Inception and Captain fantastic - Gender representations

Using examples from both films, outline how inception and captain fantastic represent gender, commenting upon how stereotypes are challenged and reinforced.

In Inception gender stereotypes are somewhat reinforced, this is represented by the male dominated cast in which there are only two leading female characters. This reinforces the stereotype that woman are seen are less superior and that males are the more important gender in society. However this is challenged by the female characters because Ariadne and Mal are both portrayed as the most dominant characters in Inception, for example in the scene where Ariadne is first introduced to Cobb he places her in a dream in which she begins to gain the control when she is manipulating her surroundings which leads Cobb asking her questions, this represents him as weak in comparison to her, challenging the stereotype that females are in fact weak but in todays society females are gaining more importance and equality. Mal also challenges this stereotype of females by the control she has over Cobb, an example of this is seen throughout the film when she is seen in the dreams as a projection which leads Cobb to lose control of his reality making him a flawed male character in the film emphasising Mal's authority in the film reflecting today's society.

In Captain Fantastic the gender stereotypes are mainly challenged, this is shown by the equally dominated cast of males and females, in which both males and females in the film are equality portrayed through the characters of Ben and his children which there are three females and three males. The gender stereotype is challenged in this film by the representation female children : Vespyr, Kielyr and Zaja. An example of this challenge is equal role they have as a family, in the opening scene it shows that male and female characters both train together and hunt together which portrays their characters as powerful but also portrays that they have equality and are both as superior as each other, reflecting todays society in how females are gaining more freedom and equality. The stereotype is also challenged in Captain Fantastic by Ben's character, he is portrayed as a powerful male but he is also represented as weak an example of this is the loss he suffers over his wife's death and how he is unable to bring up his children in a way that is beneficial for them when in fact he is putting them in danger by isolating them away from society. This portrays him as a flawed male character in the film which challenges the stereotype that males are more powerful that females and females are weak.