Movie Poster Trends: From Art Form To Boredom

Just as the use of colour in movie posters has inevitably begun to mirror the use of colour in film, so the representation of gender has done the same. Most posters feature male characters more prominently, because that’s what most films do. At the same time, because these are static images trying to convey immediate information, when women do appear on modern movie posters, something bizarre tends to happen.

Who can forget the incessant hair-tossing:

Or the time that Black Widow seemed to desperately need a bathroom, while tossing her hair and following Captain America:

Or the time that Theo James starred in a movie with Shailene Woodley’s bottom?

Generally, the poster of any action film featuring a female lead has her striking the same poses as male action stars, in blue and/orange – but in a skin-tight outfit. The admirable exception is The Hunger Games film series – the posters for which, though admittedly entirely in orange, focus on Jennifer Lawrence’s face. Her costume in the picture is relatively modest, and the most flesh she ever has on display is on her shoulders.