Representation theories: blog task

The clip that I picked was the trailer from the film 'Southpaw'. The first theory that this links to is Levi-Strauss: Representation and ideology this is because the ideology that people have of men are usually to do with being strong and independent. This is seen in the film as the main protagonist is a boxer which reinforces this theory as boxers are seen to be powerful and dominant fulfilling the idea of what every man should behave in today's society. The trailer of this film also links to another theory which is Perkins: stereotypes can be positive or partly true, this includes stereotypes such as men being strong and this is positive in the clip of this film as the male is a strong man who has a lot of power. The set idea of men are to be strong and not to show any emotions but an alternative view of this is shown when the protagonists wife is murdered in the film and he starts to break down and cry which isn’t a dominant representation of men. This is also seen when the protagonist loses her daughter after she is taken away, he also starts to cry which isn’t seen as a masculine thing to do. Also, it isn’t usually to see a male taking care of his daughter or being a single parents as women are the ones who are seen to be caring and nurturing towards their child as this is a feminine thing a male is seen to be incapable of doing. Another theory that this links to is Berger: ‘Ways of seeing’ which is an additional representation theory that influenced Mulvey. This is seen when the main protagonist is sitting down whilst in the boxing ring and he sees his wife on the ringside looking at him which could also link back to the female gaze. The protagonist wife is also a dominant representation of women as she is caring for her husband and women are also seen to be emotional which she is due to her husband’s boxing career. The villain of the film is also someone from another country which is usually done to promote the white male as the hero which is usually done in most films. The hero is normally is set to win against the villain, in some cases the villain is usually someone from Britain and goes against the Americans but in this case it is someone from South America and the main protagonist is set out to beat him after the death of his wife to avenge her and get his daughter back. There is also a common trend with boxing films in the past where the hero has been a white American male most of the time and is going up against someone from another country or different ethnicity; this makes the white male superior and other ethnicities to seem inferior which is a common thing in most films. An example of this would be ‘Rocky’ but this is changing over the years where there is now a black hero in recent film ‘Creed’. This challenges the common stereotype of the white male although the male is still an American.