2. Representation and Action
Adventure
• Action Adventure film characters are usually
stereotypes (they mostly fit in to a certain
type of character).
• However we often just take for granted that
certain characters will look and behave a
certain way, some modern audiences see this
as a real problem as some characters
misrepresent genders and ethnicity.

6. How is masculinity represented in
these films?

7. Representation of women
• How has the role of the ‘princess’ changed
in action adventure films?
• Account for the reasons why the
representations of women have changed?
How do they still have conventional
aspects of a female character?

8. How is gender represented in this
scene?
Lo: To analyse the representation of women in action adventure films
Link to media terminology: Mise-en-scene, sound, cinematography…

9. Stereotypes and Action Adventure
Stereotype Function in the film: Problem
Character: (misrepresentation):
The Action Against all the odds, Women and other
Adventure hero he saves the day by ethnicities are NOT
defeating villains, represented as
Is usually a white saving the leading strongly as men in
male who is often lady and making the the role of Action
played by a western world a better and Adventure hero.
actor (mostly safer place! Female and black
American or lead characters are
English). He is good starting to appear
looking, athletic and more regularly in
fights for good. more modern films
but still not as
frequently as white
males.

10. Stereotypes and Action Adventure
Stereotype Function in the film: Problem
Character: (misrepresentation):
The Leading Lady For a long time the Other ethnicities are
(Princess) leading lady was in rarely represented by
the film to look leading ladies in Action
Adventure films.
Is mostly white, good, be rescued by
And, the leading lady is
beautiful and falls in the hero and often seen as useless,
love with the Action provide him with needing the male hero
Adventure hero. somebody to seduce to rescue them.
through the film And, should all leading
ladies be beautiful?
Normal looking
females are rarely
represented by the
leading lady.

11. Stereotypes and Action Adventure
Stereotype Function in the film: Problem
Character: (misrepresentation):
The Villain The villain usually With the hero being
handsome and villain ugly,
wants to do this reinforces the idea
The villain is often rich, something evil, that good people are good
powerful and a criminal.
The villain is often ugly
taking over the looking and bad people
world, stealing large are ugly.
compared to the Action
Adventure hero and amounts of money, And, the rich powerful
physically less impressive, hurting and even villain can seem to suggest
needing henchmen to do
killing innocent that if you are rich or
most of their evil deed for
powerful you must be evil!
them. people and appears
almost impossible to And, with the villain often
The villain is more
commonly from a non
defeat. foreign, this can create
racism/ prejudice towards
western country (Russian,
the country that the villain
Middle Eastern and
comes from!
Chinese are favourites)

12. Stereotypes and Action Adventure
Stereotype Function in the film: Problem
Character: (misrepresentation):
The Sidekick The sidekick is often Again this shows that
(Helper) in the film to make heroes have to be male,
white, athletic and good
the audience laugh. looking.
The sidekick usually is a
more humorous They usually bumble This reinforces the idea
character who is less their way through that if you are not:
athletic and handsome
the film, only
than the Action - White
Adventure hero. helping the hero by - Male
accident. - Athletic
Sidekicks are more - Handsome
likely to be foreign,
children, female or You are inferior and
even a robot than the cannot be a hero and are
male Action Adventure only good for laughing
at!
hero.

13. Applying knowledge
• A criticism of Action
Adventure films is that
they reinforce
stereotypes in terms of
both gender and
ethnicity. Do you agree?
Give examples

14. Design a Heroine
Lo: To analyse the representation of women in action adventure films
Fill out your profile sheet
Name:
Age:
Gender: FEMALE
Target audience:
Character qualities:
Catchphrase:
And DESIGNED character

15. Heroes & Villains
In Action Adventure
In most action adventure films the narrative is driven by a single ‘hero’ also
called the PROTAGONIST who is in conflict and opposition to a ‘villain’ also
called the ANTOGONIST
This is also known as binary opposites where opposing influences
create drama and conflict- eg. Good VS Evil, Man Vs Woman, Rich Vs Poor,
Man Vs nature, Water Vs Land
What do all these Heros and Villains have in common?

16. HERO VILLIAN
• Add more to this list
• Are the women represented as
masculine or feminine?
• Does one gender dominate? Why?

17. Action Adventure
Textual analysis skills are important when discussing
character types.
Watch this clip and write 200 words to analyse the two
character types
Watch the clip –
Who is the hero? – Give evidence
Who is the villain? – Give evidence
How are binary opposites used?
Link to mise en scene, sound, cinematography…
Ext: Do either challenge conventions?

18. Summarising & Applying knowledge
• Consider how character is represented
• Typology of characters
• Attributes of heroes/ heroines
• Women tend not to be the lead
• Do heroines act like women or men?
• Do the representations reflect gender roles in society and
how we value men and women?
• Heroes – white, English speaking from Western democracy
(more so USA)
• Villains – contrast the hero
• Are there characters that break with traditional hero
stereotypes'?
• How do the brake from them?
• What sort of actors are employed to play theses roles?
• How do action adventure films shape our values?
• It could be argued that Action Adventure films are a means of
exporting western ideologies to the rest of the world
(specifically from American)
• The values attitudes and beliefs in these film are being subtly
imposed on other nations. How far do you agree with this?

19. Action Adventure Film Star
• Hollywood is famous for its movie stars;
Hollywood celebrities can command huge fees
for appearing in films. A Hollywood star is
often seen as a box office draw – someone
that audience will pay to see at the cinema
and hopefully increasing a film’s success when
it is released.
• Who are the great Hollywood stars of the
action adventure genre?

20. Action Adventure Film Star
• Some actors are known for playing
mostly Action Adventure heroes
throughout their whole film careers.
These actors are films stars who can
be seen as more important than any
other element in the film. In fact
some audiences will go and see a film
just because a certain actor is playing
the Action Adventure hero.
• One such film star was Arnold
Schwarzenegger who starred in
numerous Action Adventure films
and whose name attached to a film
would automatically make is a box
office success.

21. Action Adventure Film Star
• Arnold Schwarzenegger became bigger than
any of the films he starred in and most film
trailers would use his popularity stating his
name before the title of the film. For
example.
‘The latest Schwarzenegger film’
or
‘Arnold Schwarzenegger in .....’
• Arnold Schwarzenegger often played a
similar character in Action Adventure films, a
tough, strong, muscular, cigar chomping, gun
totting hero who spoke very little (due to his
strong Austrian accent) using catch phrases
and physical action to portray his character.
• Despite his acting receiving very negative
reviews from film critics, audiences did not
care and loved his simple, no nonsense,
muscle bound characters.

22. Action Adventure Film Star
• Research a film star who
has often appeared in
Action Adventure films.
• What type of role does
he/she play?
• How important are they
to the success of the film?
• Who would be a suitable
star for your film? (Think
about your audience, how
marketable the star is and
if they are right for the
genre)