How Men Are Represented in The Thriller Genre

Men Representations in Thriller Films

Looking at the 53 films released in 2012, we see that the majority of characters were male, and only 7 were female. This further proves that men are still dominate the cinema. Men are seen as the protectors, the saviors, the breadwinners, and the "know-alls" in films, which is portrayed right through the film genres, including thriller.

Women are constantly being misrepresented as support of the male characters, and mostly as love interests that attract the male characters. In the few movies where we see strong lead female characters but mostly see them having the support of at least one male who is involved in their situation in some way where the female ends up needing their help.

An example of a thriller film with this representation of men is Robin Hood, who is the main character and protagonist of the film. He is seen as very brave and powerful, and has got a woman in a smaller role beside him. This is a very stereotypical representation of men and women in film, as men are often regarded as being the protagonist, brave and powerful, while the women often associated as minor characters with less importance then men. They are also associated as being very submissive and gentle, which is the case in this film.

The dark knight is another film that has a very clear conventions of a male character. he is show to be heroic, brave and powerful. These are typical conventions of a man in the thriller genre as this is what the audience expects to see from a male character  in a thriller genre. Women are also represented in this film in a very subversive way as  she is very much  a key character in the role to plot against the hero, Batman.

Fast and Furious 6 is another stereotypical convention of male characters. These consist of acts like being competitive, powerful and brave. These are shown when, near the end of the film, Dom, launches his car over the side of the bridge in order to safe his friend from being killed by the enemy. This act symbolises all of these conventions expected from a male character, and therefore is a very stereotypical act of a male in the film.