A study of the representation of female protagonists in contemporary action film

Since the 1980s, women in Hollywood action cinema have transcended from secondary roles to become protagonists and the main vehicle of action narratives. This development of female characters in the action genre marks an important time for women in film who are no longer positioned below the male hero. The purpose of this study is to establish whether the roles of women within the action genre are shown to be progressive or whether stereotypical gender roles are being re-established. A semiotic analysis is conducted using key extracts from three contemporary action films - G.I. Jane (Scott, 1997), Charlie’s Angels (McG, 2000) and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (West, 2001). The research will study primarily focus on the way that the female body is shown as well as how notions of a patriarchal society impacts on these roles to understand how women are interpreted in popular action cinema. \n \nThe ideas within this dissertation have been concluded by using the qualitative method of semiotic analysis in order to understand the messages that the female protagonists convey. This dissertation concludes that female protagonists in the action genre are influenced by a patriarchal society which continues to represent women as the ‘weaker’ sex. In addition, this research has found that the objectification of the female body is a recurring film within Hollywood action genre.