herself. She decides to take the woman’s wallet and begins to impersonate her. The story unfolds quickly and with complexity, but one message is clear: Sarah Manning is a woman of her own devices.
“Orphan Black” focuses on claiming one’s identity and challenging what others have set for you. It refutes and subverts gendered identities in not only passing the Bechdel Test, but failing the reverse. There are no instances in which a man speaks to another about something other than a woman. But this isn’t a show solely for women. “Orphan Black” is a series that caters to many demographics, one that has garnered both critical and cult acclaim, and yet one of the things that I have truly come to admire after taking CS 110, is that the series takes the female perspective. It has garnered Critic’s Choice Award nominations, is in the run for an Emmy nomination, and is perhaps one of the only female-centric shows to do so as of late. Berger asserts in “Ways of Seeing” that, as an audience, what we view in the media is not from a neutral perspective. Instead, what we see is often from a male’s point of view. We are given the male gaze as cameras focus on the female body in a sexual manner, once more supporting the notion that the female identity focuses on women as objects to be used. “Orphan Black” subverts gendered identities as deftly as other forms of popular media perpetuate it. It is subtle, but visible to those who know what to look for, and taking CS 110 has sharpened my eyes. I have grown to learn that “Orphan Black” is more than a show about clones (as is revealed in its pilot episode), but instead a testament to how easily the media can open a channel of representation for those who are so often left on the back-burner.
The following is taken from a review by the website btchflick.com on the series that I find to be particularly cogent because it addresses the lack of a female’s perspective shown in the media, and how “Orphan Black” responds.
“Orphan Black contains quite a few shots of naked bodies, but no obvious gratuitous “boob-shots,” and where there is female sexualized nudity there is also male sexualized nudity. As an example, in the first episode when we see Sarah jumping Paul’s bones in the kitchen (to avoid conversation that would tip him off that she is not Beth) we get to see actor Tatiana Maslany’s naked body for a moment, but it is followed up in the next scene by shots of only Paul’s naked body. The camera lingers on Paul, as Sarah’s gaze lingers on his body. This allows the audience the female gaze — for a change.”
“Orphan Black” challenges gender roles and other societal norms and instead embraces the multitudes of complexities found within each character. It is a series I admire, and have grown to appreciate more since taking this class and realizing that there is more to “Orphan Black” than its plot. I recommend “Orphan Black” to everyone with an interest in television. The actress behind its main protagonist, Tatiana Maslany is outstanding and perhaps one of the best things about the show. Here is a short trailer of the first season.
Cultural Attitudes 