Gender+in+Syfy

The //Saw// movie series is an intricate film about a serial killer named John Kramer, also known as Jigsaw, who has people kidnapped and put into situations where they have to fight for their lives. Jigsaw just wants to play a “game” with people to show them what he thinks is missing in their lives. He believes that he isn’t murdering anyone because he only puts them there, they kill themselves. His lengthy plans are well-thought-out and trick people into complicated situations, which cause them to make new kinds of decisions. They are kidnapped and wake up in a random place with other confused victims. They are left with tape recorders leaving specific instructions in the form of riddles. In the process of fighting for survival, the victims witness others going crazy to find a way out, but end up dying in one of Jigsaw’s brutal traps. People are filled with desperation and hate. In the majority of the Saw movies, the minority of the victims are women. Everyone will become more terrified as the number of survivors decrease. Men take a more aggressive outlook on the situation and do anything to find a way out. In the //Saw// movie series, the surface appears to be truly about terror and a fight for survival, but turns out to be portraying women as either helpless, in desperate need of men, or weak. Syfy is definitely not trying to persuade people to take the actions displayed on the channel. Many channels have a main purpose for persuading their audience to think like “them” and making them believe that by watching that channel will tune you into the latest trends. Instead, Syfy tries to bring their audience into a world of fantasy in unrealistic situations. Syfy’s motto, “Imagine greater” puts their mission statement in a nutshell. Syfy is telling the audience to imagine greater, but simultaneously gives us restrictions to how certain genders may act. How can the audience “Imagine greater” within limits that give them the option of this or that? Even though there is a wide variety of shows on Syfy, they put women in specific roles, and if they are put outside of those roles, it is seen as unordinary. Once show makers see one show be successful, they will have a tendency to make shows that are similar, whether it’s conscious or not. The editors of channels tend to be stuck with one type of show that they think will be marketable for the type of viewers. The main reason Syfy would choose to represent this movie is due to the terror and high-suspense it causes, which would match their standards. In the //Saw II//, eight people are kidnapped and mysteriously put into a type of playhouse that’s set up with traps and puts them in a life or death situation. One girl, Amanda Young, is put back into the game a second time and is the only one known to survive with Jigsaw. Overall there are only three girls out of the eight victims. All of them act scared, timid, and useless. Amanda acts scared in the beginning, but shows strength toward the end. As a female she desperately needs the bravery of the men to survive. At the end of the movie, she gives into Jigsaw’s games and decides to take part of his games. Does this mean that she has given in to the dominating male figure in order to save herself? She acts as an obedient servant to Jigsaw by helping him in preparing the next victims for the new “game.” The only way that Amanda can feel safe and sure is by following the strict instructions and tasks that Jigsaw gives her. In //Saw II//, the character Xavier Chavez tells the inferior Addison Corday, “The only door you can open is the one between your legs” (Saw II, 2005). Addison Corday is one of the most attractive characters and seems to maintain her looks even in the situation she’s in. The //Saw// movies keep the female characters good looking even though they are constantly being faced with death, and the male characters must appear rough and covered in sweat and blood. Another female character, Laura Hunter, does very little over all in the movie and her role is basically to scream and act the most scared. Female roles are labeled with signs of weakness. One example is when Laura is the first to die due to the gas that leaks through the vents in the house. Even though the girls are portrayed as weak, their weakness carries them the farthest and in most cases, they survive the longest. The women stand back and watch the men be aggressive to find a way out, but in the end, stay alive longer in the movie. Even though Syfy focuses on unrealistic characters and situations in science fiction, is the audience supposed to relate themselves to the characters? The intentions of the Syfy channel are unknown, but the audience seems to ignore that the characters are not human in most of the shows and continue to relate themselves. The few things that are shown on the Syfy channel that involve humans put them in threatening positions (especially women) by the non-human characters. It is almost a typical story line for there to be a women in distress, especially from superhero movies. In movies such as //Saw//, women shouldn’t be portrayed as timid and inferior to the men throughout the movie. Even though women being timid and relying on men in certain situations seems more of a reality instead of a stereotype/typical story line, that shouldn’t always be the case.

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