Resident Evil & Ultraviolet, with Milla Jovovich

Movie industry had a rapid revolution over the years especially in action movie genre. The most eminent change would be increased production of female action movies. Some say that this change is evidence that shows the discrimination against women has faded compared to the past, while others say that such prejudice is still around as a form of “Male Gaze”.

Male Gaze, in my own definition, is female stereotypes featured in pop-media in order to attract male audience. Due to its focus on luring men, male gaze has several downfalls. First, they can turn out to be very offensive, to a point of ridiculing female audiences. Secondly, it could serve as a psychological cage which traps women to believe that the media’s portrayal is the best representation.

Throughout the reading, you will be shocked by how much these “sexist” components are portrayed in the movies.

One of the popular subjects in action movies is zombies. Whether these creatures were created by voodoo rituals or biochemical infection, seeing people blow the crap out of zombie heads with various styles have brought fans the gory and exciting action they wanted. There is always one series that comes to people’s mind when they think of famous zombie movie: Resident Evil.

Resident Evil was actually made from a video game from CAPCOM called “Biohazard”. With its debut to PlayStation II, the game brought a huge success to the company selling more than 40 million copies. Ever since then, the game came out with more series, comic book, novel, and various merchandizes which still intrigue gamers around the world.

(Cover of Biohazard which started the zombie syndrome.)

The first movie of the saga was released to the public on 2002. Director Paul Anderson starred Milla Jovovich as the protagonist, who he later married to on 2009. Playing as Alice, Milla was able to show people the exact reenactment and excitement of the game by demolishing zombie hoardes. Although the movie wins the “thoughtfulness-award” for starring a female as the main character, it still holds few stereotypes and male-gaze components.

(Why does this movie have Milla Jovovich in a dress instead of her photo of blowing zombie heads?)

Main male-gaze components of this movie would be her clothes (which will be mentioned on future blogs as well). Who in the world, in a grave adventurous mission, would even think of wearing tights or dresses that do no purpose but emphasize one’s physical appearance!!?? This is the typical type of male gaze which will appear on numerous media that features woman. If I was Alice I would wear marine-like clothes to get the maximum capability of killing zombies (unless, tights and dresses are source of her power that is...).

(That is definitely too much body-showing for a zombie action movie.)

Above the criticisms however, the movie is a master piece. It was able to quench the zombie maniacs’ thirst for a great zombie action movie. Today, Biohazard (also known as Resident Evil) game series and the movie saga still bring chills to audiences. The fifth Resident Evil movie is scheduled to be released on September, 2012.

Second movie with Milla Jovovich is called Ultraviolet which features infected-vampire-like men instead of zombie hoards. The film was driven from comic series “UltraViolet” written by Yvonne Navarro. The action scenes from the movie are no different than those of Resident Evil’s for their blood and gore level are almost equal. Directed by Kurt Wimmer, the movie was released on March 3, 2006. Although it was not a huge success, Ultraviolet was a big step for female action movies.

(Original Comic Book Series)

Like, Resident Evil, Ultraviolet shows male gaze components. First component is the clothing of the protagonist. There is one similarity on all the action scenes in Ultraviolet: Milla Jovovich is always wearing a crop-top. I love sexy characters. However, if I was a character in a bullet-storming action movie, I would focus on covering almost all parts of my body instead showing crazy abs.

(Almost every scene of the movie, she is wearing a crop-top)

Second male gaze component of the movie comes from the fact that she takes orders from man. This is a male gaze which I label as, “Go make me a sandwich” component. Although Milla’s role in the movie is very active and strong, she is shown as a soldier taking orders from higher position. It implies that men are predominant over women and that women can’t accomplish much without orders.

This blog has discussed some of male gaze components from action movies with Milla Jovovich. Although her movies show active female roles, they still hold female stereotypes. There are still numerous female action movies to discuss. We shall discuss more on movies and male-gaze components later on.

(Picture of Milla Jovovich, Paul Anderson, and their daughter, Ever)

Work Cited Page

"Biohazard Original Soundtrack Remix." The Resident Evil Wiki - Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil 4, Walkthroughs, and More. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

Geragotelis, Brittany. "Top 20 Favorite Scary Movies: #14." American Cheerleader Magazine. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

Shirke, Rahul. "Resident Evil Movie Franchise To Get Reboot." Www.stuffwelike.com. 9 Sept. 2009. Web. 20 Sept. 2011.

"Ultra Violet Comic Scenes?" Www.DeadSkirts.com. 31 Aug. 2011. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

"Ultraviolet Movie - 2006 (Kurt Wimmer, Milla Jovovich, CameronBright)." Equilibrium Movie Fansite. Www.equilibriumfans.com, 24 Nov. 2005. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

"Ultraviolet Movie Review - MoviesOnline." MoviesOnline - The Fan Perspective On All Things Film. Www.moviesonline.ca. Web. 21 Sept. 2011.

How I Met Your Mother

Have you ever seen the CBS TV show How I Met Your Mother? It is one of the funniest shows on the planet. It is about five friends as they struggle with the ups and downs of adult life. They deal with work problems, relationship problems, friend problems, and anything else you can possibly think of. One character, Barney Stinson, is played by Neil Patrick Harris. He is a womanizer who can’t have enough sex and always gets the girl. In my opinion, he is the most sexist character in all of television. But, the strange thing is that none of the other main characters ever say anything to him about it, or call him out on it. They all just assume its Barney being Barney and they go along with it.

Every single girl that Barney picks up in the bar, or on the street, or at work, or wherever else he meets them, is portrayed as a dumb girl who fall for any pick up line in the book. They are never smart enough to see that this is just some random guy who wants nothing more than to have sex. Or if they are able to see that, they are just as sex hungry as he is and don’t care at all. Not only is that how Barney sees them, but that is how all viewers see them as well, pulling the “male gaze” into effect. During the show, we are put into Barney’s shoes and we look as the situation from his point of view. This means that we are all Barney, creeping on his next victim and because of that, it makes us think like Barney. We see her as a game that needs to be played and a challenge that has to be conquered, making us just sexist as he is. The “male gaze” is powerful and the fact that most of pop culture is shown through the male gaze makes it seem like it is okay in real life situations.

In one episode, Barney even gives another character a tour of his apartment. He highlights all of the things about his apartment that make women want to leave once he is done with them. He talks about how he only has one towel in the bathroom, one pillow on the bed, no food in the fridge, and a huge collection of porn that is prominently displayed on his wall, like a collection of books. Barney is very forward about all of these little things that make women leave him after he hooks up with them. He doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he wants nothing to do with them after they hook up, it is unbelievable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9yRWs0zASg

In this clip, Barney demonstrates his sexism, through his lack of compassion for anyone. He shows us this when he talks about his “Hot Crazy Scale.” The “Hot Crazy Scale” is a scale that Barney puts girls on and they are allowed to be a little crazy as long as they are as hot as they are crazy. He even mentions some specific girls that made him create the scale. The way he talks about the girls, you can see that he doesn’t really care about them or their personality as long as they are hot enough to make up for it, because he is shallow and only cares about looks. He believes that only looks matter and they can make up for anything.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7ZVEvxSR7g&NR=1

This clip is a perfect example of Barney and all he has to offer. All of these tricks clearly demonstrate his lack of chivalry and lack of any sort of gentlemanliness. It is easy to see how the producers of How I Met Your Mother purposefully characterized the random girls as stupid and very naïve. In the narration, Barney even mentions at one point that you have to “select your target, preferably a girl with a real nice phone”. It doesn’t matter who the girl is as long as she has what he needs to trick her, such as a nice phone. Through this playbook, you can see Barney for the sexist, single-minded man he truly is.

Throughout the episodes, Barney is openly sexist; he follows “The Bro Code” and uses the Playbook in order to pick up girls. He is demining to women and doesn’t care what people think about him, as long as he can find a girl dumb enough to hook up with. At points, Barney’s sexism and outright lack of sensitivity for the entire female species is funny. But other times, the writers of How I Met Your Mother take it too far and need to stop.

Works Cited

Barney Stinson How i met your mother, Hot,Crazy SCALE Barney Stinson. YouTube. Uploaded: StevenxVan; 18 October 2009. Video. 16 September 2011. (Web). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9yRWs0zASg

The Barney Stinson's Playbook (Complete). YouTube. Uploaded: paulocoruna1; 11 December 2009. Video. 16 September 2011. (Web). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7ZVEvxSR7g&NR=1

Yoplait Commercial

­­http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdRLYqP7ZoM

In order to persuade buyers to purchase their product, commercials include stereotypical images and ideas from popular culture to make consumers feel insecure. Specifically, commercials make women feel insecure about their weight by representing women through the eyes of men.

This Yoplait commercial is part of the omnipresent enforcement of commercials to make women feel insecure about their weight. The commercial begins with a woman on the phone, presumably talking with a female friend, about all of the delicious sugary confections she has eaten in the past couple days. She brags about the apple turnover, Boston Creme pie, white chocolate strawberries, and most importantly, the key lime pie that she’s eaten. Her husband overhears her conversation and starts frantically searching the fridge for the desserts. During his fruitless search, there is a subtle scene where he pushes aside the stacked cups of Yoplait yogurt in search for the sweet treats. At the end of the commercial, the wife tells her friend that she has even started losing weight, and her husband looks up in confusion. It is clear that he is not only confused about the location of the sweets, but also confused at how his wife could possibly eat all of those desserts and still be able to lose weight.

This commercial highlights some representations of women in popular culture. In popular media, attractive women are represented as skinny, and popular culture constantly enforces the idea that women who are not skinny are not attractive. One example is the shocking, attention

demanding headlines of magazines that customers see when waiting in line to checkout in grocery stores. It is common to see cover pages and headlines detailing different celebrities during their trip to the beach and remarking on how their beach body looks, as well as commenting about how each celebrity has either lost or gain weight. In addition, magazines constantly use headlines to advertise different diet pills or diet plans that women can use to slim down and look sexy. Commercial advertising that abuses the self esteem of women concerning weight is pervasive in popular culture. In this commercial, Yoplait bases their commercial around the representation of the weight of attractive women in pop culture. The main idea this commercial presents is that they produce food that women can not only eat without the feeling of guilt that accompanies the indulgence of sugary desserts, but feel confident that they will even lose weight while eating their food! Their declaration is part of the pervasive pop culture claim that women are required to be skinny to be considered attractive.

However, one question can be raised: how did the idea that attractive women are skinny become gospel? One explanation is that the appearance of the attractive women is decided by what men see as attractive. Advertisers play on the fear that a woman will never be attractive to a man, never become a wife, and raise children, so they advertise products that appear to either directly or indirectly make women more attractive to men. Even products that are advertised directly toward women, and thus do not actively target a male audience, convince women to buy their product through their own imagination about how males will perceive them. It is in this fashion that advertisers indirectly use the ever-prevalent male gaze as an incentive to coerce consumers to buy their product. This Yoplait commercial uses this kind of marketing plan to sell its product. The intended viewer is quite obviously expected to be female, yet it does not seem necessary to mention the subject of weight lost. Yoplait wants women to imagine themselves skinny and attractive to men. The implicit understanding that the woman and the man in commercial are husband and wife is their evidence that use of their product attracts men. The male gaze has not only affected the ad, but also reinforced the male gaze upon the audience as well.

Upon closer inspection, Yoplait’s claim of eating their yogurt causes weight loss is too good to be true. During the commercial, there are very small, barely noticeable white subtitles that remark “As part of a reduced calorie diet and regular exercise.” As with many weight loss diet plans or diet pills, they come with a catch. They articulate that women must actually put forth some effort outside of their diet and actually exercise to become fit and in shape, and most importantly, become attractive and sexy. This commercial is only one of the many manifestations of the women through the male gaze; in popular culture and media, women need to be skinny to be attractive.

Citations:

Yoplait Yogurt “Commercial.” Youtube. 14 September 2011: <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdRLYqP7ZoM>

Yoplait Yogurt "Website." Food Service Direct. 20 September 2011: <http://www.foodservicedirect.com/productimages/OTR395145S.jpg>

Cover Page. Star 13 July 2009: Print.

Draft #2 - How I Met Your Mother

Have you ever seen the show How I Met Your Mother? It is one of the funniest shows on the planet. It is about five friends as they struggle with the ups and downs of adult life. They deal with work problems, relationship problems, friend problems, and anything else you can possibly think of. They live in New York and go to the same bar pretty much every night. One of the characters’ name is Barney Stinson. Barney is played by Neil Patrick Harris and he is the typical Neil Patrick Harris role. He is a womanizer who can’t have enough sex and always gets the girl. In my opinion, he is the most sexist character in all of television. But, the funny thing is that none of the other main characters ever say anything to him about it, or tell him off for it. They all just assume its Barney being Barney and they go along with it.

Every single girl that Barney picks up in the bar, or on the street, or at work, or wherever else he meets them, is portrayed as a dumb girl who would fall for any pick up line in the book. They are never smart enough to see that this is just some random guys who wants nothing more than to have sex. Or if they are able to see that, they are just as sex hungry as he is and don’t care at all. Not only is that how Barney sees them, but that is how all viewers see them as well, pulling the “male gaze” into effect. During the show, we are put into Barney’s shoes and we look as the situation from his point of view. This means that we are all Barney, creeping on his next victim, and because of that, it makes us think like Barney. We see her as a game that needs to be played and a challenge that has to be conquered, making us just sexist as he is. The “male gaze” is powerful and the fact that most of pop culture is shown through the male gaze makes it seem like it is okay in real life situations.

In one episode, Barney even gives another character a tour of his apartment. He highlights all of the things about his apartment that make women want to leave once he is done with them. He talks about how he only had one towel in the bathroom, one pillow on the bed, no food in the fridge, no coffee, and a huge collection of porn that is prominently displayed on his wall like a collection of books. Barney is very forward about all of these little things that make women leave him after he hooks up with them. It is unbelievable how Barney doesn’t even try to hide the fact that he wants nothing to do with them after they hook up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqsyLmgcU0E

In this first clip, Barney sits down with Ted at the bar. He is complaining about how it is getting colder outside, so girls are starting to wear sweaters instead of short skirts, tank tops, and sun dresses. He goes into a list of some riddles that he wants Ted to answer. Even though Ted is trying to do other things, all Barney can think about is the girls and their sun dresses. But, the kicker is that after Ted starts talking about a girl sitting at the bar Barney calls dibs on her because he thinks she hot, even though Ted was there first. This clip shows how Barney’s mind is always on girls, and seeing them and wanting them, no matter who is around or what is going on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y7ZVEvxSR7g&NR=1

This clip is a perfect example of Barney and all he has to offer. All of these tricks clearly demonstrate his lack of chivalry and lack of any sort of gentlemanliness. It is easy to see how the producers of How I Met Your Mother purposefully characterized the random girls as stupid and very naïve. In the narration, Barney even mentions at one point that you have to “select your target, preferably a girl with a real nice phone”. It doesn’t matter who the girl is as long as she has what he needs to trick her, such as a nice phone. Through this playbook, you can see Barney for the sexist, single-minded man he truly is.

Throughout the episodes, Barney is openly sexist and even has “The Bro Code”, which is his Declaration of Independence that he always follows and makes his friends follow as well. It is the most demining book on the face of the planet, even if it isn’t real. At points, Barney’s sexism and outright lack of sensitivity for the entire female species is funny. But, other times, the writers of How I Met Your Mother take it way too far and need to stop.