Actress are Victims of "Hidden Rules"

If you are one of those who frequently pay attention to stars’ lives and news, you will notice that almost all of the pictures that were taken for female stars are sexy. Almost everyday, you will hear some scandals and “hidden rules”. “Hidden rules” in the film industry is something that happens behind the screen that people are too shy to speak out about, like “casting coach”. Casting couch is a sex trade between a man who has power or control and a woman who is willing to sell her body to the man in order to get an entry into an occupation. This phenomenon reflects part of how women are usually viewed and represented in society today: women are always consumed by men, and are so weak to create their own worlds by their own power by a male dominated society. Especially in the field of film industry where beauty and talent are the two factors emphasized: when women are uncertain of their talents, they tend to accept an easier way help them reach their goals and that satisfies a man’s desire.”

Casting couch is not a new topic any more; It is more of a world-wide around hidden rules that many women and men follow. In China, every time you open up a newspaper, there are always two or three news about some actresses’ scandals. In the link below, it tells us an event related to casting couch which caused a huge stir in China few years ago.
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I was angered while I was reading this real story. The main character, Zhang Yu, as shown in the image on the left, is the victim of casting couch of chinese film industry. As mentioned in the article, Zhang won all her roles through sleeping with the directors, assistant directors or men in charge of casting. She also revealed how chinese film industry really works: many actress gained roles for soap operas and movies in exchange of having sex with film makers. Obviously, Zhang is not the only one who suffers through her way of becoming famous in film industry. Being a female star is way more complicated than it seems to appear to us. Many female stars have to face tough situations in giving up pureness for popularity.

The two pictures below show two of the top actresses in chinese film industry nowadays. Instead of being graceful and elegant of what they used to appear in front of us, they both look cheap by sitting beside these old men. They have to lower herself from famous stars to being escorts. In the male dominated director field, many men have the power of both to destroy an actress’s dream or to build a perfect successful road to her. Those actresses have to sacrifice their youth and bodies to get passes on their ways of being super stars.
















Though there are some cases of reverse casting couch where men were asked to have sex with female directors in exchange of major roles in movies, many victims are still women. The reasons behind it are obvious. In our society now, men still play a dominant role. The idea that women are weaker and powerless is still planted in many generations minds. In film industry, we have casting couch; in other industries this hidden rule still exists. Therefore, to a broader extend of what casting couch indicates of how female are represented in society, females always tend to be less confident about their own abilities to succeed; women tend to rely on men to help them out because they consider men to be stronger and smarter. On the other side of the fence, men consider female as objects that they can enjoy and have control over.

Facing this problem, many women feel that they have no other alternative. However, in order to change where we have been placed in society now, we, as women, first need to believe ourselves that we can be successful and reach our goals based on our own intelligence. We have the same talent as men do. We should see ourselves with more pride and learn to refuse the men who to ask us for sex in exchange of our benefits. Because we are as intelligent as men are, we should tell the world that we are not the weak, powerless group that we were always perceived as. The future fate of women lies in the mindset of the current women in today’s society. If women continue to be submissive to men then women will forever be subjugated.

Work Cited:
Pictures:
"Pictures of Contemporary Famous Actress." New Document. North Forum, 06 May 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2011. .

"Hidden Rules in Film Industry Is More Cruel than What It Seems To Be." 百灵网. BAI LING WEB, 25 Mar. 2009. Web. 14 Oct. 2011.