Gender Stereotypes In Cowboys And Aliens

Extended essay response Jonathan Scriva
Hollywood films have influenced our values and beliefs of socio-cultural groups within a film. In the context of race and gender the films Cowboys and Aliens (2011) and the searchers (1956) both share similarities. These two successful films are 55 years apart the both convey the perspectives of race and gender through the reflection of American Indians in these films. The films The Searchers and Cowboys and Aliens show that Hollywood has changed the way we see the status of Indians. In the earlier film the Indians are represented as killers and mongrels as in this current day and age we have grown to accept them and appreciate their culture. This is done prominently through both films as they feature the interaction between white Americans and Indians. The searchers depict the Indians as the villains who capture the girls from the white American families and are seen as a risk to the community. In the

This was formed from years of social views and gender representations in film. Women were often thought of as people who had small roles to play in life and a desire to there working class of men. The males were given heroic and superior roles, usually seen saving the day or doing what it took to support a family as seen in The Searchers where the men had to protect the family in search for their loved ones after the Indians raided the family’s home. In the movie cowboys vs aliens we also had a similar situation where the males had to leave home in search for their enemy. Males are still seen in this way in featured films and females still desired over men with their feminine aspects. In contrast to the twentieth century we still see some of this in our current day and ages. Contrasting portrayals of men and women in films leave us with the fact that we haven’t changed. Men and women are sought to have different gender roles within