Gender Roles/ Stereotypes
She's the Man Viola's mother is constantly telling her how she should act to preserve her image in society. Women are imaged to be neat and clean while demonstrating respect and acting polite at all times, meanwhile men are dominate and can speak freely. All Viola wants to do is play soccer but when the funding for the girl's team is cut she decides to "become" a guy so that she can play. Her love for the sport isn't taken as seriously in comparison to if she were a guy. Mean Girls The main characters can be seen as the stereotypical teenage girls who are worried about how other people see them. They are hyper focused on weight regimens, social hierarchy, society standards and keeping up social appearances because of how they think that they should act. "On Wednesdays we wear pink", Why pink? Mean Girls brings up the theme of ¨risky" Halloween costumes. It is the time of year that we can be something other than ourselves. As kids, most girls are princesses or other ¨girly¨ things, but as older women most things are short and revealing while men wear more realistic outfits. Snow White Snow White has no ambitions and is well known for her beauty above all in the film and not for what she might have to offer. At the beginning of the film we see that Snow White is wishing by a well to fall in love in hopes that “One day [her] Prince will come” and take care of her problems for her. Snow White, after befriending the dwarves and living closely with them, takes on the female role in the household by cooking and cleaning for them. Snow White does not leave the house and provides for the men and does not step out of this housewife stereotypical role. Cinderella The prince was Cinderella’s ticket out of the house when she should have had the power to leave on her own and not wait for someone to come for her. Cinderella’s dependency for her man shows the lack of women’s place in society during the time in which the earliest movies were created. Earlier princess believe that wishing on stars can make their dreams come true, but we know that what makes the most successful stories are those that the women can provide for themselves and do things on their own by taking things into their own hands and not letting anyone stop them. Sleeping Beauty Aurora is another one of the classic “dreamers” whose heroine features fall short and very far from a feminist. Sleeping beauty has no control over many things in the movie and only has 17 lines in the whole film. Aurora is seen more as a figure in the film rather than a character. The movie is more centered around how the other characters react to her rather than her developing a role for herself. The three fairies each bestow a gift upon Aurora give her the gift first of beauty, then song and the third was not completed. Instead of the gift of intellect or a good personality. Beauty and the Beast Belle shows that people don’t have to comply with the stereotypical housewife role, and that women have the power to live any life they choose. Belle is unusual to the townspeople because she is so beautiful and should, in their eyes, be with Gaston who is the most handsome man. For women it was about getting married off and settled down but belle dreamed of more, however she loves the storybooks that confirms these ideas. “Madame Gaston, can't you just see it? Madame Gaston, his little wife, No sir, not me, I guarantee it, I want much more than this provincial life.” Mrs. Doubtfire After a loving father losses partial custody of his kids in his divorce, he takes drastic measures to be able to spend the most time with his kids as he can. He even goes to lengths as to dress up as a woman and act as a British nanny to get closer to his kids. But why did he pick to become a woman? Its no secret that nanny's are mostly seen to be females but why didn't he come up with a male disguise? Women are seen mostly as the caretakers and so this is most likely why this stereotype still exists. Big Mama's House Similar to Mrs. Doubtfire, Big Mamma's House highlights how men perceive how women should act. Big Mamma alike the main character Daniel is a nanny. The conversation is different to how they would speak if not portraying a different person who is a female. It is a fact that women do have a higher frequency voice in comparison to males however when most males imitate women there voices go to a much higher octave than in reality. Why has society okay-ed the way males interpret our exaggerated speech. "Oh my god". White Chicks When two men decide to dress up as twin sisters and pretend to be the real Brittany and Tiffany, they find that being women is not as simple as they may seem. One of the most shocking pieces of the film is when one of the two girls were auctioned off during a bidding. There shouldn't be a price put on women and when we let these things happen it is a price that we shouldn't be willing to pay. Full House The loving story of a single father raising three girls has touched the hearts of many, is it Danny Tanner pushing the limits of gender roles what makes us love him so much? Not only a devoted father but a neat "freak" guy whose only interests is loving his daughters shows viewers that it is okay to be nurturing and show that side of oneself. Not just Danny Tanner but his brother in law and best friend help him to raise his kids. Cristella This successful business woman doesn't get the props she deserves and she knows it. Cristella has gone to law school and is an intern for a big dog company. Her mother and boss however aren't as serious about her and her career. Her old fashioned Latina mother is confused and feels strongly that it is proper for her to stay at home and not be where she doesn't belong in society. Her brother in law Felix has a labor job and is widely respected in the family as a dedicated and hard worker where as Cristella has the same work ethic. Bella and the Bulldogs A children television show demonstrating the importance of gender equality in sports. Bella is a young teen who loves to play football. She is definitely an asset to her team however some don't see it that way. She pushes the limits of stereotypes and the series shows how girls can do anything that boys can do and be just as good at it. It has been a big breakthrough in children television when it rocked Nickelodeon in 2015. The series showed that Bella could do "girly" things as well as act as her "tomboy" self. Blurred Lines When first hearing the summer of 2013 hit song you don't seem to hear all of the derogatory slander towards women, but once looking deeper into the lyrics we can see that this song is promoting sexual assault. When watching the music video you can see how they treat the women as property to them. There are lines that you should not cross before it becomes sexual assault, and in this song they are saying that by having "blurred lines" the signs might not be as clear and that you can take advantage by it. This song may be interpreted as the women asking for it "I know you want it". It's a Girl/Boy thing It has been as more common to us than we may realize. From a young age we have been told to associate colors with genders and toys as "boy" and "girl" toys. As the times have been changing however we have become a little more open minded to the idea of letting our kids interact in activities that they enjoy. American girl doll will now be expanding their horizons and be creating boy dolls hopefully starting the platform for toy companies to question gender norms. Your Mama Jokes We have normalized and made it okay to make fun of women by commenting on their weight and their intelligence. When the jokes started about 3,500 years ago it was found on tablets in which a babylonian student in ancient times inscribed "Jokes" about women and passed judgment on them. This has recently resurfaced as it was lost in translation and we have now con temporized it by making it geared towards our society. These jokes have been found throughout the historic era but we have now made them into how we speak. It was said that shakespeare has also made "Your Momma jokes" and so on throughout. |