Genre:
From horror to romcoms to sci-fi and beyond. If you want to learn more about a particular genre, this is the section for you, analysis of tropes.

Women in Westerns: An accurate portrayal?
When you picture a western, you picture a cowboy. John Wayne, the Duke. Clint Eastwood, the Man With No Name. The name itself, cow-boy, emphasises the masculine quality of this genre. Westerns are a genre that was at its peak in Hollywood’s Golden and Silver age. They...

LGBTQ+ in the romance genre
Lesbians and queer women in film The portrayal of romance and sexuality for women in film is a series of sticky parameters of rules and expectations for how they should act and will be perceived. Queer women, in particular, fall victim to inaccurate representation...

Exploring Women, Binary and Genders and Autonomy in Sci-Fi
The sci-fi genre has been used by filmmakers to comment on different circumstances to inhabit, lifestyles to live, and struggles to face in society; Through imaginative and innovative special effects, these films help reframe and challenge gender in these films....

Mother as the New Monster
Horror can shock, excite, confuse and subvert through playing with societal boundaries, but where horror is painfully conventional is in its portrayal of mothers as terrifying, monstrous figures. Why do directors morph motherhood into something intangible and...

The Women of Wuxia
Wu, martial arts, Xia, heroes and heroines. Aligning with the name, wuxia is a unique Chinese genre that tells stories of a group of martial artists in ancient times. The adventure in the wuxia world could be understood as a superhero plot. In fact, Xia is widely...

The Rise of Vertical Film Adaptations
We thought we had seen it all from the rise of fanfic movies like After, 50 Shades and now The Idea of You, but that was just the tip of the iceberg of what murky waters lie ahead. Vertical films are having their moment in the spotlight, or perhaps more fittingly,...

Animation and Equality: The struggles of young female directors
In L.A., 21-year-old Amarise Defranco has just completed her first short film, Lakay. The challenges Defranco has faced in her journey to this point are reflected in the experiences of another young animator, Rebecca Huang. These two women's experiences in an...

Comedy Movies and Women’s Stunted Evolution
Comedy is a deceptively powerful genre. It can challenge norms and provoke discussion whilst providing joy and escapism. This extends to female-led comedies, which, at their best, provide a richness and diversity of comedic storytelling. The online discourse...

Southern Gothic Horror: Reckoning with history
The deep American South is enmeshed in painful histories, sprawling sceneries and magic. The Southern Gothic genre has traditionally been associated with literature from the ante- and post-bellum century which reflected on the harrowing stories and culture that came...