Gender Issues in Popular Cinema

Abstract

Gender issue in cinema like all other media of communication is the product of stereotyping in the ego formations for both male and female folks. The image of a person or group of persons must sell or be destroyed. Discussion on gender issue is often brought into focus to equalize public opinion and treatment for both men and women. Gender issue, which connotes stereotypical representation of femininity and masculinity are ways of opposing the different ways in which men and women are placed side-by-side in most media discourse for the purpose of bridging the chauvinistic gap between male and female folks in the society,based on the U.N. driven affirmative action. Here, I examined critically the issue of male and female counter stereotyping of their respective genders in the media, particularly, in classical and popular cinemas. I also discussed the need to overcome stereotyping and counter stereotyping between men and women through fundamental policy and artistic balanced reconstruction of the images of men and women through psychoanalytic and semiotic utilization of the cinematic camera and the culturally based signification of the cinematic imageries of masculinity and femininity. The stereotyped imageries of men and women in major world cinema such as Hollywood and Nollywood, were analyzed and recommendations made for the way forward.