Angelina Jolie Identity Representation - Notes PDF

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Student number: 21505969

Assessment 2: Media, Culture and Identities

The conflict between Angelina Jolie’s celebrity image as a female heroine, sex symbol, an activist and a Dame, identifying how Jolie is constructed in the media Introduction This article will explore how Angelina Jolie’s role as an onscreen female heroine has changed to align with modern day feminist discourses. There will be analysis of Jolie’s sex symbol status to demonstrate how Jolie’s image is portrayed in the media. The emergence of Jolie’s changing celebrity image as a dedicated humanitarian around the world will be analysed to inform how Jolie’s position in the media has vastly transformed over the past two decades. The beginnings of Jolie’s film career breakthrough launched when Jolie starred in the film Lara Croft: Tomb raider (2001). Jolie plays a British female action heroine on a fearless quest to save the world, though interestingly the film places prominence on the portrayal of the father and daughter relationship (Tasker,1998). Jolie and her on-screen father Jon Voight (played by Jolie’s real-life father) are united together in the film to provide Croft’s character, as the active woman, with an influential father figure to guide and strengthen her position to fight and combat her opposition. Though, as Tasker (1998) highlights Jolie’s later action heroine film roles including Mr and Mrs Smith (2005) and Wanted (2008) portrayed Jolie as the female action heroine, who leads and coaches the central male protagonist to become powerful. This shows Jolie’s pursuit as an onscreen female heroine has been a progressive process for, as Jolie has clearly modified her role as the female heroine to acclimate with modern day discourses. On the other hand, Tasker (1998) argues that the context of the films narrative functions to re-inscribe traditional female roles. The female heroine arguably creates divide among feminist critics as strong and powerful women are ambiguous in nature, the presence of the female heroine creates ambivalent audience reactions (Tasker, 1998, p6). This suggests that Jolie is an onscreen chameleon as the roles Jolie plays are often unpredictable signifying that Jolie was uncertain of her own identity as the female action heroine. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001) is one of the most popular cinematic female action adaptations within the world of computer gaming with increased cultural visibility. Before, Jolie starred as Lara Croft it was actress Rhona Mitra who became the embodiment of Croft in the computer animated series Tomb Raider (1996) Tasker (1998) argues that there is no place the action heroine is unable to explore, suggesting that the strong, active and independent woman can be seen The use of Rosalind’s concept of ‘objectification’ of women in the media is evident of Jolie. As Rosalind (2007) explains images of womanhood among heterosexual boys and young men becomes

Student number: 21505969

Assessment 2: Media, Culture and Identities

present in Jolie’s on-screen representation of her action character Lara Croft in the film Lara Croft: Tomb raider (2001). The Tomb raider franchise led to a computer-generated simulation that features Jolie’s character as an object of collective fascination as Tomb raider collectables such as comic books and action adventure games are available for predominately male audiences (Rosalind, 2007). Jolie’s character as Lara Croft has become sexually appealing to male audiences and the computer games are reconstructed technologically and cosmetically to illustrate Jolie’s on screen likeness to the character of Lara Croft. Therefore, Rosalind (2007) highlights further that the animated computer games of Jolie’s character represent this image of a female with no physical imperfections which demonstrates ideologically that Jolie is expected to meet standards of physical perfection classifying Jolie as a sexual object that attracts the male gaze. Yet, the Tomb raider franchise became a turning point of succession for Jolie’s identity as the role enabled her to engage as a female action heroine involved in gun fight scenes (Elliot, 2015). As Jacobs (2000, p14) emphasises that cinematic violence is largely related to fantasies of control and loss suggesting that the pleasure in gunshot sequences simultaneously reflects individual recognition and desire to fight back to gain mastery over one’s life. At the time, this reflected Jolie’s personal identity when she announced publicly that she struggled to find her own identity and purpose in the world and action sequences became her outlet to fight back and find her identity (Elliot, 2015).

References Arkell, H. (2014) “Arise Dame Angelina! Hollywood star Jolie meets Her Majesty at Buckingham Palace to be officially awarded her honorary damehood”, http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article2788029/angelina-jolie-meets-queen-buckingham-palace-officially-receive-honorarydamehood.html [Accessed on 12.05.2017]. Brown, J. (2004) Gender, Sexuality and Toughness: The Bad Girls of Action Film and Comic Books”: Inness, S. ed., Action Chicks: New Images of Tough Women in Popular Culture. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Student number: 21505969

Assessment 2: Media, Culture and Identities

By the Sea (2015) Dir. Angelina Jolie, USA. Dole, C. (2001) The Gun and the Badge: Hollywood and the Female Lawman, Reel Knockouts: Violent Women in the Movies, McCaughey, M. and King, N., Austin: University of Texas Press. Elliot, A. (2015) Identity troubles: An introduction, United States: Routledge. Filippo, M. (2013) The B Word: Bisexuality in Contemporary Film and Television, Indiana: Indiana University Press. Gia (1998) Dir. Michael Cristofer, USA. Girl Interrupted (1999) Dir. James Mangold, USA Hart, H. (2008) “Secrets of Wanted‘s Insane Onscreen Action”, https://www.wired.com/2008/06/hedwanted-acti/[Accessed on 19.05.2017]. In the Land of Blood and Honey (2011) Dir. Angelina Jolie, USA. Jacobs, J. (2000) Gunfire, Arroyo, J. ed., Action/Spectacle Cinema. London: British Film Institute. Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (2001), Dir. Simon West, USA. McCaughey, M. (2001) What’s a Mean Woman Like You Doing in a Movie like This? McCaughey, M. and King, N. eds., Reel Knockouts: Violent Women in the Movies, Austin: University of Texas Press. Mr and Mrs Smith (2005), Dir. Doug Liman USA. Rosalind, G. (2007) Gender and the Media, Cambridge: Polity Press. Salt (2010), Dir. Phillip Noyce, USA. Tasker, Y. (1998) Working girls: Gender and sexuality in popular cinema, London: Routledge. Unbroken (2014) Dir. Angelina Jolie, USA. Wanted (2008), Dir. Timur Bekmambetov, USA....