Megan Fox and her role as a Feminist Research Assignment (Essay Sample)

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Megan Fox and her role as a Feminist
Introduction
In recent times Hollywood has been producing feminist films, which they have been promoting. Many people may fail to understand what makes a film feminist however there are feminist films scholars who are able to interpret what makes a film feminist. Results from research carried out have revealed that most of the feminist films are inclined on tales about power to the ladies and the tales of women brave enough to confront the social norms in society and change them (Chaudhuri 22). This type of films can be termed as power to films. These films have been used to greatly change the cultural representation of women and power in the film industry. This paper looks at a woman that has been repeatedly seen in the scenes of movies trying to change how women’s roles in movies are stereotypically defined by the viewers. It also takes a look at the disadvantages that have affected Megan Fox in her career in the film industry due to the sexual marketing and how these disadvantages are still affecting new upcoming actors even now.
Discussion
Megan Fox and her role in the transformers was a very dull one. She comes out as someone that was in the movie just because of her looks. A person that has not seen her other movies would dismiss her as a wannabe actress who gets ahead in her career by using her beauty and not her brains. However, there are some other films that she has starred in that reflect another side to her personality and acting skills. A film like Jenifer’s Body, which was a hit, depicts how good of an actor Megan Fox is (Byerly and Ross 51). Clearly the only reason she stars in movies like transformers is due to the fact that she has understood how Hollywood works and has decided to use this understanding to ensure that she becomes successful. Nowadays, the message that is passed to actors and other important people in Hollywood is that sex sells. Therefore, there is a certain depiction of women so as to ensure that a certain film is successful.
Even though Megan tries to use the Hollywood notions to her advantage there is a disadvantage since she is an icon and a role model to many young upcoming actors. Therefore, the message that she conveys in some of these movies is that to be a successful actor one needs to use her sexuality (Chaudhuri 33). Moreover, a woman needs to sell herself in Hollywood to achieve success, which is not a proper message. What Megan Fox went through as she was starting out in Hollywood is the same thing that other girls still face even today. In an interview, Megan says that at the time she was 15 years old, she was sexualized in the movie Transformer, and all she did was what she was told to do (Silverstein 2009). She was made into a sex symbol and she was not really considered as an actor. She says that in the film industry women are not taken seriously and they are just considered as sexual symbols. This is true since even at present, the trend still continues and the women are not taken as serious actors, but as objects of attraction and infatuation in films (Chaudhuri 33).
One of the disadvantages that women face in the film industry is the fact that they are not given serious roles to play in movies. They are instead taken as a product they are merchandised and sold on a sexual basis. For women to get these roles sometimes they are degraded to doing sexual acts and even when they get the roles, they are sold as sexual products, thus, they do not get the respect that they need. In Megan’s case she was sold as sexual product and she did not let that bother her in fact she used this to her advantage and climbed the ladders of success to reach where she is today in her career. Even so, this has its effect on how the women are thought of. Looking at Megan Fox, once she had starred in the movie ‘The transformers’ she was seen as a sexual object by men and even at parties they would look at her as a sexual pleasing object (Silverstein 2009).
Women should be given the opportunity to work in roles that do not necessarily rely on their looks, but just focus on the skills of the actress. In Hollywood most girls are chosen for their looks. You might find a girl that does not have a good figure, but is a great actor being rejected for a role perfect for her just because she is not good looking enough. This in turn makes most women who are gifted actors to lose hope in acting and try new careers (Chaudhuri 37). However, those that are courageous enough to continue persevering are not lucky enough to get good roles in the movie since they always get left out due to their looks.
Aside from this, many women who reach an age of thirty are denied acting roles in movies under the notion that they are old. This has in turn caused a lot of women who are around their 30’s and 40’ to lack any acting options. It has gone to the extent that some women actually lie about their age so that they can be accepted for movie roles. Once the women are out of the 20 year bracket, they are considered as useless. This is among the feminist problems that women are still going through until today (Byerly and Ross 65).
The roles that women play in movies may make one view the...