Female Gender Representation in The Terminator Franchise

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Female Gender Representation in The Terminator Franchise

Triantafyllos Beis

English Studies - Linguistics BA Thesis

15 Credits Spring 2021

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Abstract

The aim of this research is to investigate the representation of the female gender in the Terminator franchise and to examine whether there has been an evolution in this

representation throughout the years. For this purpose, the representation of the lead female character, Sarah Connor, has been examined in the films The Terminator (Cameron, 1984), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Cameron, 1991) and Terminator Genisys (Taylor, 2015), in which Sarah Connor is the only main female character. The thesis begins by providing a thorough presentation of the situational, specific and the theoretical background of the three films analysed. Then, the methodology used in the research is described and linguistic, visual and contextual data are provided. These data are then analysed and discussed in relation to the background of the films and to the objectives set at the beginning of the research. In particular, the linguistic aspect of gender representation is explored based on the way language is used to represent women in the Terminator films. After a thorough analysis of data collected and discussed, the research concluded that there has, indeed, been an evolution in female gender representation in the Terminator films, which reflects an evolution in the perception of gender by society itself.

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1 Introduction

Female gender representation in science fiction films has been an issue widely discussed and debated by scholars, especially after the 1980s. Soon after the huge success of the female-led Alien franchise (Kac-Vergene, 2016), which redefined the role of women in the film making industry (Gallardo, 2004; Gilpatric, 2010), another science fiction franchise, the Terminator, put a female character in the spotlight (“IMDb Top Movie Meter”, n. d.).

The Terminator franchise includes six films in total, as well as a series and comics. The story develops around a self-aware machine network whose ultimate goal is to eradicate humankind and suppress the last human resistance group of guerrillas by sending terminating machines from the future to the past to exterminate its leader, John Connor, either before he is even born or before he becomes a leader. Despite the fact that the franchise is named after these Terminators, the female character of Sarah Connor, John’s mother, is also of pivotal significance and central to the development of the storyline itself. Given Sarah’s

indispensable part in the plotline, this study investigates her role in the films as the paradigm of female gender representation in the Terminator franchise. In particular, this study will be analysing three out of the six in total Terminator films, The Terminator (Cameron, 1984), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Cameron, 1991) and Terminator Genisys (Taylor, 2015).

The Terminator franchise has been advisedly selected for the exploration of female gender representation. The reason for the selection is its great appeal to audiences around the world as from the first day of its release it instantly became a great cinematographic success with millions of fans around the world. According to IMDb, The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day are among the most popular films of all time (“IMDb Top Movie Meter”, n. d.), with Terminator 2: Judgement Day reaching as high as 294 in the list of most popular films of all time. Given, therefore, that the cinema can be a means of social and individual transformation (Kubrak, 2020), the Terminator franchise, which appealed to millions of people, becomes essential and worth investigating as, depending on its representation of the female gender, it could potentially impact society by shaping, or not, a new role for women in society, thus, shifting given beliefs and stereotypes.

Choosing to investigate only three of the Terminator films of the franchise instead of investigating them all has not been decided arbitrarily either. The reason in this case has been more practical rather than theoretical, however. In Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines

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investigation, the leading female character of Sarah Conor does not appear at all while in Terminator 6: Dark Fate (Miller, 2019) Sarah’s role is only secondary. Additionally, this particular film has received very negative reviews and has been rather unpopular among fans to the point that it has been accused of ‘terminating ’the franchise (Lee, 2019). Lacking in quality and innovation (Bahr, 2019), it cannot be considered representative of the Terminator films, which have after all been selected based on their appeal and influence on their

audiences.

Before presenting the research question and the specific objectives of the thesis, however, there needs to be a clarification between the terms ‘gender ’and ‘sex’. Sex refers to the biological and anatomical differences between men and women, differences humans are born with, while ‘gender ’refers to the traits which are assigned to both men and women depending on their race, social status, and culture (Simpson, Mayr & Statham, 2018). These traits are socially and culturally determined and are, therefore, subject to change and learning (Cranny-Francis, Waring, Stavropoulos & Kirkby, 2002; Wodak, 1997).

Having clarified the terms ‘sex’ and ‘gender’, this thesis aims to examine female gender representation in the Terminator franchise. In particular, the research question of this thesis is whether there is an evolution in the representation of lead female character in the Terminator franchise. In order to answer to the research question, sociolinguistic analysis has been used and three objectives have been set. The first objective of this thesis is to explore the linguistic aspect of gender representation and, in particular, the way language is used to represent women in the Terminator films. The second objective is to examine female visual representation and, as a final objective, a comparison of the films will be made so that any similarities or differences that might exist among them will be detected and analysed.

2 Background

2.1 Situational Background

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According to Isaac Asimov (1983), science fiction can be defined as “that branch of literature that deals with the human response to changes in the level of science and

technology” (p. 10). Another, broader definition of genre is given by Judith Merril according to whom science fiction is “speculative fiction and […] literature that makes use of the traditional ‘scientific method ’to examine some postulated approximation of reality” (1971). Science fiction has also been defined as “cognitive estrangement” (Suvin, 1979, as cited in Cornea, 2007, p. 3) which allows readers to ponder on their known society from a distanced point of view (Cornea, 2007). Certainly, definitions of science fiction are not limited to the aforementioned. Different authors and different academics have offered alternative

definitions of science fiction depending on the aspect of the genre they need to highlight. What is significant, though, is that each definition provides us with an aspect of what science fiction is so that all works that have been created with conscious effort and intellectual engagement, no matter how bizarre and astonishing worlds they might describe, are characterized as works of literature rather than the result of “irrational or unconscious

meanderings of the human mind” (Cornea, 2007, p. 2). In this light, all definitions of science fiction are related and relevant to any science fiction work each time under discussion.

A key element in all science fiction, though, and an element that has a central role when discussing female representation, is that no matter how diverse each work of science fiction is or how extraordinary the world it describes might appear, science fiction as a genre springs from, and is based on, science; And science, being rational, aims to liberate

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Nevertheless, a study conducted by Basu in 2005 regarding the portrayal of women in science-fiction films from the 1930s till the early 2000s did not produce such findings. Basu examined more than 2000 scenes from 50 US produced science-fiction films whose stories were set at a future date from the year of their release. Based on the results of her research, women’s representation in the science fiction films she examined did not differ in any significant way from their representation in all other genres. Despite what anyone might expect, Basu (2015) concluded that “women in the future lack diversity” (p. 29) and that even in the future society those films reflect, emphasis is still placed on their being physically, rather than intellectually, attractive, as it is the case with other genres. Further emphasis is given to the fact that women in those films are depicted as ‘neutral ’and do not exhibit any signs of leadership or initiative but are mostly shadowed by the male protagonist (Basu, 2005). To be more precise, women from the 1930s throughout the 1970s were still not associated with leadership positions or with any other job rather than a ‘pink-collar ’job, that is, a care-oriented field or career. Even in the golden age of science fiction films, from the 1950s to 1960s, “the best role a woman could hope for [...] was to be a ‘mediator’: a scientist or a smart girl” (Stones & Flores, 2019, p. 10) but not one of a heroine. It seems, therefore, that cinema script writers, producers and directors at the time, the vast majority of them being men (Stones & Flores, 2019, p. 6), were not able to transcend the boundaries of their own societal norms, imagine and then present in their films a new role for women in society; Even when those films aimed at portraying a utopian society of the future. It seems as though they could not yet grasp an alternative role for women but that they already knew and presented it to their audience or, even if they did, they did not believe that role would be acceptable by their audience at the time. Besides, what needs to be mentioned is that even right after the two World Wars, which forced women to enter the workforce by the thousands in the absence of men (“Women in the Workforce”, 2021), most women returned to their expected place to be, the household, and resumed doing what they had always done, house chores and raising children. It is not unwise to assume, therefore, that science fiction script writers did not expect such status quo to change in future societies either as it did not change with two World Wars that shook humankind to its core, and as a result they did not offer a more central role to women in their films.

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Ellen Ripley. Her role was so significant in female representation that it has been claimed that “the history of women in science fiction films can be understood in terms of pre-Alien and post-Alien” (Stones & Flores, 2019, p. 12), paving the way for other heroines like Sarah Connor to emerge (Kac-Vergne, 2016). Kac-Vergne (2016) argues that this major shift in female representation in the filmmaking industry was the result of the impact of the Second Wave of feminism of the 1970s and of its demand for women’s recognition and equality in the public sphere (Kac-Vergene, 2016). Society was ready for the change at the time and screenwriter Dan O'Bannon and director Ridley Scott dared to portray this change by placing a woman as the main character in their career-making film, Alien. The immediate success of the film and the fact that it became an all-time science fiction classic justified their choice and marked the beginning of a new era of female representation in science fiction.

In the years that followed, female representation in science fiction films was steadily augmented. According to Stones and Flores (2019), female leads in science fiction films climbed from 36% to 53% within nine years, from 2009 to 2018, and the percentage has only kept rising ever since. Films with a woman as the lead character, such as, to name but a few, The Hunger Games franchise, Gravity (Cuarón, 2013), Arrival (Villeneuve, 2016), Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (Edwards, 2016), are direct proof of the shift in the film-making industry towards an increased female representation in its recent productions. The reason for this dramatic change in female leads is probably taking place, as Stones and Flores (2019) have suggested, because “Hollywood now knows that young girls in large numbers are a profitable demographic worth paying attention to” (p. 15). Additionally, these same girls Hollywood is aiming at attracting as an audience are nowadays more aware than ever of their place in society and demand having a more active role in all aspects of their lives, including being equally represented in the films they choose to watch (Stones & Flores, 2019, p. 15). It is not a coincidence, therefore, that never before have women in the history of science fiction films had opportunities of such representation as they have nowadays. As a matter of fact, “women making films in sci-fi are not just redefining the genre. In a sense, they are inventing a new one, one that is no longer a fantasy canvas for men” (Stones & Flores, 2019, p. 25).

2. 2 Theoretical Background

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deeper change in the way women in general are viewed in society take place and constructs that have dominated human societies be identified and overcome. One such social construct is that of patriarchy.

Over the years, there has been a plethora of theories defining and explaining patriarchy as well as abundant debate regarding the way it perpetuates itself in modern society and the way in which it affects and often molds the relation between gender and power. The most used definition of patriarchy is the Marxist definition which is based on Marxist theory and characterizes patriarchy as “a power-structure whereby one group of people (men) controls another group of people (women), and that control depends on capitalism, since the control group holds financial power over the controlled group” (Keith, 2017, p. 3). Certainly, at the time when Marx formulated his theory, and during the centuries that preceded him, women had no right to property, income or wealth and ever since they were born their destiny in life was to marry and bear children while men were expected to be out of the house, work and provide the income for the family. According to the Marxist theory of patriarchy, therefore, even though the women’s role as mothers was not

undervalued, it did not actually have any significant role in terms of power in the society as it was men who controlled all the wealth and were, thus, by definition in power in society (Keith, 2017).

Marx’s definition of patriarchy, however, and his subsequent explanation of the unequal distribution of power between men and women, has been severely criticised by radical feminist theories who have argued that gender inequality does not only apply only to the workforce or stem from it but it is caused by an unequal dynamic, regardless of

capitalism (Keith, 2017). “Inequality between men and women is antecedent to the

inequalities derived through capitalism [...] [and] gender inequalities are not the product of any natural dominance/submission taxonomy” (Keith, 2017, p. 4). These inequalities are socially constructed, and it is, therefore, possible for patriarchy in our societies to be overturned with a thorough reconstruction of society where roles will be defined anew and will be equally distributed.

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is premised on the existence of a dominant form of masculinity. All men position themselves in relation to it, and therefore, internalise personal codes of behaviour that contribute to its reproduction. The pressure to conform and relate to this ideal dominant masculinity perpetuates this structure of gender-biased hierarchy in society (Morettini, 2016, para. 2).

Hegemonic masculinity does not only set the masculine paradigm to which all men are comparing themselves and the masculinity standards with which they strive to comply. It also creates, what Connell has named, a patriarchal dividend (Connell, 2005). According to her, even though men as a whole gain by far more honor, prestige and material dividends by living in a patriarchal society when compared to women as a whole, not all men enjoy the same gains, the same way or to the same degree (Connell, 2005). The distribution of power is unequally allocated even among men and because “patriarchal systems are intertwined with a wide variety of other hierarchical relations such as class, race, nation, region, generation, sexual orientation” (Appelrouth & Edles, 2010, p. 361). As a result, those men “who receive most of the benefits [a patriarchal society has to offer] and [those] who pay most of the costs are not the same individuals” (Connell, 2005, p. 1805); Those who pay all the costs are often those who strive to shape and reshape their identity so that it conforms to the masculinity prototype set by dominant males. Gender equality, therefore, within the framework of hegemonic masculinity and the patriarchal dividend, poses more than a threat to men’s yielding of power over women, it poses a threat to men’s identity as well (Connell, 2005). If women progress in the hierarchical ladder and begin acquiring positions and labels, such as ‘strong ’or ‘breadwinner’, which men already struggle to achieve among themselves, then, the whole construct of being a man collapses as men in the lower end of hegemonic masculinity find themselves having less in common with the male prototype and more in common with members of the other sex who have moved up the ladder and are closer to this prototype, shattering in this way, the boundaries of male and female and with them, those men’s identity and perceived worth (Connell, 2005).

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contextually dependent flux” (Appelrouth & Edles, 2010, p. 372). For this idea to be better comprehended, Butler introduces the term ‘performativity ’and claims that “masculinity and femininity is a construct, an identity that has constantly to be reaffirmed and publicly displayed by repeatedly performing acts in accordance with the social norm” (Cameron, 1997, p. 49). Consequently, women and men constantly negotiate their roles and are able to challenge them should they wish to. That being said, it is also noteworthy to mention that performativity, as described by Butler, is not merely limited to the specific ways either men or women are expected to act within a given society. It also refers to the way language is expected to be used regarding the gender a person defines themselves as. Typical male speech, for instance, makes more frequent use of profanity (Dwyer, 2010) as well as extensive use of the imperative (Tannen, 1994) both with compliance conditions (Smart, 1983) and with obedience conditions (Searle, 1983). As a result, a person who would want to identify themselves as distinctly male or with male characteristics would be more likely to use profanity and the imperative, which is typical of male language use (Tannen, 1994).

Regarding the relationship among language, power, and gender, however, there has been extensive research and discussions in the ways that gender inequality is being

transmitted through language and in the ways that language promotes and perpetuates gender specific stereotypes that affect the behaviour and attitudes of both men and women. After all, the use of language by either men or women is culture specific and assumptions about what is proper for a man or a woman to say can differ greatly depending on the society one is in (Simpson et al., 2018). This means, however, that no matter what society one finds themselves in, there are specific, ‘correct ’manners of expressing oneself. These assumed correct manners of expression “often become naturalized into taken-for-granted beliefs about linguistic usage [and] translate as androcentrism which, as many feminist linguists have observed, equates male with what is normal, and female as a deviation from that norm” (Simpson et al., 2018, p. 40). Gender bias in language is particularly evident in the following areas: “sex specification, gratuitous modifiers, lexical gaps and under-lexicalization, semantic derogation, asymmetrically gendered language items, connotations of language items”

(Litosseliti & Sutherland, 2006, pp. 14-15).

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because we live in a patriarchal system, meaning has been defined by men, and men's language has been seen as the norm: it has been the dominant group – in this case males – who have created the world, invented the categories, constructed sexism and its justification and developed a language trap which is in their interest (p. 142).

Such ideas regarding the power of language in determining concepts which shape thought and reality have long been proposed by sociolinguists. One such noteworthy proposal is the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis that maintains that our thought is shaped and determined by the particular language we speak (Lucy, 2001). Therefore, if the world is named after men’s ways and men have shaped the meanings of such words as ‘hysteria’, ‘frigidity’, ‘motherhood ’and ‘emasculate ’(Spender, 1990), one can safely assume that men have shaped and defined the way reality has come to be perceived, interpreted and understood by each member of society and how such subtle ways of imposed categorization of the outside world has both genders believe that the given status quo is natural and exists in the outside world while in reality it has merely been constructed, defined and limited through, and by, language. This having been said, one can realise the significance of the claim that “it [is] not women who [are] deficient but the social order” (Simpson et al., 2018, pp. 44-45).

2. 3 Specific Background

Gender representation in the Terminator franchise, particularly in The Terminator and Terminator 2: Judgement Day, has been the subject of discussion in multiple studies and articles. Ever since its release, Linda Hamilton’s role as Sarah Connor has been a landmark in female gender representation in science fiction films and films in general. Till then, with the exception of Ripley in Alien a few years earlier, the heroines of the Hollywood action cinema have not tended to be action heroines. They tend to be fought over rather than fighting, avenged rather than avenging” (Tasker, 1995, p. 15). However, in the Terminator films Sarah Connor is not merely a female in a leading protagonist position but also a character sine qua non.

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of the film, Sarah “addresses him as ‘soldier ’and takes up the role of a commanding officer who harangues a tired platoon in order to save them” (Tasker, 1993). Still, Kyle dies and leaves Sarah alone as the sole protagonist to face the terminator, which she single-handedly terminates, marking, thus, her transformation into a warrioress.

The second film, Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Cameron, 1991), portrays Sarah completely transformed both physically and psychologically. From the very first scene she is introduced in the film, her image is that of a tough, well-built defiant psychiatric inmate who uses her bed to work out while sweating braless in a simple white T-shirt with her muscles bulging beneath her messy hair. This portrayal “disrupt[s] the equation of men with strength and women with weakness that underpins gender roles and power relations” (Holmund, 2002, p. 19). Sarah has become solemn, fierce and violent. For the most part of the film, she is dressed in a military uniform yielding weapons and “can therefore be seen as a masculine woman, who projects a masculine ideology of domination through violence” (Kac-Vergne, 2016, p. 7). Sarah’s masculinization is further emphasized by her lack of tenderness and affection towards her son as throughout the film she behaves less like the stereotypical mother who is emotionally connected to her child and more like the stereotypical father of the time, distant and emotionally detached (Wall & Arnold, 2007). Her interest is in her son’s physical rather than psychological well-being and, apart from offering her unwavering protection as a fierce animal mother, she cares little about nurturing a loving relationship with him.

In the fifth Terminator movie, Terminator Genisys (Taylor, 2015), Sarah’s

representation eventually finds the balance between her being feminine in appearance and self-reliant and hardened in character. At the beginning of the film, she is the one who even saves Kyle Reese, the soldier sent from the future to protect her, who is oblivious to the fact that he arrived in a parallel universe where Sarah is no longer the damsel-in-distress (Virk, 2015) and, despite her fragile looks, she does not need his saving her. Sarah’s representation in Terminator Genisys (Taylor, 2015), therefore, takes female representation a step further and, in accordance with the ideology of the era it was released, it reflects the notion that women do not have to look or behave in a masculine way, or lose their femininity in any way for that matter, in order to be self-reliant, self-sufficient and self-determining.

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Sarah’s visual representation in the films, on her appearance and behaviour, and their

subsequent connotations, significance or impact on the evolution of female representation in cinematography or society. None of these studies has ever attempted a linguistic analysis of the Terminator films in order to examine the relationship between such visual gender representation and the use of language by the lead female character. My study comes to fill this gap. Contributing to the already existing published literature regarding the Terminator films, this thesis examines female gender representation from the point of view of language and its usage, accompanied by visual and contextual evidence.

3 Design of the Study and Methodology

This study has been designed to investigate female gender representation by examining the representation of the female leading actress in the Terminator films. For this reason, not all of the Terminator films in the franchise can be used for data collection. In particular, only The Terminator (Cameron, 1984), Terminator 2: Judgement Day (Cameron, 1991) and

Terminator Genisys (Taylor, 2015) have been examined as in the third and fourth film of the sequel Sarah does not appear at all while in Terminator 6: Dark Fate (Miller, 2019) her role is only secondary and not leading.

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4 Data Analysis

4. 1 Linguistic Data

Linguistic data has been collected from the three Terminator films under examination and it is presented in tables for each film (Appendix I, p. 27). The first table of data for each film presents utterances used by Sarah that yield no response from other characters (Appendix I, pp. 28, 29, 31), the second presents phrases addressing Sarah to which she does not respond (Appendix I, pp. 28, 29, 30) and the third table for each film presents short exchanges between Sarah and other film characters (Appendix I, pp. 28, 29, 31). The reason why these utterances and exchanges have been chosen is because their function in the film is not as much as to forward the plot as to illustrate Sarah’s character, contributing, thus, to her representation in each film.

4.2 Visual Data

Visual data includes screenshots from the actual Terminator films under examination (Appendix II, p. 32). The screenshots have been selected not only because they emphasize Sarah’s visual representation and illustrate her evolution in the films but also because they provide us with the necessary context to better comprehend and interpret the linguistic data already presented. Screenshots are linked to examples from Appendix I and, therefore, the time of their appearance in the films is specified through those examples. In two of these screenshots, however, the time of their appearance in the films is directly mentioned. The reason for this discrepancy is that these two screenshots cannot be linked to examples from the films as there is no speech at that particular scene to accompany them, so the time is directly stated. (Appendix II, p. 36; Appendix II, p. 40).

4.3 Contextual Data

Contextual data involves the linguistic data collected from the three Terminator films in combination with the visual data gathered so that a rounded portrayal of the female lead character and her possible evolution in the films can be examined.

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sleep by the chief of police who reassures her that she will be protected (image 2, example 4). As the plot progresses and Sarah has to face the Terminator, she gradually becomes

empowered. She becomes the one trying to save Reese who is injured and orders him to stand up (image 3, example 7) while in the end she single-handedly defeats the Terminator by crushing it with the hydraulic press telling him that he has been terminated (image 4, example 8).

Terminator 2: Judgement Day begins with Sarah in the psychiatric ward (image 5) asking doctor Dr Silberman about his knee (example 21). In the scene Sarah appears very well-built in sharp contrast to her girly representation in The Terminator. In image 7, Sarah’s masculine physique is even more evident, with bulging and defined muscles and a rifle in her arms, as well as the cigarette hanging from her mouth as a typical male of her time would pose (image 7) while her transformation to a soldier is also illustrated by the way she holds the gun and threatens to kill Dyson (image 8, example 17). Finally, at the end of the film, when Sarah is threatened with her life and she is asked to call out to her son, she is not afraid to die to protect him and swears at the Terminator (image 10, example 20).

Terminator Genisys offers a totally different representation of Sarah. In image 11 Sarah arrives to save Kyle Reese (example 29) and despite not being muscular and well-built as in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, she is equally brave and ready to fight and urges Reese to do the same (image 12, example 32). Even at the hospital where she is handcuffed (image 13) and Reese defies her she attacks him both verbally (example 34) and physically while her fearlessness and fighting ability is highlighted when she grenades-launches at John Connor (image 14, example 37) while Kyle Reese watches idly.

5 Results

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of the film she finds her inner strength, takes Reese’s role as a soldier (image 3; example 7) and faces the machine who is trying to kill her (image 4; example 8).

Terminator 2: Judgement Day takes up the image of Sarah represented as a soldier at the end of The Terminator a step further. Sarah is not only presented physically with a masculine body (images 5, 6) but her use of language systematically consists of imperatives (examples 14, 15, 16) and swear words (examples 13-18, 20, 23) typically connected to male speech (Selnow, 1985). She is also depicted as violent (images 5, 7; examples 14, 21-25) and independent (example 26). Even when one of the guards calls her “sugar” (example 11) despite the fact that she does not retort, she physically reacts and sustains being assaulted.

Based on the data collected, Terminator Genisys brings a balance in the way Sarah is represented in the two previous films of the series. Sarah in Terminator Genisys is not the naive, girly waitress who cannot fend for herself and expects to be rescued (images 1, 2; examples 1, 3, 4), nor is she the muscular soldier type female (image 16) who swears in almost every sentence (example 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 22, 25) and orders people around trying to stop judgement day all by herself (image 7, example 16). Physically, she looks like a typical teenage girl (image 13) but she is simultaneously not only capable of protecting herself (example 35, 37, 40, 41) but she also has initiative (image 11; example 29, 32, 37) bravery (image 14; example 29, 40, 41) and she always speaks her mind (example 39) leaving almost no utterance addressed towards her go unresponded.

6 Discussion

In answer to the first objective, which is to explore the linguistic aspect of gender

representation, and based on a linguistic analysis of the data collected, an evolution has been detected in the three Terminator films under examination regarding the way language is used by and towards the female lead character, Sarah Connor, as well as the language used in her exchanges with other characters.

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terms of endearment are defined as an example of sexual harassment by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s Office of Civil Rights, which cites ‘honey’, ‘dear ’and ‘sweetheart ’among the unprofessional

expressions, even if the speaker means no harm in saying them (Pesce, 2018,para 8).

In the film Sarah does not seem to be annoyed by that and she does not even react to the comment. Her acceptance of the term confirms the argument that gender bias in language is often taken for granted (Simpson et al., 2018) since reality has been shaped by the language of men (Lucy, 2001) to the point that women have accepted derogatory terms imposed by men as the norm (Spender, 1990). In Terminator 2: Judgement Day, however, when Sarah is addressed as ‘sugar ’(example 11), she physically reacts and refuses to collaborate. Despite the fact that the male guards beat her up so that she takes her pills (image 6), Sarah is negotiating her gender by not accepting the situation passively, as a helpless female would do, but she resists, a reaction typically associated with men. By performing a male associated behaviour, she exhibits a change in performativity. This change in performativity is instantly perceived by the guards who react to her newly exhibited gender by showing her no mercy and continue to electroshock her as they would a man and not a gentle female. In Terminator Genisys, nevertheless, such derogatory forms in the language do not exist at all. Sarah is never addressed as ‘sugar ’or ‘honey ’nor is any type of sexist language addressed towards her, which explicitly reflects an evolution in her representation as a female character.

Another significant result arising from the linguistic data collected from the three films reflecting the evolution of female gender representation is the use of imperatives and profanity. The imperative structure of a sentence is a speech act with underlying obedience conditions (Searle, 1983) and compliance conditions (Smart, 1983) typically found in male speech (Tannen, 1994) while profanity has more frequently been detected in language used by men (Dwyer, 2010). In The Terminator all imperatives are used by other characters towards Sarah (example 3, 4) and she passively obeys and complies while she does not use any swear words at all. In sharp contrast, in Terminator 2: Judgement Day, Sarah is the one giving orders to all other characters (examples 13, 15, 16, 17, 20), quite often as a

commanding officer would do to their troops (example 16), and her use of profanity is extensive and frequent (examples 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 23). Sarah on the other hand, in

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respectively reflects her own evolution as a female character. Starting as a passive, compliant and very feminine character, she evolves into a hypermasculine action heroine (Kac-Vergne, 2016) simultaneously making use most of the times of language deemed proper for men (example 14, 17, 20-22, 24-26) while at one instance only she becomes vulnerable and emotional (image 15, example 19) in a stereotypical female behaviour only to return to using male associated language soon after. This change in male-female associated behaviour confirms the claim that gender is a fluid identity that depends on publicly displayed acts associated with male or female identity within the social norm (Cameron, 1997; Simpson et al., 2018). This fluid identity (Appelrouth & Edles, 2010) is even further emphasized in Terminator Genisys in which Sarah is portrayed as visually feminine. Yet, she negotiates her gender identity by changes in performativity by displaying, within the given social context the film reflects, female (example 27, 28, 33, 36, 39, 42) and male (example 29, 30, 31, 34, 37, 38) related acts (Butler, 1990) depending on the situation she is in or the person she is talking to.

Regarding the second and third objectives of the thesis, the visual and contextual data collected also confirm that there is an evolution in female gender representation in the

Terminator films as the lead female character’s own visual representation greatly evolves from film to film. The lead female character’s evolution, however, should not be examined individually but in relation to the lead male character in each film. Besides, it is because of him that Sarah is initially forced to transform from a modest, bashful and reserved maiden in The Terminator to the independent person who readily manipulates her own gender

unconfined by the restrictions of society in Terminator Genisys.

Sarah in The Terminator begins as the stereotypical woman of patriarchal society as defined by Marx where men control both wealth and power (Keith, 2017). The two women in the film, Sarah and her friend Ginger, are in a low paying job where a man is their boss as is the chief of police, the psychiatrist who comes to support her as well as all the policemen that appear in the film. In this male dominated society, Sarah is presented to be dating a man with a Porsche (example 9), which implies that he has money, as opposed to her being able to afford only a moped. Sarah accepts her role as it has been given to her; She does not react when her date cancels the last minute (image 1, example 9), she accepts being tuck in as if she were a child by the chief of police (image 2, example 4) and she needs a stranger man’s reassurance that she is capable of taking care of herself (example 5, 6) or that she is

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Keith (2017) argues, male dominance is socially constructed and being as such it can be reconstructed. When Reese is lethally wounded, Sarah is left alone and is forced to face the terminator (image 4). It is, therefore, this lead male actor’s absence and not presence that reconstructs reality for Sarah as was the absence of men during World War I, which forced women into the workforce and triggered a reconstruction of their role in society (Bader-Zaar, 2014).

In Terminator 2: Judgement Day, on the other hand, Sarah is called a soldier right from the start (example 12) and both her looks (image 5) and her language (example 14, 15, 17, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23) are trying to reproduce the ‘hegemonic masculinity ’(Connell, 2005) of dominant male (Morettini, 2016) incarnated by the Terminator who is now her male

companion in battle. Sarah seems to have to look muscular and sound masculine in order to be able to be a good fighter, independent, self-reliant and resourceful, always comparing herself against what Connell (2005) called the patriarchal dividend, a paradigmatic form of masculinity that the robust and emotionless Terminator possess.

The evolution of Sarah as a lead female character is completed in the final film under examination. In Terminator Genisys, Sarah does not need to have a masculine physique any longer, swear or be emotionless in order to be a great fighter, independent or have her personality and voice. Both she as the lead female character and the male lead character, Reese, are equally represented as negotiating their gender according to circumstances exhibiting characteristics of both stereotypical male and female behaviour. They are both good fighters, brave and determined; They both stand up for what they believe even if it leads them to arguing (image 13, example 32, 34, 40, 41) yet, they are emotional, help, support and console each other (examples 27, 28, 36, 42). Their gender fluidity allows one to fill in where the other is not and vice versa, representing them as an equal pair of a man and woman who continuously complement each other.

7 Concluding Remarks

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Appendix I

Table 1 The Terminator. Utterances addressing Sarah

Number Minute Examples

(1) 00:13:03 Customer: Honey, can I have that coffee now? (2) 00:16:54 Sarah’s friend: You’re dead, honey.

(3) 00:39:03 Reese: Do exactly what I say. Exactly. Don’t move unless I say. Don’t make a sound unless I say. Do you understand? Do you understand?

(4) 00:58:48 Chief of police: You will be perfectly safe. We got 30 cops in this building.

Table 2. The Terminator. Utterances used by Sarah

(5) 01:07:41 To Reese: Am I tough? Organized? I can’t even balance my chequebook.

(6) 01:19:06 To Reese: Look at me. I am shaking. Some legend. You must be pretty disappointed.

(7) 01:32:59 To Reese: Move it, Reese. On your feet, soldier. On your feet, move it.

(8) 01:38:59 To the Terminator: You’re terminated, fucker.

Table 3. The Terminator. Exchanges between Sarah and other characters.

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(9) 00:23:21 _{Answering machine: Hi Sarah. Stan Morsky. Something’s come} up. Looks like I won’t be able to make it tonight. Just can’t get out of it. I’m really sorry. I’ll make it up to you. Call you in a day or so. Bye.

Ginger: That bum. So what if he has a Porsche. He can’t treat you like this. It’s Friday night, for Christ’s sake.

Sarah: I’ll live/ (10) 00:42:13

Reese: The 600-Series had rubber skin. We spotted them easy. But these are new. They look human. Sweat, bad breath, everything. Very hard to spot. I had to wait before he moved on you before I could zero him.

Sarah: Look, I am not stupid. They cannot make things like that yet.

Table 4. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Utterances addressing Sarah

(11) 00:16:16 Male guard: Last call, sugar. (12) 00:20:03 Reese: On your feet, soldier.

Table 5. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Utterances used by Sarah

(13) 00:15:48 To Dougie: You take it.

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(17) 01:37:54 To the Dr. Dyson’s family: Nobody fucking move.

To Dr. Dyson’s wife: Get on the floor, you fucking bitch, fucking down! Now!

(18) 01:42:31 To Dyson: Fucking men like you built the hydrogen bomb. Men like you thought it up. You think you are so creative. You don’t know what it’s like to create something. To create life. All you know how to create is death and destruction.

(19) 01:40:03 To John: I love you, son. (20) 02:17:13 To Terminator 2: Fuck you.

Table 6. Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Exchanges between Sarah and other characters.

Number Minute Exchanges

(21) 00:15:00 Sarah: Good morning, Dr Silberman. How’s the knee?

Dr Silberman: Fine, Sarah. She stabbed me in the kneecap with my pen a few weeks ago.

(22) 00:23:38 Dr Silberman: Dreams about the end of the world are very common, Sarah.

Sarah: It is not a dream you moron. It’s real. (23) 00:28:16 Sarah: If I could just make a phone call.

Dr Silberman: I am afraid not. Not for a while. I don’t see any choice but to recommend to the review board that you stay here for another 6 months.

Sarah: You son of a bitch!

(24) 00:56:50 Dr Silberman: You broke my arm.

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(25) 00:58:20 _{Female guard: Let’s all try to remain calm}

Sarah: Open it or he’ll be dead before you flip floor. Female guard: There’s no way, Connor. Let him go. Sarah: Open the door!

Female guard: It ain’t gonna happen. Male guard: Take it easy Sarah, easy.

Dr Silberman: It won’t work, Sarah. You’re no killer.

Sarah: You’re already dead, Silberman. Everybody here dies. So don’t fuck with me!

(26) 01:07:24 John: I had to get you out of this place. Sorry.

Sarah: I didn’t need your help. I can take care of myself.

Table 7. Terminator Genisys. Utterances addressing Sarah

(27) 00:49:00 Reese: But I want you to know that I will do whatever it takes to keep you safe. Even if it kills me.

(28) 00:52:26 Reese: It’s okay, I got you. It’s okay. It’s okay. It’s alright. I got you. It’s okay. I got you.

Table 8. Terminator Genisys. Utterances by Sarah

(29) 00:27:09 To Reese: Come with me if you want to live. Now, Soldier! (30) 00:28:47 To Reese: Reese, God damn it!

(31) 00:29:19 To Pops: Bite me.

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(33) 00:55:18 To Reese (referring to Pops): And he said that he would never let anyone hurt me.

(34) 00:59:51 To Reese: I am ordering you to shut up! (35) 01:00:40 To Reese: I can get it myself.

(36) 01:22:36 To Reese: If you love me, you die and I don’t. And I don’t know which one is worse.

(37) 01:24:48 To John: Rule this.

(38) 01:44:07 To Pops: You have to, I order you!

Table 9. Terminator Genisys. Exchanges between Sarah and other characters.

Number Minute Exchange

(39) 00:28:21 _{Sarah: Look, and it’s not just mating. I am supposed to fall in love} with him.

Pops: My files do not deal with love. Sarah: Shocker there.

Pops: You’re being emotional.

Sarah: This is my life. I wouldn’t mind being consulted once in a while about how it’s gonna go.

(40) 00:29:53 Reese: No, this is all wrong, all right? John sent me here to save you.

Sarah: From the Terminator that was sent back to kill me. I know but we already took care of him.

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(42) 01:53:55 Reese: You’re free. For the first time, you can choose the life you want. Any life you want.

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Appendix II

The Terminator (Cameron, 1984)

Image 1. Sarah, when her boyfriend cancels the date. (example 9)

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Image 3. Sarah trying to save Kyle Reese. (example 7)

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Terminator 2: Judgement day (Cameron, 1991)

Image 5. Sarah in the psychiatric ward. (example 21)

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Image 7. Sarah preparing to stop Judgement Day. (01:25:30)

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Image 9. Sarah crying. (example 19)

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Terminator Genisys (Taylor, 2015)

Image 11. Sarah saving Kyle Reese. (example 29)

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Image 13. Sarah at the hospital with Kyle Reese (example 34)

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Female Gender Representation in The Terminator Franchise