Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies and Their Evolution over Time: Insights from Network Analysis
The present analysis of more than 180,000 sentences from movie plots across the period from 1940 to 2019 emphasizes how gender stereotypes are expressed through the cultural products of society. By applying a network analysis to the word co-occurrence networks of movie plots and using a novel method...
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MDPI AG
2022-05-01
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Series: | Big Data and Cognitive Computing |
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Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-2289/6/2/50 |
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author | Arjun M. Kumar Jasmine Y. Q. Goh Tiffany H. H. Tan Cynthia S. Q. Siew |
author_facet | Arjun M. Kumar Jasmine Y. Q. Goh Tiffany H. H. Tan Cynthia S. Q. Siew |
author_sort | Arjun M. Kumar |
collection | DOAJ |
description | The present analysis of more than 180,000 sentences from movie plots across the period from 1940 to 2019 emphasizes how gender stereotypes are expressed through the cultural products of society. By applying a network analysis to the word co-occurrence networks of movie plots and using a novel method of identifying story tropes, we demonstrate that gender stereotypes exist in Hollywood movies. An analysis of specific paths in the network and the words reflecting various domains show the dynamic changes in some of these stereotypical associations. Our results suggest that gender stereotypes are complex and dynamic in nature. Specifically, whereas male characters appear to be associated with a diversity of themes in movies, female characters seem predominantly associated with the theme of romance. Although associations of female characters to physical beauty and marriage are declining over time, associations of female characters to sexual relationships and weddings are increasing. Our results demonstrate how the application of cognitive network science methods can enable a more nuanced investigation of gender stereotypes in textual data. |
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format | Article |
id | doaj.art-9dbd2e8340e8428599f2baa65d04e7ca |
institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
issn | 2504-2289 |
language | English |
last_indexed | 2024-03-10T00:24:56Z |
publishDate | 2022-05-01 |
publisher | MDPI AG |
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series | Big Data and Cognitive Computing |
spelling | doaj.art-9dbd2e8340e8428599f2baa65d04e7ca2023-11-23T15:36:16ZengMDPI AGBig Data and Cognitive Computing2504-22892022-05-01625010.3390/bdcc6020050Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies and Their Evolution over Time: Insights from Network AnalysisArjun M. Kumar0Jasmine Y. Q. Goh1Tiffany H. H. Tan2Cynthia S. Q. Siew3Department of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, SingaporeDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, SingaporeDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, SingaporeDepartment of Psychology, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, National University of Singapore, Singapore 117570, SingaporeThe present analysis of more than 180,000 sentences from movie plots across the period from 1940 to 2019 emphasizes how gender stereotypes are expressed through the cultural products of society. By applying a network analysis to the word co-occurrence networks of movie plots and using a novel method of identifying story tropes, we demonstrate that gender stereotypes exist in Hollywood movies. An analysis of specific paths in the network and the words reflecting various domains show the dynamic changes in some of these stereotypical associations. Our results suggest that gender stereotypes are complex and dynamic in nature. Specifically, whereas male characters appear to be associated with a diversity of themes in movies, female characters seem predominantly associated with the theme of romance. Although associations of female characters to physical beauty and marriage are declining over time, associations of female characters to sexual relationships and weddings are increasing. Our results demonstrate how the application of cognitive network science methods can enable a more nuanced investigation of gender stereotypes in textual data.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-2289/6/2/50gender stereotypesstory tropesmovie plotsnetwork analysisword co-occurrence network |
spellingShingle | Arjun M. Kumar Jasmine Y. Q. Goh Tiffany H. H. Tan Cynthia S. Q. Siew Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies and Their Evolution over Time: Insights from Network Analysis Big Data and Cognitive Computing gender stereotypes story tropes movie plots network analysis word co-occurrence network |
title | Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies and Their Evolution over Time: Insights from Network Analysis |
title_full | Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies and Their Evolution over Time: Insights from Network Analysis |
title_fullStr | Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies and Their Evolution over Time: Insights from Network Analysis |
title_full_unstemmed | Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies and Their Evolution over Time: Insights from Network Analysis |
title_short | Gender Stereotypes in Hollywood Movies and Their Evolution over Time: Insights from Network Analysis |
title_sort | gender stereotypes in hollywood movies and their evolution over time insights from network analysis |
topic | gender stereotypes story tropes movie plots network analysis word co-occurrence network |
url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-2289/6/2/50 |
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