Objectification of women in Ghanaian films: Is it for pleasure?

Abstract

Films play vital roles in shaping people's views about issues in society. There have been concerns about how films portray women in films lately. Relying on the objectification theory, the study sheds light on how women are depicted as objects in the Ghanaian films 4PLAY and 4PLAY RELOADED vis-à-vis the interpretation we derive. The authors argue that Ghanaian films contribute to the objectification of women by focusing unnecessarily on women's physical appearance - body shape and weight - thereby fuelling the notion that the primary societal function of women is to satisfy men's physical expectations. We observed that women's bodies are presented as tools for giving pleasure to men. We concluded that women's bodies were objectified in the films analysed. © 2020 Adonis and Abbey Publishers Ltd. All right reserved.