Women on the road

（重慶工程學院，重慶 400056）

【Abstract】：The issue of positions in society between male and female has already existed since ancient times. With the evolution of generations， it becomes a labeled male-centered and patriarchal society. Females have been discriminated in different countries throughout the world， to one degree or another. To live under the system of patriarchy， women not only suffered unfair of political， economic， educational and social rights， but also suffered domestic violence and sexual harassment.

【Keywords】： male-centered；culture；female；sexual；harassment

In the late 19th century， the feminist movement erupted in the western countries， which experienced three waves in history （Humm， 1995）. According to women’s media activism represents a historically significant but without enough investigations and theories aspect about the relationship between women and media， that the media mainly operated by men and established by women （Carolyn：2006）. It seems that women started realized that they also can use the right of engagement in media to gain a voice， influence and presence（Carolyn：2006）. In this essay， I will discuss one of the media forms –film which plays a key role in media and gains a large number of fans all over the world. I will take Thelma and Louise （1991） as an example to analyze if media empower women or not.

Thelma and Louise as movie which belongs to road film genre in Hollywood industry， has empowered the figures of female on the screen in such a masculine genre. To begin with， the genre of road movie， such an easy and powerful way to express the social stands but ignore feminist issue attached in the film. Actually road movie is always existed by male dominate as the heroic （or anti-heroic） protagonists and targeting on the issue of men’s mind or freedom. As Greenberg et al （1991-1992：20） argued ： “I mark the signature of classic and contemporary Westerns， sundry types of road film （doomed/outlaw/lovers subgenre in particular）， and the seventies ‘buddy’ movie.” “In the history of road movie， it formed that buddy movie or male-centre movie， for the linear structure and content of road film linked the conceptions of Western’s ideal such as independence， control， aggression and individualism which connected to masculine（Roberts1997：61） .It means that the values and social problems which be expressed on the road are more linked with men than women， because masculine symbolized power and position in this genre compared feminine acted as ignorance and parasitism to men. As Roberts （1997： 61 ） claimed that masculine highly connected with racial hierarchies， heterosexual romance and marriage and male-centered narrative mode . In addition， women’s figures in the Hollywood film are always described into helpless， weak， and attached women to men （Roberts 1997：62）. For example， as director who is famous for his road films—Eastwood. In his movie， the women who were independent， fashionable， and conversable were set as men’s attachments （Roberts 1997：62）. Such as the female roles Lily and Billy in film Bronco Billy（1980） and Laura Dern who was the novice detective and the experienced ranger Red in A Perfect World （1993） who relies on superficial facts while men are imbued with spiritual knowledge （Roberts 1997：62） . Compared previous tereotype， such as Coast to Coast （1980）， The Gauntlet （1977） and so on which show that the women are too helpless to seeking protection and help from men and illustrate that the heroine have to be protected by hero to live in the society. Thus， the stereotype of women in the film has already existed and stable in road movies. This situation is just like what Fenin （1977：40） argued：\" The image of the western woman， as rendered by Hollywood， stands confused， between the sentimental and mythological conception of the pure but weak and defenseless female， without any personality of her own， essentially dependent on the hero， and the titillatingly sexual and aggressive heroine.\" Though， female characters have their impact to the promotion of the film， although women have their own function to film， but more like accessories to men role. The reason why this genre of road movie suits male dominant mode is the unbalance between men staffs and women staffs who are working in film industry. When the leading roles in a film are women and they themselves can control their lives， all the people will not regard it as a good movie. But Thelma and Louise， this film has changed the conventional male-centered road movie.

To conclude， the film Thelma and Louise describes a picture of reality

and reflects women’s position and live in patriarchal society. It empowers women with its content and genre， in fact， as a branch of form media， it not only give women the right to “talk” but also give a comparative free space to “talk” what they want. Due to main function of media is a way for women to express themselves， their opinions， and their stands， as Thelma and Louise， it bravely addressed social problem and situation， it can be judged a progress that on the road of the development of gender equality.

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