Representation.

African American hero/protagonist
White American police commander
Muscular, skinheads in the prison
White housewife


The protagonist/hero is Will Smith, an African American but his role in the plot is to be an unorthodox superhero. In this film he plays a hero that is an alcoholic and doesn't act with the greatest safety around the civilians which challenges the stereotype of what a hero usually is(Dyer). Furthermore, he is an unpopular hero amongst the public and gains negative publicity within media corporations. This could be a dominant representation because this happens in various other films such as Spiderman and The incredible Hulk.

The white American police commander has a house, kids and a wife which is a dominant representation as he fits reinforces all the stereotypes. Also, as he is a character in power, it shows a dominant representation because white Americans are generally in power this isn't a negative stereotype so Perkins' theory could be applied here. Furthermore, the relationship between Will Smith, the hero, and the cop, is that the cop is relying heavily on the hero to stop the villain and save the day. This is a dominant representation.

The muscular skinhead in the prison that every cell mate fears is a really stereotypical as they are usually the ones that are intimidating (Dyer). However, Will Smith, the protagonist, stood up to him which a stereotype in film plots as the protagonist usually brings about change.

The children in the neighbourhood are reinforcing the stereotypes of kids in the neighbourhood because there was one child with the glasses, the nerd, one chubby guy and the big kid, the bully. So this representation of children in the neighbourhood is dominant.

The wife was showed to be a stay at home wife. This is a really traditional woman as traditionally, woman were expected to stay at home, cook, clean and look after the children. The wife in this film fits the traditional expectation which shows how its a dominant representation.

Gender Representation

In this clip there is a moment where there is a crowd of people and a woman tells Hancock off for drinking. As there are even men around, this empowers women as this doesn't present them as sex objects but presents them as confident and also with some authority as she is the one scolding him. This challenges Mulvey's theory of 'the male gaze' because of this powerful representation of women. Also, there is a part when there is an injured police woman. This empowers women as well as shows them to be helpless. Empowers them because it shows the audience that women can take on roles are traditionally male. But as she is injured, it could show that they aren't cut out for jobs that men usually do as she is shown to be helpless. This agrees with Mulvey's theory as this shows that she is just there to be looked at and to be rescued. On the other hand, the audience sees Gill's theory of the female gaze. This is because when Hancock is reformed, he is given a superhero costume which is described as 'tight'. This shows how he is also used to be looked at as the 'tight' suit appeals to the female audience. Berger's theory of men acting and women just appearing is seen in this trailer because majority of the dialogue in this trailer is between men. So the lack of female dialogue shows that majority of the acting is with the men and so women are only used for men to look at. When the woman tells Hancock off for smelling a liquor, the director included this to show the audience that women have voices too and that they also have a level of authority, this part is included to empower woman. This could show Levi-Strauss' theory.