'Headless Women of Hollywood' Tumblr reveals disturbing movie poster trend
Why is the marketing side of Hollywood terrified of women's faces?
The Tumblr "The Headless Women of Hollywood" highlights movie posters that all share a disturbing design feature: the women in them are faceless or headless.
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The Tumblr was started by stand-up comedian Marcia Belsky who, from the Tumblr's about page, seeks to "bring attention to the still standard practice of fragmenting, fetishizing and dehumanizing the images of women we see in film, TV, book covers, and advertisement."
The posters highlighted by Belsky don't follow any particular rules of genre or even core audience. Posters for the action sci-fi Terminator Genisys utilize the same design method as those for Showgirls.
Belsky goes on to describe the underlying problem with removing women's faces and heads in film promotion.
By decapitating the woman, she becomes an unquestionably passive object to the male gaze. The question of her consent is removed completely alongside her head, and her purpose becomes solely that of being looked at by men obediently. Her value is that only of her sexual appeal to men, and not of her personhood.
The consistent fragmentation of women’s bodies, with particular focus on the boobs, butt and lips, separates the sexualized female body parts from her wholeness. Thus, as fragmented parts, the viewer does not have to morally reconcile the woman who is being objectified with her complete humanness.
We think Belsky summarizes the point of the Tumblr pretty well with her final line, "DAMNIT, HOLLYWOOD!!! WE WANT HEADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
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Max Knoblauch is the Assistant Humor Editor in the NYC office. He is a journalist, comedian and illustrator. More humor and art by Max can be found on his website.Follow him @MaxKnoblauch
