09/29/09 The film “Boys Don’t Cry” is a powerful work of art, made more visceral by the fact that it is all based on a true story. It tells the tale of Teena Brandon, a young woman whose natural attraction to other girls leads her to live her life as a male under the alias “Brandon Teena”. It tells of the discrimination and even violence she encounters based on her sexuality, and her ultimately fatal attraction to another young woman named Lana Tisdel. One aspect of the film that interested me was Teena’s overall personality, influenced by her confusion of what gender she is and what gender she wants to be. She clearly is sexually attracted to girls, and identifies with herself as a boy.
Though the feminist movement took a strong hold and the ideas of gender equality are promoted within the educational system, women still have limited opportunities for self-realization outside the family (Cho, 2002; Janelli & Yim, 2002). This situation naturally results in tension between the ambition of women who were educated to believe in gender equality and the realities of a male-dominated society. One possible reaction is to rebel and challenge the rules of the game; the other way is to accept the rules, master them and twist them to women’s advantage. The main female character, known as “the Girl,” chooses to do just that—and succeeds spectacularly. Not only she gets away with extreme sassiness and abusive behaviour, in the end, she gets rewarded with a caring guy who is willing to accommodate her crazy whims and temper tantrums.
As a reflection of this, Smith creates tough, clever, and relatively uncomplicated women. The consistency of these women foils the males’ identities, which move away from and challenge conventional and historically avowed notions of maleness (Beukema). The desires of Archie and Samad are to become unadulterated masculine versions of themselves. They hope masculinity will
Although Rousseau states that these characteristics of a girl’s behavior, such as being timid, weak, etc., are natural, he also notes that women have to actively employ these traits manipulatively in order to remain appealing to man and thus continue service to him. The contortion of character that women have to perform in order to encourage masculine qualities in men
Beatrice is the representation of a modern woman who breaks free from the social norms, which preferred quiet and subdued women, only to be seen and not to be heard, like her cousin Hero. Beatrice is a strong character, she is witty, sometimes scornful, bold, sarcastic and amidst all this- emotional. She professes a stubborn malignity towards the opposite sex but also posseses a lurking fascination for her ‘enemy – Benedick. When we are introduced to Beatrice, we see her as the great lady, bright, brilliant, beautiful, enforcing admiration as she moves among fine ladies and accomplished gallants of her circle. She has a quick eye to see what is weak or ridiculous in man or woman.
Despite this discrepancy, women can easily level the playing field by utilizing what Pozdnyshev calls their “sensuality.” Once this option is exercised, the inequalities are not only erased, but reversed, and the woman gains full control. Clearly being discomforted by this notion, Pozdnyshev states: Women have made of themselves such an instrument for arousing sensuality that a man cannot deal with a woman calmly. As soon as a man approaches a woman, he succumbs to her spell and gets befuddled. Even before, I always felt awkward, eerie, when I saw a woman decked out in a ball gown, but now I’m downright scared, I see something downright dangerous for
Feminists of today argue that women remain subjugated to men and that this remains reflected in the current subconscious patriarchal order. In Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema, Laura Mulvey states her belief that the cinema contributes to establishing this order. In her desire to raise awareness about this role played by cinema in perpetuating sexual imbalance, Mulvey uses psychoanalysis as a tool to explain how and why the portrayal of women in relation to men in Hollywood films continues to elevate men. This paper will test Mulvey’s theory by applying her physchoanalysis lens to the contemporary film Transformers – focusing specifically on two of the psychoanalysis elements she outlines: scopopholia and recognition/misrecognition. It will argue that despite some progress by the film industry, sexual objectification in cinema is alive and too well and that Mulvey’s theory helps us understand how the film industry influences the way men and women are viewed in real life.
Although critics disagree on how the vastly different gender perceptions within the play are used to portray the theme of women’s power within law and justice, all of their arguments tie back to the fact that the women in the story act as a surrogate for the female society of that time, showing them that they have more power than they realize. Phyllis Mael asserts in "Trifles: The Path to Sisterhood," that the evolution of the women's relationships from acquaintance to co-conspirators illustrates the female psyche. Mael says the she feels the play's "moral dilemma" stresses the inherent differences between male theoretical sense of morality and female sensitive ethical sense which includes "moral problems as problems of responsibility in relationship" (Mael, 282-83). Although the women draw closer to solving the crime as the men, using "abstract rules and rights," make comments that "trivialize the domestic sphere," ethical agreement comes only after Mrs. Peters moves from "acquiescence to patriarchal law" to
She depicts the “madcap heiress” role; rich and spoiled like Irene in My Man Godfrey. The female is always dressed classy and elegant- draped in pearls and gowns. A common female trend in romantic comedies is the use of insults and other language with indirect sexual context. The female lead replaces sexual behavior through other means- such as minor physical aggression and verbal battles. This common theme of forthright behavior demonstrates that the female is battling for equality in a male-dominated world.
Elements of Romantic Comedies Romantic comedies have grown from everyday comedies to include very specific elements that distinguish them from the normal. One of the main elements of romantic comedies is that the idea of love and its shift from the thought that women should love their husbands more than men love their wives, as well as the belief that sex is something that the man should obtain whenever he asks for it because men are the bread-winners of the home. Instead, romantic comedies are based on heroic love, or love that is not focused on servitude. In this type of love, a man falls in love with a woman and serves her in the hopes that he can obtain sex from her. Although sex is still a factor in this situation, the men have to earn it which in the long run makes the man a better more understanding person.