Date of Award

5-2014

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Degree Name

Bachelor of Arts

Department

Communication

Advisor/Committee Chair

William Husson

Abstract

Numerous studies have found that in a variety of media, men are depicted with a greater degree of facial prominence than women. This tendency has earned the name, “the face-­‐ism phenomenon.” It is argued to promote sexist notions that enable the objectification of women while simultaneously reinforcing stereotypical gender roles. Greater focus on the face is said to give off stronger impressions of intelligence, dominance, and the personality of an individual. This study measures the face-­‐ism of the character Katniss Everdeen over the course of film, The Hunger Games. The results found that compared to other women in previous studies, Katniss was on average shown with a relatively high degree of facial prominence. However, there were also some instances where she was shown with low degree of facial prominence. Implications of and suggested explanations for the observed variations are discussed.

Included in

Communication Commons

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