Gender-responsiveness of the images of women as presented in Filipino top-grosser movies of 2002 : a film content analysis / Orchidia Manalaysay Cabatunado. 6

Thesis (M.A.) -- Pamantasan ng Lungsod ng Maynila, 2004.;A thesis presented to the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Education, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree in Master of Arts in Communication Management. 56

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ABSTRA CT: This study content analyzed how gender - responsive are the images of women in Filipino top-grosser movies of 2002. Ten movies were analyzed according to the following criteria: 1. Surface level character indicators (manner of dressing/ attire, educational background, profession/ occupational role, body structure/ physique). 2. Mid-level character indicators (general outlook in life, behavior, personal attributes, sex-role activities) 3. Gender roles (as mothers, as career people, as entrepreneurs, as leaders, as objects of lust). The image indicators used in this research were adapted from coding units from foreign and local researchers. The movies studied were the top ten movies in terms of box-office sales in all SM Cinema Circuits for the year 2002. These were: 1. Got to Believe 2. Kailangan Kita 3. Jologs 4. Forevermore 5. Magkapatid 6. Agimat 7. Videoke King 8. Mano Po I 9. Ikaw Lamang Hanggang Ngayon 10. American Adobo. The content analysis of the images was only limited to the representation of the female leading character of a particular film. In the absence of a female leading character, the supporting female character's image was analyzed. Furthermore, the qualitative analysis was solely conducted by the researcher. To balance the subjectivity brought about by this armchair research, validation was utilized. There were five validation groups comprising of ten individuals (who were purposively selected) from the following sectors: students, masses, women's group, educators, and people from the film industry. Both the researcher and the validation groups used the same coding units in their analysis. The major hypothesis of the study is to find out if there is a significant congruence between the results of the study as perceived by the researcher and the validation groups. The findings of the study in terms of the major strengths in the representation of women include the following: 1. Presentation of women as having professions instead of being ordinarily assigned as homemakers, 2. Depiction of women as being assertive individuals instead of being overly docile and subservient, 3. Lessened portrayal of women as being flirtatious, martyrs, dependent, gullible and fickle-minded which are sexist and stereotypical images commonly associated to women, 4. Absence of the portrayal of women as being gossip-mongers, objects of lust and materialistic which are demeaning images ordinarily associated to women, 5. Lessened association of women to activities like housework, shopping, gossiping, physical aggression and verbal aggression along with other sex-role activities, 6. Presentation of a working woman (Sharon Cuneta being a doctor and a mother) as being able to balance professional and family life and 7. Absence of the portrayal of women as objects of lust. Meanwhile, among the weaknesses of the representations of women in the films analyzed are the following: 1. Women are presented as pessimistic beings that is brought about by the absence of romantic love in their lives, 2. The stereotypical and traditional occupational roles assigned to women, 3. The highly observed presentation of women as hopeless romantics and emotional beings along with the association of crying as a sex-role activity still commonly assigned to women and 4. The absence of the portrayal of women as leaders. The results of the hypothesis testing showed that there is a significant congruency between the results of the study as perceived by the researcher and by each of the validation groups and among all the validation groups. Films have come a long way in portraying the roles of women as compared to previous studies and literature. This effort in more sincere representation of women is probably due to the fact that more writers are aware of women's issues and their call for a more just interpretation of roles. Another probable reason is that new writers are creating liberal yet toned-down women characters as traditional women representations are becoming too common and too boring. However, the results of this research shows that there is still a need to present women in roles reflecting her accomplishments, goals, diverse emotions, attitudes, characteristics and motivations, both traditional and non-traditional. Despite the changes in the presentation of the images of women, there is still enough room for more reflective representations of women. It is essential to portray women's roles in varied representations comparable to that of the diverse images of men's roles. Since this study is concerned about the presentation of the images of women in films, there is also a great need to analyze the presentation of the images of men in films. Only with the analysis and comparison of the two representations can there really be an exhausting and definitive description of how gender-responsive the images of women are. There is a need to assess how diverse are the images of women in films in contrast with that of the men's. As this study was limited to the analysis of the images presented by the female lead character, it is also essential to include the portrayal of the other female characters in movies so as to acquire a conclusive analysis and generalization on how women are presented in Filipino movies. Likewise, since this study was based on the Philippine Plan for Gender Responsive Development, there is a need to evaluate the gender- responsive provisions of the said policy paper and to develop clear and specific measurable qualitative and quantitative gender-responsive and gender-sensitive indicators as basis for measurement and analysis.

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