Representation in V for Vendetta and Children of Men

Male Gaze: 

• V for Vendetta conforms to the male gaze more so than Children of men. We see this in the first opening scene of V, watching Evie as the voyeur which is an aspect of the male gaze, she also is nearly raped. This portrays her as weak and vulnerable. In the opening scene of Children of Men it is not clear who is male or female due to matter of costume. None of the women are sexualised due to the costume. 

• Once again, V for Vendetta conforms to the male gaze with the scene with the Pope. We see Evie over sexualised, dressed as a young girl. The pope also expects to sleep with her which shows her as sex object. Evie is also viewed as a sex object as the pope almost rapes her. We see that she has no say here and this is only prevented due to v (a man) saving her. This portrays Evie through the male gaze, as a stereotypical vulnerable and sexualised woman 

• Where as in Children of Men, Kee is not sexualised. She stands in the barn naked. This is where Theo finds out that she is pregnant.  Stereotypically, a woman in this position would be shot in a sexualised manner, however, here Kee is not. Therefore in this scene, children of men does not conform to the male gaze. Although Kee says that she is scared and wants help, making her more vulnerable, she still is not portrayed in a sexualised way, but more a sacred way.  

Father & Mother Figures:

• Symbolic use of father and mother figures. V could take on the father / mother figure etc >        symbolic birth
• Whereas Children of Men takes on actual father and mother figures > natural birth
• Oedipal Complex 
• Absence of father and mother figures 
• Women naturally becoming the nuturer; CoM > Kee, Jullian and the hippy all becoming a natural nuturer. This is not enforced as strongly in V for Vendetta. This is because there is an absence of mother and fathers in CoM due to infertility
• Mothers represent peace and love. An absence of this results in a masculine, violent dominated society

Yonic and Phallic: 

• Phallic imagery; the knives that V uses in V for Vendetta = penetrates / CoM; army/military = masculine
• Yonic imagery; V for Vendetta; roses / train / underground tube / bullet wound / fireworks / explosions CoM; tunnels

Rebirthing =  V for Vendetta = must act passively = is a female trait 

Hyper-masculinity:

V for Vendetta:

•  easily identified
• Supernatural 
• Male dominated Hollywood 
• Hero = enhanced masculinity to become believable 
• Subverts stereotypical Hollywood aspects of hyper masculinity > not to trust the government but to fend for yourself 

Children of Men:

• Hyper-masculinity > army etc 
• The one with the most power = a child 
• Men have become hyper-masculine as women have become redundant of power, cannot reproduce a population = no passivity = hyper-masculinity = shows that women do actually have power, which is to give life which is stronger than hyper-masculinity, however this is lost therefore hyper-masculinity overrides this. 

The films are very focused on gender, however V for Vendetta focuses on symbolic representation of gender, subverting the stereotypical representations of gender in typical Hollywood films. Whereas Children of Men focuses on literal representation