The article/journal, “The role of women in film: Supporting the men — An analysis of how culture influences the changing discourse on gender representations in film” by Jocelyn Nichole Murphy is about the underrepresentation of women in the film industry along with racial minority groups. This relates to my conference paper which eventually will be published to a journal because I also have a theme of women being mistreated in society which can be shown through Iranian films. She has various types of evidence to prove her point about women in the film industry.

     One way Jocelyn Nichole Murphy proves this is by asking herself questions when she is watching a film or asks other people to ask themselves these questions. Her list of questions included: “1) Are there at least two women in the film who have names? 2) Do those women talk to each other? 3) Do they talk to each other about something other than a man?”. This is a smart way to test whether women are really underrepresented in film and if what she says holds true. It really makes you think more deeply about the movie and makes you question something you never thought of before. You might start to realize how women are portrayed in films and if they are shown as equally to men. This can help me when I am writing my article because in my conference paper I discuss the effect film can have on a child’s learning when being taught about the Middle East, specifically Iran. In these countries such as Iran, women are underrepresented in society and are looked down upon by men. I can do the same when watching Iranian films by asking myself questions. I can ask whether or not the film I’m watching discusses the struggles more of a man or a woman. For example, when I watched the film Leila, it did talk about the struggle of a woman not being able to have a child. But if you think more deeply about this, this really shows how much a man is expected to have a child specifically a son. The director, Dariush Mehrjui shows this by having the woman’s mother in law pressure her into letting his husband marry another woman so he can have the child he’s supposed to have and grow the family. It focuses more on the pressure of a man rather than what the woman is going through.

     The author also makes three tables regarding specific films in Hollywood. In the first table, she lists the top grossing films. In the second table she uses one of those films and makes a checklist of how the female protagonist is portrayed clothing wise (e.g. tight clothes, cleavage, breasts, buttocks). In the third table she has a lot of information which includes the gender and race of the protagonist and which gender produced, directed, etc. the film. All of these films had mostly white males as protagonists and all of the films were produced by males. This is another way that can help me outline my evidence by creating charts regarding Iranian films. I can have sections such as who produced the film, which films had females as main characters, and if each film really discusses the struggles of a man or woman. This can then help teachers choose which films are appropriate to choose for their class based on the material they are teaching.

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