New Blog Reveals Disturbing Movie Poster Trend That Needs To Stop

A blog set up by New York stand-up comic Marcia Belsky has shone a light on a disturbing movie poster trend that’s been happening for years.

Using countless examples from Hollywood history - recent and older - the Tumblr blog shows that movie posters featuring women will often only show their bodies, but not their heads or faces.

“The project,” The Headless Women of Hollywood explains, “seeks to bring attention to the still standard practice of fragmenting, fetishising and dehumanising the images of women we see in film, TV, book covers, and advertisement.”

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“By decapitating the woman, she becomes an unquestionably passive object to the male gaze.”

“DAMNIT, HOLLYWOOD!!! WE WANT HEADS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!,” they conclude.

The trend seems to have been going on in Hollywood for years now with the blog highlighting ‘The Graduate’ poster as an early example. Other franchises that have been found guilty of the design faux pas include ‘Minions’ and ‘Terminator Genisys’, but it’s not just blockbusters that can be held accountable either.

Arthouse fare like ‘Youth’ and ‘Inherent Vice’ have also recently featured headless women in their marketing art.

One entry on the blog addresses the criticism that posters will often feature headless men too, citing a ‘Deadpool’ one sheet as an example, but as they’re quick to point out, these are the exception not the rule. “When the men are headless, it’s not mindless, it’s not ordinary, and usually – it is not sexual.”

“When it is sexual, like the Deadpool poster, even though he is headless, he is NOT passive.”

Come in headless women movie posters, your time is up.

Image credits: Tumblr