Female Villains Research Articles

THE PORTRAYAL OF FEMALE VILLAINS: A REPRESENTATION STUDY ON CRUELLA

The portrayal of female villains in media and movies has evolved significantly, as evidenced through the lens of Stuart Hall's representation theory and film analysis concepts. Traditionally confined to one-dimensional roles perpetuating gender stereotypes, contemporary cinema showcases multi-dimensional characters like those in Cruella, challenging societal norms and defying traditional gender expectations. By employing narrative and non-narrative film analysis techniques, these characters are revealed as agents of subversion and empowerment, embodying a new archetype of female villains characterized by individual agency and autonomy. However, despite this progress, the lingering impact of gender stereotypes persists, influencing how female villains are depicted on screen. Thus, ongoing critical analysis and advocacy for more diverse and authentic representations of women in media remain crucial.

Females Tragedy in Chinese Horror: Patriarchal Oppression in the Form of Marriage

Chinese horror, a rapidly developed genre, is closely connected with customs and traditions. Women being the majority of ghosts and villains is a distinct feature of Chinese horror. This phenomenon is closely bonded with the Chinese cultural background, especially the ancient literature pieces and the yin-yang theory. As the sex belonging to yin, women villains contribute to the eeriness of the horror work, and this property also makes women easy victims in the story. The duality of the female victim and villain identity is portrayed in many works featuring female villains, as most of these women figures have tragic marriages and domestic life, and they want revenge. Typical forms of marriage-related suffering are domestic violence, arranged marriage, and posthumous marriage and human sacrifice. Through analyzing the elements above, this paper discusses female tragedy in Chinese horror works and its reflection of reality and showcases how different kinds of marriage-related sufferings of females serve as the manifestations of patriarchal oppression.

Male and Female Villains in Weimar Cinema

Male and Female Villains in Weimar Cinema

Comparison of Beauty Standards and Body Images on Disney Princesses and Female Villains

As the role of mass media has increased, people have become more obsessed with the ideal portrayal of “ideal beauty and body”. With Disney Princess, the media’s perception of “ideal beauty and body” even spread to younger audiences. This study aims to analyze the comparison of beauty standards and body image between Disney Princesses and Female Villains. A quantitative content analysis method consists of two categories; videlicet Beauty Standards and Body Image are used to analyze the visualization of the characters. Six indicators for Beauty Standards and three for the Body Images category. This research found no differences in Beauty Standards and Body Images between Disney Princesses and Female Villains. Still, two indicators in Beauty Standards are declared significant, namely Hair Color and Physical Appearance. Eventually, this study declared no significant indicators difference between subjects; still, there are two indicators declared significant, which can lead to audiences’ misperception

Disney animated movies, their princesses, and everyone else

ABSTRACT In April 2021, The Walt Disney Company (Disney) announced the Ultimate Princess Celebration, ‘a year-long event spotlighting the courage and kindness these Disney heroines inspire in fans all around the world’ (Deitchman, 2021). Princesses have remained an important element of Disney’s identity and the movies they create. Broadening research beyond these characters and examining a larger sample demonstrated distinctions in the characteristics present in Official Disney Princess (ODP) movies, Actual Princess (AP) movies, and the 45 in the full catalog (All-Movies) that are or share characteristics with Disney Princess Movies. This article compares the race, class, and gender of the protagonist and antagonist as well as other story elements of 45 animated or partially animated movies that typify Disney’s ‘Classics Period’ between 1937 and 2017 across those three groups. This work examines the ways in which the ODP and AP are different from the overall catalog and violate some of the Disney norms to which we are accustomed while fully embracing others. The research found that while the Official Princess movies had more racial diversity in the main characters than the overall catalog, for example, they also had more stereotypical female villains, more magic, and more romance. Acknowledging these divisions can lead to more robust research where a research sample can be critically collected based on the topic of interest. This article provides a foundation for those examinations.

The Disneyfication of Animals

The Disneyfication of Animals

The cultural construction of the feminine through Disney�s films

The question of gender roles in Disney�s films has been one of the relevant issues in their industry. Disney has for a long time been at battle with the public for being accused of depicting their characters, specifically females, in stereotypical ways. Gender roles can affect viewers in the manner they see themselves with the others around them. The roles of men and women pictured in Disney�s films have mirrored the cultural perspective and beliefs of social norms and expectations on gender roles and identity. This study tries to figure out the roles of the princesses and the female villains in Disney's films with regard to the cultural construction of the feminine. This study applied qualitative� descriptive� method with several steps taken during the data analysis. Finally,� the� analysis� was� informally presented� through� a descriptive representation in words. The findings demonstrate that despite displaying the characteristics of strength and power, female villains are frequently portrayed as ugly, overweight, or nonsymmetrical. On the other hand, the princesses are shown to be very beautiful, which helps them succeed in life. The portrayal of the female villains also promotes the notion that powerful women are the most dangerous people in the world. In general, Disney has not yet achieved gender equation between villains and princesses. There is little room for girls to choose between being a wicked villain and a pretty princess.

The Witch in the Closet: Disney's Frozen as Adaptation and Its Potential for Queer and Feminist Readings

The Witch in the Closet: Disney's <i>Frozen</i> as Adaptation and Its Potential for Queer and Feminist Readings

Crime, Gender, Sexuality: Female Villains in Late Ottoman Crime Fiction

In 1914, a Turkish novella depicting a young woman pressing a dagger to the throat of a bearded old man on its cover, with the title Bloody Fairy (Kanlı Peri), appeared for sale on bookshelves in the capital of the Ottoman Empire (Fig. 1). This relatively small book of fifty-four pages, with its price as low as 50 paras, was available to almost anybody who wanted to purchase and read it. Bloody Fairy was the first of a popular series of ten murder mysteries, National Collection of Murders (Milli Cinayat Koleksiyonu), written by Süleyman Sudi and Vassaf Kadri. On the back cover of the first book, the publishers promised readers that the series would tell matchless mysterious and murderous stories that “will arouse curiosity and excitement” (merak-aver ve heyecan-amiz ) among readers. This cover image must have been rather curious since popular crime fiction usually featured male protagonists as their central characters. In those books women were almost always the target, not the ones attacking men or committing crimes. A crime story featuring a female character leading a gang, not falling victim to a male criminal or being his lover, was not a figure that readers would expect. The preface of this book—and indeed the whole series—depicts countless oddities, strange events, enigmatic murders, and other crimes that had taken place in Istanbul during the prior twenty years. Many of these events were carried out by women. The authors write that although there was nothing astonishing in crimes committed because of a woman, women committing crimes was something never seen or heard of. Thus, they surely hoped that this extraordinary crime series about two female criminals would be a commercial success. On the back cover of the first book, they announced that the series would be published as two parts, comprising ten books each, and would be offered for sale as individual titles every Thursday. Unfortunately, their grand plans were never fulfilled; only the first ten books were published. Although the series is far from complete and we will never know about the authors’ plans to unfurl further crimes and mysteries, something wondrous eventually happened: these two authors, who were never among the canon of Ottoman Turkish literature, were discovered in the 2000s. In addition to National Collection of Murders, several of their other works have been transcribed and published. Süleyman Sudi and Vassaf Kadri, who yearned for popularity in the early 20th century, indeed became popular, albeit a century late.

Fealdad y belleza en las representaciones del villano en el cine mudo europeo y estadounidense

This paper proposes a brief anthological review of the main representations of the villain in European and American silent films, from 1910, covering their most characteristic faces, scenes and keys, under the aesthetic notions of beauty and ugliness. The text addresses evil from different perspectives as a construction element of antagonistic images, differentiating when it proceeds between representations based on reality, or totally fictional, teratological or non-teratological, in addition to abounding in the aspects of the characterization and aesthetic construction of the evil one, with some notes on the subsequent influence of specific characters. The face as a frontal or opaque mirror of evil, plus a review of the female villains at this stage, finally find their own space throughout the compilation.

Mouldy Matriarchs and Dangerous Daughters

Mouldy Matriarchs and Dangerous Daughters

劍女]와 [謝小娥傳]의 비교 연구 - 여성 주인공, 행악자, 조력자, 전달자를 중심으로 -

이 논문에서는 조선시대 안석경의 <검녀>와 중국 당나라시대 이공좌의 <사소아전>을 비교분석하였다. <검녀>와 <사소아전>은 ‘가족의 몰락과 여자의 복수’라는 사실성에 바탕을 두고, 다양한 문학적 속성을 가미하여 이야기로 재구성되었다. 안석경은 자신이 들은 이야기를 바탕으로, 액자구성의 이야기 구조를 활용하고, 낭만적인 무예의 묘사를 가미하여 생생한 스토리로 재창작을 하였다. 이공좌는 사소아의 슬픈 이야기를 바탕으로, 그 당시에 새로운 소설양식인 전기(傳奇)와 결합하고, 많이 애용되었던 예지몽을 삽입하고, 파자풀이로 흥미를 돋우면서, 새로운 스토리로 재구성하였다. 아씨, 검녀, 사소아는 여성이라는 공통점이 있지만, ‘아씨의 효의식과 유교적 가치관, 검녀의 충의식과 속박에서 벗어나는 가치관, 사소아의 효의식과 정절의식 그리고 불교적 가치관’으로 다르게 나타났다. <검녀>에서는 세도가의 횡포가, <사소아전>에서는 도적의 횡포가 나타났다. <검녀>에서는 스승이 조력자 역할을, 민백순, 안석경이 전달자 역할을 하였다. <사소아전>에서는 이공좌가 조력자와 전달자의 역할을 하였다.

Why Wicked Never Wins: An Examination of the Early Origins of the Evil Female Villain of the Fairy Tale Narrative

Why Wicked Never Wins: An Examination of the Early Origins of the Evil Female Villain of the Fairy Tale Narrative

Monstrously Feminine: Orientalism Embodied in 2017’s The Mummy

In 2017, Universal Studios released a new version of The Mummy. The rebooted tale of an ancient Egyptian mummy come to life featured a female villain for the first time. The decision to feature a woman in the role was pushed by the film’s producers, director, and stars as an innovative and groundbreaking change. Audience goers did not seem to agree. The film was not successful at the box office and the studio scuttled the Dark Universe slate of films that The Mummy was supposed to launch. Informed by scholarship on Orientalism, as well as literature on the idea of the monstrous feminine, this article examines the narratives of East and West produced by the film. It shows how the film, rather than being innovative, traffics in stereotype, helping perpetuate the ancient idea that the East is an other the West must fear and conquer.

Disney's Portrayal of Women: An Analysis of Female Villains and Princesses

This study was conducted to understand how our views of women are shaped by Disney films. Specifically, this paper looks at how female villains and princesses are portrayed in nine Disney movies. These films were studied and coded for similarities and differences within specific themes. Ultimately, this study concluded there were a number of similar themes in regard to appearance, nonverbals, interactions, and common female stereotypes. The study also noted a shift between older (four movies before 1990) and newer (five movies after 1990) Disney movies; however, many of the changes do not occur until the most recent Disney movie (Moana) came out in 2016. The study shows an association between Disney’s media portrayal of women and the negative impacts on society. Research finds that because the film group provides two options for young girls to choose from, they are not given effective role models.

Bad Witches: Gender and the Downfall of Elizabeth Holmes of Theranos and Disney’s Maleficent

Female villains, both fictional and real, are subject to unconscious gender bias when part of their iniquity involves the disruption of male authority. Disney’s most popular animated villain, Maleficent, from Sleeping Beauty (1959) and Elizabeth Holmes of the now-disgraced blood testing startup, Theranos, reveled in their power, deviating from idealized feminine propriety. An analysis of scenes featuring Maleficent, the “mistress of all evil”, and coverage of Elizabeth Holmes, once the first self-made female billionaire, illustrate how powerful women with hubris are censured beyond their misdeeds. Elizabeth Holmes’ adoption of a deep voice and other masculine characteristics parallels Maleficent’s demeanor and appearance that signal female usurpation of traditional male power. Both antagonists also engage in finger pricking that penetrates the skin and draws blood, acts associated with symbolic male potency. The purported ability to bewitch, in conjunction with the adoption of patterns associated with male dominance, suggest that Maleficent and Elizabeth Holmes wield power over men and wield the power of men. Discomfort with the way in which magical powers were allegedly employed by these women echo historical fears of witches accused of appropriating male power. Furthermore, powerful women who encroach on male authority but ultimately fail to upend the gender hierarchy trigger schadenfreude beyond that expected from their wrongdoings. In the end, the stories of Maleficent and Elizabeth Holmes celebrate the downfall of women who brazenly embrace power, without showing women how to challenge the gender hierarchy.

İhtirasın Bedeli Bağdat Hatun Piyesinde İntikam Peşinde İki İnsan Togay ve Bağda

Gungor Dilmen creates an example of historical drama by making some changes and reconstructing the main story in the historical event in Bagdat Hatun. Togay, who is the closest to Bahadir Khan in Bagdat Hatun, a play full of personal ambitions and passions, is an example of the villain archetype with his actions and attitudes; he also always affects Bahadir, the Ilkhanid khan, in a negative way. Bagdat Hatun, who sets an example for the traditional Turkish girl/woman before Bahadir Khan proposed marriage to her, exemplifies a female villain acting with her lust and passion after the marriage proposal of Bahadir Khan. Togay and Bagdat Hatun, with their lust and desire for revenge, cause both themselves and many others to die terribly. Bagdat Hatun was examined from different perspectives in independent publications or other studies related to the plays of Gungor Dilmen. In this study, Bagdat Hatun was analyzed and investigated by means of symbolic reading through archetypal literary criticism.

Le Danger des liaisons: Censoring Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuses

When Pierre-Ambroise-François Choderlos de Laclos’s Liaisons dangereuses first appeared in late March 1782, it was an immediate succès de scandale. Laclos’s focus on his characters’ libertine psychology and his creation of a “monstrous” female villain, Merteuil, distinguished the novel from mainstream eighteenth-century French works. As an analysis of the novel’s reception demonstrates, Laclos’s suggestive portrayal of female sexuality and empowerment—and, specifically, of Merteuil—led first to the text’s association with dangerous works known as “mauvais livres” or “livres philosophiques” such as the Marquis de Sade’s Justine (1791) and the anonymous Histoire de Dom Bougre, Portier de Chartreux (1741), and later contributed to its classification as a pornographic work at the time the concept was invented in the early nineteenth century—and, ultimately, to its censorship in 1823. If the novel was devoid of explicitly sexual scenes, it nonetheless elicited such images in the minds of (at least some of) its readers and thereby caught the attention of the authorities. Les Liaisons dangereuses may be one of the most prominent historical cases of a book being banned not for what was depicted in its pages, but for the fantasies it inspired—providing a compelling twist to the adage that “pornography is in the eyes of the beholder,” or the mind of the reader.

“He bears no rival near the throne”: Male Narcissism and Early Feminism in the Works of Charlotte Dacre

For many critics, Charlotte Dacre is an essentially conservative author, whose female villains ventriloquize and thereby discredit early feminist thought. This essay disputes such readings by exploring her under-acknowledged criticisms of patriarchy. Dacre’s male characters are self-important narcissists, who disdain female education for the agency it gives women. If a woman is well-educated, she is less likely to submit, less likely to serve as an extension of her husband’s will alone. Patriarchy also encourages women to turn on one another, Dacre argues; her female villains uniformly value advancement among men over sisterhood, and they willingly destroy other women to attain their own ends. Dacre thus takes a pessimistic approach to women’s options at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Her female characters do not enjoy happy endings, regardless of marital status, level of education, or morality, because patriarchal systems are designed to crush women no matter how they behave. Far from mocking early feminism, then, Dacre criticizes it for being insufficiently radical in addressing problems with male behaviour.

Painting Lady Macbeth as a Female Villain: Don’t Do Her Like That

The crime of premeditated murder is at the heart of Shakespeare’s The Tragedy of Macbeth. It is questionable how to speak about this crime and interpret her actions and motives in light of the given information presented in Shakespeare’s text. She seems to have a conscience. Shakespeare leads us to think that she commits suicide because she is so bothered by her heinous actions. Even though Lady Macbeth does not wield the murder weapon herself, she still has blood on her hands. Over the centuries actors have portrayed her as a co-conspirator or a wife who bewitched her husband. If the society at the time wanted to honor male dominance, then Lady Macbeth as an evil wife who is not submissive to King Duncan or her husband is the favored plot path. So echoing the narrative of male-dominance, Lady Macbeth could merely be labeled as an evil character. However, some have added the aspect of humanity behind the label of an evil woman. In various historical times, how Lady Macbeth was interpreted by actors depended on the cultural biases of the era and the kind of personal connection the actor made to the character. This essay looks at the differentiation in interpretation of this female character involved in criminal behavior concerning gender and biased attitudes of the historical time and of a sense of familiarity, or lack of, between the actor and essence of the character.