Geena Davis speaks about the gender discrepancy within our media in regards to children in particular. She discusses the successes that two of her movies had in regards to making a positive impact on women throughout the country. Geena was greatly impacted on by the reactions of her fans and wanted to make a difference e in the way women are depicted within today’s media. She gives examples from various cartoons. The Smurfs had one female character named Smurfette, that was originally described and ugly with ugly eyelashes. Papa Smurf eventually transformed her into “a blonde bombshell”, and soon after she was beloved by her fellow Smurfs. Is this a coincidence? I think not. She discusses Winnie the Pooh and the one female character from that cartoon series, Kanga. Kanga appears to be just half a character. My favorite example was the character Miss Piggy, who has cleavage. These images and examples are outrageous when you really think about it. When I personally sit back and look at how characters are depicted it makes me mad and sad at the same time. Our society is molding the minds of our young children at a very young age and gender is at the heart of some of these subliminal messages. Geena proves that over the years little has changed and I believe that thought to be true. She aims to help make things equal in terms of the way sex and gender is depicted and I commend her for that.
These depictions have spilled over into the way we act as adults. The readings and research from Britton clearly show that gender plays a role in the way we think and act as adults. Men’s and women’s prisons differ. Men and women working within in similar Penal positions are treated differently. Even women’s and men’s pay is shockingly one sided. There are so many ways gender if falsely depicted in society today that we (society) should be ashamed. Thankfully people like Ms. Davis and organizations are doing everything they can to make sure everyone is accurately depicted within our media.
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