The most popular films reach out to a wide, international audience and are determined by the dominant ideology within which they originate. Such films play a significant role in an individual’s life and help form ideas about social, cultural, political and economic issues. Their permeation with messages influences the individual’s perception of the world and consequently their perception of gender. Women have greatly improved their subordinate position in relation to men, but their representation on the screen remains stereotypical. The main aim of my dissertation was to find out how women are represented in Hollywood popular films. Based on four films of different genres, all produced within a period of five years, I have analyzed the female protagonists Lara Croft, Bridget Jones, Maggie Fitzgerald and Teena Brandon. Through the narrative, semiotic and feminist theory, I have discovered that the female protagonists reproduce/represent the stereotypically established roles of women in the film industry. Their traditional representation is not explicit, but in the films, there are a number of indirect signs expressing a patriarchal society.
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