City of God - Representation

1. REPRESENTATION OF
GENDER IN CITY OF GOD

2. HOW IS GENDER (MEN AND WOMEN)
REPRESENTED?
One of the most profound messages the audience may take is how the
stereotypical depiction of men and woman may have changed in developed
countries but has remained the same in non developed countries. Men are
strong and violent whereas women are weak but this is a representation
that Brazilians it is not a Western view. Men are associated with the drug
trade and crime but not with women as all they focus on is gaining power
and having a woman present could show a sign of weakness to their gang.
Women are seen as being used as sexual predators like is shown with
Rocket and the Woman reporter. There is a clear imbalance between the
genders which shows how undeveloped the favelas are.

3. WHAT WOULD BE GOOD SCENES TO TALKING IN
RELATION TO THE REPRESENTATION OF
GENDER? WHY?
The first scene that is good when talking in relation to the representation of gender would be
when Shaggy dies as he tries to escape with his girlfriend but is shot and killed by the police.
This shows that women are seen as a negative influence on the men as they lead to death as
this happens twice in the film with Bennie being killed when he tries to escape with his
girlfriend Angelica.
When violence is happening throughout the film we only see men involved as this is what they
are associated with. Scenes in which drugs are involved we always see men, as women are not
associated with this as this is seen as a strong powerful trade where only men can survive.
The rape scene is where men are shown that they take their aggression and violence out on
women as they see them as objects not a human being which is due to the lack of education
and being an undeveloped country.

4. WHAT MIGHT BE CHALLENGING ABOUT
THE REPRESENTATION OF GENDER?
The reporter is a woman and has challenged the representation of gender as she is seen
as being the strongest female in the film. She is shown to have a good well paying job
and is an influential person to Rocket through photography which helps to give him a
lifeline for escaping the city of god. The audience would see that very few women are
seen to have authority in the film but when they do they start to have a positive
influence on people.
Bernice, shaggys girlfriend is seen to have power over shaggy as she has fallen
pregnant with his baby and persuades him to leave his life in the city of god to spend it
with her. The outcome of this change in power is bad and seems to suggest that the
power belongs with male characters as it results in Shaggys death.
Both woman in the film, Bernice and Angelica, have power over their boyfriends but
ends up resulting in the death of shaggy and Bennie which shows the shift in power has

5. WHAT MESSAGES MIGHT THE AUDIENCE
TAKE FROM THIS FILM ABOUT GENDER?
• One of the messages that the audience may take from this film is the
stereotypical depiction of men and women may have changed in developed
countries, but has remained the same in undeveloped countries. This raises
questions as they may think that these stereotypes of men being dominant
and women being weak to have changed due to modern day living but this is
not the case. This could be due to lack of education and knowledge that men
possess in the country and is portrayed through the film.
• It is important that non developed countries have produced films like this
with real life actors that have been living in the city of god to help show a
realist approach to the film overall making the audience realise that this is
happening and nothing is being done about it due to corruption and the under