UVM prof.: TV violence speaks volumes about gender roles

In the male-dominated world of action television, full to overflowing with explosions and violence, there’s not a lot of room for major female characters. When the ladies do take center stage in contemporary action TV series, they are portrayed as weak or are over-sexualized, Hilary Neroni, program director of film and television studies at the University of Vermont, told 35 students on Wednesday at the Boston University General Classroom Building.

Throughout the lecture, hosted by the BU Women’s Studies Program, Neroni compared the roles of the heroic fictional television characters Sydney Bristow, played by Jennifer Garner, in the ABC television series ‘Alias’ and Jack Bauer, played by Kiefer Sutherland, in the FOX television series ’24.’ Only four of the audience members were men.

‘Feminist investigation into female characters is significant because it reveals societies perceptions of females and allows us to understand the message being conveyed by the media,’ Neroni said.

Bauer seeks the truth through the body, physically torturing his suspects until they confess, whereas Bristow uses disguises to uncover the truth, Neroni said. The difference in each character’s tactics is a result of the media’s perception of appropriate gender roles, she said.

‘Alias’ also uses violence, but the masquerade is the true focus for uncovering the truth, not brute strength, Neroni said.

‘The show ’24’ depicts torture as always effective when really, that is not the case,’ Neroni said. ‘The tortured subject just produces the desired fiction.’

In contrast, as a woman, Bristow must undertake sexual aliases approximately half the time, while the rest of the time she is dressed in bizarre punkish clothing or as a scientist to gain access to labs, Neroni said.

Neroni also criticized the show ’24’ for depicting women as fragile.

‘It always disappointed me that women in ’24’ are too weak to do anything and end up dying or betraying their country,’ she said.

College of Communication senior Mark Jenssen said he felt compelled to attend because, as a women’s studies minor, there are so few events relating to the subject on campus.

‘I found the concept of reality as form of masquerade very compelling, as well as the idea that modern female action heroes can be so complicated,’ Jenssen said.

Rhiannon Roberts, a School of Education graduate student, said she does not think feminism is the cause of a rise in female violence on television.

‘I believe that the rise in female violence in the media is not related to feminism but to our overly violent culture and that in these roles women are not as violent as men,’ Rhiannon said.

Mary Ann Cromer, a student in the Metropolitan College Evergreen program, enjoyed the analysis.

‘I thought the idea that women are no longer being showed as vulnerable was a highly appealing subject matter,’ Cromer, a retired pediatrician, said.