Repeat After Me: Women Can Be Multidimensional
Beyond it being tragic, the belief that women cannot be multifaceted is dangerous. It assumes that her destiny carves out a space just big enough for her to embody one role. Our thought constructs are directly influenced by the information and narratives we consume, and I believe that the reason we are unable to view women as multidimensional comes down to the deeply problematic ways in which they are portrayed in the media.
This inability to view women as multifaceted percolates through all industries . One recent example is the instant virality of Finnish Prime Minister Sanna Marin’s partying videos. After video footage of her dancing at a party leaked, it was covered by major news agencies internationally and even led to her having to publicly defend her private life in an emotionally charged address.
“We have trouble accepting that women can be more than one thing,” says Sarah Crook, the director of the Center for Research Into Gender and Culture in Society at Swansea University. Drawing a parallel to a video of Boris Johnson dancing at his wedding, she noted how it was mildly joked about on Twitter and “didn’t provoke an extremely gendered response, and that goes to show the double standard.”
An interesting comparison would be the way Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handled a resurfacing of her dance videos before she was sworn into congress. Having her opposition use it as fodder to delegitimize her, she responded by embracing this side of her unapologetically and dancing in front of her new Congressional office.
While these two examples show a difference in the way the two women responded to the virality of their videos, the point to note is the media obsession that placed them in the middle of a narrative that had absolutely nothing to do with their political careers. The extent to which the videos garnered global attention demonstrates the lack of acceptance that a woman can assume multiple roles.
If our expectations of what a woman can be are to shift, young girls and women must have role models at hand. Hollywood films have an international ripple and global influence like no other film industry. Unfortunately, most depictions of women systematically position her as unidimensional and to demonstrate the prevalence of these portrayals, I want to introduce you to four.
Image Credit : Unsplash/ Pedro Marroquin
The first is alluring Anastasia. She’s bright eyed with a childlike naivety and her defining characteristic is her ability to strike the perfect balance of nonchalance and confidence. She is well-networked with the best clubs in the city and while she does have her share of emotional lows, she consistently sparkles at the center of every social gathering.
The second is busy Beatrice. She is passionate about her job and her drive to excel directly impacts her social life. However, she does have one best friend and a mother she dreads speaking to because of constant reminders that while it is “wonderful to be successful, finding love and settling down is more important.”
The third is chaotic Claire. She is a mother of three and is tasked daily with organizing their different routines. Claire is constantly exhausted, and her window of ‘me time’ is her monthly girlfriends-only boozy brunch where she grapples with her realization that feels out of place.
The fourth is determined Denise. She is driven by her passion to fight for a cause. Brilliant and on the path towards an Ivy League Education, she realized her interests lay elsewhere, and gave it all up (much to the disappointment of her parents) to work as a changemaker for society.
Now that these women are somewhat fleshed out, I trust that your mind has pieced together their entire life story and is able to envision what their struggles and joys look like. If you’re a movie buff I also trust that you have successfully found parallels with actual movie characters. The perpetuation of the myth of the one-dimensional woman cannot be neglected because fictional representations serve as role models and young girls are brought up to idealize deeply skewed portrayals of women.
“There seems to be such a lack of validation of alternative places to find images or categories of women. It is true that the reduction of women into these monolithic roles is problematic. It can only be damaging to the extent that there are no other possible reflections of the roles of women in society that have an equal amount of influence.” says Lissa Lincoln, Associate Professor, Program Coordinator for Gender, Sexuality and Society at AUP.
A core reason for this problematic portrayal of a specific type of woman can be linked to the glaringly obvious disparity in power structures. In 2021, male directors accounted for 77.8 % of the industry. The situation in regard to screenwriters remains as bleak with a mere 33.5% of them being women.
This means that ‘the woman’ that you see in films, was conjured up by men and while that does not seem unreasonable, it becomes problematic when the scale is so severely unbalanced. If one would trust a doctor’s knowledge of medicine, a lawyer’s understanding of legal frameworks or a soldier’s perspective of war, it is baffling to realize that the woman’s experience has almost always been interpreted and narrated by a man while she stands on the fringes, unable to claim the right to tell her own story.
Image Credit : Unsplash/ Jake Melara
This is dangerous because if empowerment is not a familiar concept, viewers will believe what they see and the notion of feminine identity will be pillared by a lie. It is therefore crucial to critically engage with content and analyze whether or not the portrayal of women is accurate and healthy.
If you’re a movie buff, here is a list of five female directors shunning the male gaze and redefining storytelling. It’s high time the world comes to terms with the fact that Claire can have a bit of Denise in her just like Beatrice can embody some of Anastasia’s characteristics all without compromising on intellect, legitimacy and talent.
