The representation of gender in Taken reinforces traditional gender
stereotypes. Liam Neeson plays the stereotypical white American male hero. In
this movie he is portrayed as strong, fearless, courageous, aggressive and
heroic in his quest to retrieve his kidnapped daughter. When the mission to
find his daughter becomes increasingly difficult, Liam Neeson doesn't back down
from the trial but instead faces the challenges head first and steps into the
unknown world of trafficking without fear. These are typical qualities
associated with men in action movies. Also the lack of female representation in
this movie indicates that it's as if females are not seen as fit enough to face
hard-hitting crimes which reinforce stereotypes. Also the fact that the plot of
this action movie is that the heroic white male has to go out to rescue the
helpless white female who has gotten herself in a sticky situation that she
cannot escape on her own. This is a stereotypical plot and is used in many
action movies. Females are presented as helpless and in need of rescuing. They
are presented as needy as they can't ever seem to save themselves or do things
on their own but instead they need a man to come and save them from the
situations that they have gotten themselves into. This is an old-fashioned
representation of women which is still present in Hollywood action movies
today. Also the villains in this movie are Albanian, (Eastern-European) which
fortifies stereotypes of action movies using foreigners as antagonists.
