Is it funny because it's not true? Chinese people's perceptions of aggressive female characters in Asian comedies
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Abstract
Scholars and cultural critics have criticized the mass media for underrepresenting women. Feminist media theory, which focuses on how women are depicted in the media as well as how the depictions affect reality, claims that the media fail in representing “women as women” (Parry & Karam, 2001). Based on feminist media theory, this thesis focuses on how Chinese audiences perceive aggressive female characters in Asian comedies. A total of four focus groups were conducted, audiotaped and later transcribed and translated. The findings show that participants saw the characters as sassy and aggressive yet pretty and easygoing. Also, while some participants believed the characters to be a reflection of reality, others argued that depicting females’ aggressiveness as a joke in comedies implied a social expectation that women should not be aggressive. This thesis examines the reasons behind the participants’ perceptions and the implications of women’s portrayals in media.