Different Faces, Different Voices: A Film Analysis of Power Imbalance in Gender-Dominated Societies

Abstract

No amount research need be referenced to justify the consensus that a power differential exists among women and men. The outcome that this power differential has created, however, varies from one society to another. The role of women in male-dominated societies is deconstructed through two films, each situated in the drug trafficking industry—one set in Latin America and the other in the United States-Mexico border. While substantial literature explores the gender power differential in the United States and developing countries, little attention is given to the impact of gender participation in the developing world. Each of these countries has diverse expectations with gender politics; that is, some countries have women as leaders in suffrage reforms and corporations, while women in other countries are not even granted the right to divorce. This paper examines the relationship between gender participation of women and their defiance of the power differential as depicted in the Brazilian film City of God and the American film Traffic. While no evidence is independently presented that economic development provides a basis for equal participation, the most important factors such as gender violence and civil liberties provide a means of understanding the gender gap from a sociopolitical perspective.