IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/pal/palcom/v12y2025i1d10.1057_s41599-025-04618-0.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Empowered or constrained? Gender narratives in Cyberpunk-style microfilm advertisements

Author

Listed:
  • Chunfa Zhou

    (College of Design and Innovation. Zhejiang Normal University)

  • Beile Jin

    (University of Manchester)

Abstract

This study examines the portrayal of gender in Cyberpunk-style microfilm advertising (CMA), a genre that blends futuristic technology with dystopian elements. By employing qualitative content analysis grounded in theories of gender performativity and media representation, this research examines how these advertisements construct gender images and their impact on societal gender norms. The analysis reveals that while CMA presents innovative gender representation, it also perpetuates existing stereotypes, particularly with regard to professional roles and emotional dynamics. The findings underscore the dual role of media in both challenging and reinforcing gender stereotypes and highlight the need for a more balanced portrayal of gender. This study contributes to the discourse on gender representation in media, offers insights into the unique intersection of Cyberpunk aesthetics and advertising, and calls for further research to explore the long-term effects of these representations on societal norms.

Suggested Citation

  • Chunfa Zhou & Beile Jin, 2025. "Empowered or constrained? Gender narratives in Cyberpunk-style microfilm advertisements," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04618-0
    DOI: 10.1057/s41599-025-04618-0
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1057/s41599-025-04618-0
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1057/s41599-025-04618-0?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthew B. Ross & Britta M. Glennon & Raviv Murciano-Goroff & Enrico G. Berkes & Bruce A. Weinberg & Julia I. Lane, 2023. "Author Correction: Women are credited less in science than men," Nature, Nature, vol. 621(7979), pages 41-41, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Wenxuan Shi & Renli Wu, 2024. "Women’s strength in science: exploring the influence of female participation on research impact and innovation," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(7), pages 4529-4551, July.
    2. María Rosario Román Gálvez & Blanca Riquelme-Gallego & María del Carmen Segovia-García & Daniel Gavilán-Cabello & Khalid Saeed Khan & Aurora Bueno-Cavanillas, 2022. "Variations in Author Gender in Obstetrics Disease Prevalence Literature: A Systematic Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(1), pages 1-11, December.
    3. Hoekman, Jarno & Rake, Bastian, 2024. "Geography of authorship: How geography shapes authorship attribution in big team science," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(2).
    4. Francisca M. Antman & Kirk B. Doran & Xuechao Qian & Bruce A. Weinberg, 2024. "Half Empty and Half Full? Women in Economics and the Rise in Gender-Related Research," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 114, pages 226-231, May.
    5. Gabriela Fontanarrosa & Lucía Zarbá & Valeria Aschero & Daniel Andrés Dos Santos & María Gabriela Nuñez Montellano & Maia C Plaza Behr & Natalia Schroeder & Silvia Beatriz Lomáscolo & María Elisa Fanj, 2024. "Over twenty years of publications in Ecology: Over-contribution of women reveals a new dimension of gender bias," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 19(9), pages 1-18, September.
    6. Kwiek, Marek & Szymula, Łukasz, 2024. "Growth of Science and Women: Methodological Challenges of Using Structured Big Data," SocArXiv w34pr, Center for Open Science.
    7. Solga, Heike & Rusconi, Alessandra & Hofmeister, Sophie, 2025. "Gender biases in assistant professor recruitment: Does discipline matter?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(3).
    8. Kahn, Shulamit & MacGarvie, Megan, 2024. "New evidence on international postdocs in the US: Less pay, different experiences," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(9).
    9. repec:osf:socarx:w34pr_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. repec:osf:osfxxx:yr8me_v1 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Muhammad Asim & Peter Muriuki Gatheru & Joy J Chebet & Mehr G Shah & Anna Thorson & Vanessa Brizuela, 2023. "Support, networks, and relationships: Findings from a mixed-methods evaluation of a mentorship programme for early career women researchers in sexual and reproductive health and rights," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 18(12), pages 1-20, December.
    12. Yining Wang & Qiang Wu & Liangyu Li, 2024. "Examining the influence of women scientists on scientific impact and novelty: insights from top business journals," Scientometrics, Springer;Akadémiai Kiadó, vol. 129(6), pages 3517-3542, June.
    13. Chauvin, Juan Pablo & Tricaud, Clemence, 2022. "Gender and Electoral Incentives: Evidence from Crisis Response," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 12411, Inter-American Development Bank.
    14. Letki, Natalia & Biały, Grzegorz & Sankowski, Piotr & Walentek, Dawid, 2022. "Streamlining for excellence discriminates against women: A study of research productivity of 2.7 mln scientists in 45 countries," OSF Preprints yr8me, Center for Open Science.
    15. Zhou, Sifan & Chai, Sen & Freeman, Richard B., 2024. "Gender homophily: In-group citation preferences and the gender disadvantage," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 53(1).
    16. Diego Kozlowski & Thema Monroe‐White & Vincent Larivière & Cassidy R. Sugimoto, 2024. "The Howard‐Harvard effect: Institutional reproduction of intersectional inequalities," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 75(8), pages 869-882, August.
    17. Nakajima, Kazuki & Liu, Ruodan & Shudo, Kazuyuki & Masuda, Naoki, 2023. "Quantifying gender imbalance in East Asian academia: Research career and citation practice," Journal of Informetrics, Elsevier, vol. 17(4).
    18. Rainer Widmann & Michael E. Rose & Marina Chugunova, 2023. "Allegations of Sexual Misconduct, Accused Scientists, and Their Research," Rationality and Competition Discussion Paper Series 419, CRC TRR 190 Rationality and Competition.
    19. Cory Koedel & Trang Pham, 2023. "The Narrowing Gender Wage Gap Among Faculty at Public Universities in the U.S," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(3), pages 21582440231, August.
    20. Nikola Komlenac & Liora Neugebauer & Jennifer Birke & Margarethe Hochleitner, 2023. "All employees benefit: arguments that help increase support for affirmative action in academic careers," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    21. Nancy Reid, 2024. "On Sufficiency and Ancillarity," Sankhya A: The Indian Journal of Statistics, Springer;Indian Statistical Institute, vol. 86(1), pages 160-172, November.
    22. Brooks, Chris & Schopohl, Lisa & Tao, Ran & Walker, James & Zhu, Millie, 2025. "The female finance penalty: Why are women less successful in academic finance than related fields?," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 54(4).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pal:palcom:v:12:y:2025:i:1:d:10.1057_s41599-025-04618-0. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.nature.com/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.