For many years, 'Baywatch' has been one of the most recognisable shows in popular culture – people will never forget lifeguards in bright-red swimwear running along the ocean coast. Nevertheless, the first series and the movie in 2017 have been criticised for gender stereotyping. Said lifeguards usually consist of women; they are overly sexualised and often seen running in slow motion while wearing bikinis that barely cover their bodies even though they may be fully capable of performing the job, attributing to the voyeuristic scopophilia theory explained by Laura Mulvey in her essay, On the other hand, the main male lead Mitch Buchannon is a sensible and level headed man. Still, the females are all shown as dumb and sexy.
Unfortunately, the reboot tries to tackle these problems with irony and, at the same time, perpetuates the same problems. For instance, the objectification of Zac Efron's male character exists but the female objectification is still much more prominent.
Such representations depict women as objects to be looked at, while men are given more depth, which shows that this is a societal issue. This imbalance sustains stereotypical perceptions of women and men and does not allow the representation of women as complex characters with their own free choices.
Subsequent developments may solve these problems by emphasising characters’ accomplishments and being leaders rather than their appearances to make the media more equal and not make fun of one gender while portraying the other as strong; the depth and comedy have to be equal for both genders. Despite how much people may enjoy the *Baywatch* series today, one cannot help but notice how male and female characters are presented differently.
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