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Maggie Bell

Mr. Phillips

Cultural Media Literacy

22 December 2019

Nicholas Sparks’ Movies and Gender Stereotypes

“She needed his arms around her, needed him to hold her and whisper they’d find a way

to be together,” (Nicholas Sparks). Nicholas Sparks composes heart-wrenching romance novels,

replete with love, loss, lust, and lamentation. The novels experienced wild successes, reaching

broad audiences and even transitioning into a lucrative film industry. In every film’s runtime,

viewers expect a love story, unquestionably with a twist weaved in, and will usually leave in

tears. However, while these films pull on heartstrings, the abundance of gender stereotypes

cannot be overlooked. Nicholas Sparks’ films reinforce gender stereotypes through highlighting

a dependency of female characters on their male counterparts.

The Notebook begins with the whirlwind summer romance of Allie and Noah. Allie, a

wealthy girl visiting a South Carolina town for the summer before she attends school in New

York, and Noah is a poor boy who works for hourly wages and lives in the town. Their

passionate relationship gets cut short because Allie’s parents leave early, due to their underlying

desire to control her life, to which Allie hardly objects. This anecdote reinforces the notion that

women often become passive bystanders in their own lives, letting men or other figures dictate

their actions. This perfectly encapsulates the masculine gaze. Another important aspect is that

Allie’s parents planned her entire future (Handlon), which emphasizes Allie’s lack of autonomy

over her life and decisions. Many years go by, and Allie is set to marry a guy by the name of

Lon. He embodies a gentleman, he possesses material wealth, and he has parental approval.

Allie’s affection for Lon simply does not measure up to the one she had with Noah. The only

reason she called off her marriage with Lon was because she saw Noah again and they
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reconnected. Allie’s initial willingness to marry a man she did not truly and deeply love furthers

the stereotype of female subordination to societal expectations. The subplot of the movie comes

in when Noah and Allie are married and elderly, with Allie suffering from Alzheimer’s. Noah

reads their love story to Allie every day, taking care of her and reminding her of their

connection. While incredibly sweet, this act reinforces the “damsel in distress” stereotype

through Sparks writing the woman as the one who needs caretaking (Cassavetes).

The Longest Ride features Sophia, an aspiring art history major at Wake Forest

University, and Luke, a prominent bull rider. Luke asks Sophia out in a traditional fashion, even

showing up to pick her up for their first date with flowers. After their first date, they run into a

man in dire need of assistance, with his car badly wrecked on the side of the road. At the

hospital, they find out his name is Ira, and that he has a box of letters exchanged between him

and his late wife. As Luke and Sophia return often to read Ira letters, their connection

intensifies, building their relationship despite their potentially incompatible lifestyles. Luke

desires an adventurous lifestyle full of riding bulls and Sophia is moving to New York City for

her dream job. Luke and Sophia fell in love with each other and with Ira’s story and how he and

his wife connected over their collected art pieces. Sophia decides to give up her dream job in

New York to be with Luke. Sophia giving up on her dreams to be with a man displays the

pattern of how females are portrayed in Sparks’ movies. Luke riding bulls emphasizes a

common male stereotype of a need for adrenaline, adventure, and danger. He risks his life in the

pursuit of this and competition, which has many potential consequences. During his world

championship performance, his bull knocked him off and sent Luke into a coma for ten days.

While a head injury of this magnitude should have been a wake-up call, Luke continued riding

despite pleas from his mother and Sophia. This stubborn behavior sums up how males are

presented in film and furthers the claim that Sparks creates distorted views of how gender should

be portrayed. Luke only stops when he becomes the best in the world and realizes he does not
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want to be the best without Sophia. When Ira dies, his attorney hosts an auction with his entire

art collection. Luke bids on a portrait of Ira, which no other bidder wanted. The twist is that

whoever bid on this portrait received the entire collection. Luke and Sophia then opened a

gallery, giving up their dreams in order to be together, and this loss of individuality from love

showcases Sparks’ representations of gender (Tillman Jr.).

Dear John highlights male dominance, female subordination, and caretaking as presented

by the culture. John, a soldier on leave from the US army, falls for Savannah, a college student

home from spring break. John’s past proves alarming, as he reveals he has a scar from a knife

fight. Later in the film, he also gets into a scuffle with a guy who instigates it, but he hits

Savannah’s neighbor by mistake. Even though John shows redeeming qualities (he is kind and

wants to do the right thing), his pattern of aggression serves to undermine his positive

characteristics. When John is away at war, Savannah waits for him while they exchange letters.

This passive waiting furthers the idea of female submission and lack of control in their own

lives. Savannah ends up marrying her neighbor, Tim, while John is away. She married Tim, not

out of love, but because Tim had a terminal illness and needed someone to take care of him and

his son. This caretaking by Savannah emphasizes the motherly responsibility according to the

status quo in the culture (Hallström).

Gender stereotyping can be found ubiquitously and has serious adverse effects. This was

concluded by a study conducted by the Journal of Adolescent Health, and the study also found

these stereotypes take root in kids before the age of ten (Dastagir). Girls were found to be prone

to depression and early marriage, while boys resorted to violence and substance abuse. The main

point from this study was that these typical conventions that children see in the media for gender

have to be disputed starting in the early years of childhood (Dastagir). Common Sense Media

even began an initiative to include gender representations in their ratings of movies. According

to Common Sense Media, seeing gender in a bad light “can affect children’s sense of self,
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relationships, and career aspirations.” To get a positive rating in this category, films must

challenge these stereotypes (“A New Film-Rating System Considers Depictions of Gender

Roles”). While Sparks may present stories of heartbreak and love which engross the audience,

his presentation of gender has consequences, particularly for adolescents watching the films.

Nicholas Sparks has created legendary works featuring unexpected romances, which have

been adapted into films and feature gender stereotypes that are inherently problematic. These

stories are fascinating, but one must look deeper into the ripple effects on the culture. The films

present women as subordinate and in an old-fashioned light, caretaking and relying on men. The

presentation of men are in line with expectations, showing their dominant and aggressive

tendencies. Women are seen as dependent, which sets the culture back at least 50 years.

Members of today’s society must be aware of the potential negative effects of Sparks’ works and

strive to challenge these depictions.

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Works Cited

“A New Film-Rating System Considers Depictions of Gender Roles.” The Economist, The

Economist Newspaper, 2017, www.economist.com/prospero/2017/08/02/a-new-film-

rating-system-considers-depictions-of-gender-roles.

Cassavetes, Nick, director. The Notebook. New Line Cinema, 2004.

Dastagir, Alia E. “Gender Stereotypes Are Destroying Girls, and They're Killing Boys.” USA

Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 22 Sept. 2017,

www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/09/21/gender-stereotypes-destroying-girls-and-

theyre-killing-boys/688317001/.

Hallström, Lasse, director. Dear John. Roadshow, 2010.

Tillman Jr., George, director. The Longest Ride. Fox 2000 Pictures, 2015.