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Johanson analysis, developed by
film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...
MaryAnn Johanson, provides a method to evaluate the representation of women and girls in fiction. The analysis evaluates media on criteria that include the basic representation of women, female agency, power and authority, the male gaze, and issues of
gender Gender is the range of social, psychological, cultural, and behavioral aspects of being a man (or boy), woman (or girl), or third gender. Although gender often corresponds to sex, a transgender person may identify with a gender other tha ...
and
sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
. Johanson's 2015 study, funded by a
Kickstarter Kickstarter, PBC is an American Benefit corporation, public benefit corporation based in Brooklyn, New York City, that maintains a global crowdfunding platform focused on creativity. The company's stated mission is to "help bring creative project ...
campaign, compiled statistics for every film released in 2015, and all those nominated for
Oscars The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence i ...
in 2014 or 2015. She also drew conclusions about movie profitability when women are represented well.


Evaluation methodology

The Johanson analysis provides a method for evaluating the portrayal of
women A woman is an adult female human. Before adulthood, a female child or adolescent is referred to as a girl. Typically, women are of the female sex and inherit a pair of X chromosomes, one from each parent, and women with functional u ...
and girls in
movies A film, also known as a movie or motion picture, is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, emotions, or atmosphere through the use of moving images that are generally, since ...
. Although developed for the screen, it can also be applied to
books A book is a structured presentation of recorded information, primarily verbal and graphical, through a medium. Originally physical, electronic books and audiobooks are now existent. Physical books are objects that contain printed material, mo ...
and other
media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...
. It consists of adding or subtracting points based on different categories of representation. The analysis offers a more wide-ranging and in-depth analysis than provided by methods that rely on the evaluation of only one or two aspects of female representation, such as the Bechdel test or Mako Mori test. The analysis was developed by MaryAnn Johanson, also known as the FlickFilosopher, a
film critic Film criticism is the analysis and evaluation of films and the film medium. In general, film criticism can be divided into two categories: Academic criticism by film scholars, who study the composition of film theory and publish their findin ...
for a wide range of sources, both online and in print. An influential feminist voice in the film industry, Johanson was one of the film critics interviewed for the article at Rogerebert.com, "The Status of Feminist Film Criticism - A Roundup Report," that reviews the state of feminist film criticism in 2019. Her FlickFilosopher website has become known as a leading review site in feminist literary criticism. In operation continuously since 1997, it is one of the longest running film review sites on the web. Johanson rated every movie released wide in North America for 2015, as well as every movie nominated for the
Oscars The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence i ...
in 2014 and 2015, producing a detailed analysis of the releases for their representation of girls and women. She also compiled a list of the year's new releases ranked by the score they achieved in the analysis. The project received funding through a kickstarter campaign. The following summarizes the areas considered in the analysis. Each category also considers whether or not the character is a person of color and if a male
protagonist A protagonist () is the main character of a story. The protagonist makes key decisions that affect the plot, primarily influencing the story and propelling it forward, and is often the character who faces the most significant obstacles. If a ...
could be cast as a woman without having any significant impact on the film. A complete description of the categories and the rationale behind them can be found in the Johanson rating criteria.


Basic representation

The tests in this section measure female representation according to whether or not a central female character, either a girl or a woman, learns about herself, acts with self-determination, and achieves growth as a result of her experiences in the story. Does the story center on a woman? Is it her journey, her growth? Are the other characters mostly about supporting her story, instead of how she can support the stories of the male characters? The tests also consider whether or not a secondary female character grows, changes, or learns as part of the story, whether or not the woman is solely there to support the journey of the male characters, whether or not the woman is one of several standard
stereotypes In social psychology, a stereotype is a generalization, generalized belief about a particular category of people. It is an expectation that people might have about every person of a particular group. The type of expectation can vary; it can ...
, and whether it is necessary for a film to exclude women from certain types of movies or roles.


Female agency, power and authority

The tests in this section consider if a woman in the
narrative A narrative, story, or tale is any account of a series of related events or experiences, whether non-fictional (memoir, biography, news report, documentary, travel literature, travelogue, etc.) or fictional (fairy tale, fable, legend, thriller ...
controls her own life. Does a female character appear whose choices and actions influence those of other characters? Or is she merely a pawn of the plot? The analysis considers whether or not a female character holds a position of authority, including the complete range of jobs available to humans, in particular those considered traditionally male. It also asks if the role portrays female authority in a positive light or does it bolster the idea that power and
leadership Leadership, is defined as the ability of an individual, group, or organization to "", influence, or guide other individuals, teams, or organizations. "Leadership" is a contested term. Specialist literature debates various viewpoints on the co ...
are inappropriate or unfeminine for a woman, or damaging to her life.


The male gaze

The tests in this section consider if women are treated more like sexualized objects than people. Is the focus more on a woman's physical appearance than on her personality and inner qualities? For example, does a female character dress in a manner less appropriate to the situation than her male counterparts, such as wearing a skimpy top and shorts when the men wear jackets, long-sleeved shirts, and boots. It also considers whether the movie presents female characters as nude or partially nude in a manner out of proportion with the way men are presented, whether women are shot with gratuitous emphasis on their sexual characteristics, and the degree in which portrayals of women are sexualized compared to their male counterparts.


Gender and sexuality

This section considers whether or not a woman is defined by more than her gender or her relationships with men and children. These tests also look at the use of tropes that cast womanhood as a joke or in a demeaning manner. For example, a man who dresses as a woman is considered humorous while a woman who dresses as a man is considered cool or nothing of particular note. The analysis also considers how women's relationships with men and children are portrayed, the tropes of dead or otherwise absent mothers and wives, and whether or not a man controls or tries to control a woman's sexual life.


Statistics

Johanson complied statistics for the year 2015 on how having a female protagonist affected a movie, and formed the following conclusions:


See also

* Bechdel test *
Feminism Feminism is a range of socio-political movements and ideology, ideologies that aim to define and establish the political, economic, personal, and social gender equality, equality of the sexes. Feminism holds the position that modern soci ...
*
Feminist literary criticism Feminist literary criticism is literary criticism informed by feminist theory, or more broadly, by the politics of feminism. It uses the principles and ideology of feminism to critique the language of literature. This school of thought seeks to an ...
* Finkbeiner test *
Gender representation in video games The portrayal of gender in video games, as in other media, is a subject of research in gender studies Gender studies is an interdisciplinary academic field devoted to analysing gender identity and gendered representation. Gender studi ...
* Mako Mori test * Manic Pixie Dream Girl * Media and gender * Smurfette principle *
Tokenism In sociology, tokenism is the social practice of making a perfunctory and symbolic effort towards the equitable inclusion of members of a minority group, especially by recruiting people from under-represented social-minority groups in order for th ...


References


External links

*, FlickFilosopher
MaryAnn Johanson
website for film critic and author MaryAnn Johanson
Bechdeltest.com
user-edited film database
Women in Film
, analysis tool for data from bechdeltest.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Johanson analysis Concepts in film theory Depictions of women in film Feminism and the arts Feminist theory Media bias Sexism Tests