Fandor Keyframe and De Filmkrant have created Man // Woman // Mirror, a fascinating montage of different fictional film characters taking an honest look at themselves in the mirror and how they reacted in accordance (or not) with typically assigned gender roles.
This video essay explores another such trope: scenes in which characters stop at a mirror and finally look themselves in the eye. This confrontation with the self often provokes an emotional response, which the essay proposes to be gendered. While female characters more often point their emotion inwards, ending up either crying or berating themselves for almost crying, men lash out, turning emotion into violence. There are counter-examples to both, of course, but taken together this type of scene definitely trends towards gender stereotypes.
