Representations of Gender (Deadpool)

Gender in Deadpool is represented as equal. The lead female, Vanessa does reinforce some stereotypes of a woman lead in a predominately male targeted film as she does have scenes where she isn't dressed in a lot of clothes and she is represented as a sex symbol however Wade Wilson is also represented like this especially at the start of the film when the narrative is explaining how the two came together. Hence one of the reasons why gender is represented as equal. Another reason is that both Vanessa and Wade are workers and Vanessa is a powerful woman and chooses to dress the way she does and wouldn't do anything she isn't comfortable with, this could be seen as empowering for woman as Vanessa challenges the stereotype of a woman dressing the way she does for male attention because that isn't the case she does it to work and to fend for herself, something overlooked by some people. Throughout the film Wade, Ryan Reynolds character, treats Vanessa as a complete equal even with and ironic sexual joke when it's national women's day which in fact gives Vanessa al of the power not making them equal. Therefore Vanessa's persona and character does subvert the stereotype of a woman in a film not being able to be a sex symbol and powerful as she clearly is both and she's more than equal to her male counter part.

Mise-en-scene in Deadpool, especially costume, represents gender very well. For example in the scenes where Vanessa isn't fully clothed and she's very much a sex symbol she's dominant in her performance and although her clothes are short, black and she wears a lot of leather this not only has connotations of sexiness but especially black and leather has connotations of being rebellious and slightly powerful which is exactly what her character is. Again to reinforce the equality between the two Wade also wears dark clothes and denim especially which again has connotations of a rebellion and a bit of a "bad boy". Camera angles also play an important role as no every scene is shot through the eyes of Wade and in the opening scenes where Wade meets Vanessa you get an insight through her eyes as some shots aren't always from the point of view of the lead male.

Deadpool was releases on valentines day 2016, this is ironic as valentines day is typically more associated with women and Deadpool being a quite brutal film aimed more at men and older teens, Deadpool (Wade Wilson) also makes a joke about this in the film. In 2016 the way women are looked at through the media is a lot different compared to especially the 70's and 80's. Theres a lot more recognition of how women are used and perceived in the media and regardless of this theres still a lot of sexism and "male gaze" where women are just used as sex symbols and not for how good of an actress they are or how well they can perform and I think Deadpool does include male gaze but i believe it also empowers women as through a lot of points in the film she's a lot stronger than Wade who is meant to be seen as a dominant male, especially when Wade gets diagnosed with his illness.

In conclusion I think Deadpool does subvert many stereotypes of women in films as they show Vanessa as an equal throughout especially when she's with Wade as he's meant to be the strong, superhero, male lead. However it's also recognisable that there still is some male gaze and some stereotypes of women in the film, however Vanessa's character is just sexually liberating which is her choice.