The film Erin Brockovich deconstructs many dominant ideologies and traditional assumptions about gender roles found in both our culture today and in mainstream Hollywood filmmaking. This film, which is a narrative based on true events, tells the story of Erin Brockovich. Erin is a twice-divorced, unemployed single mother of three struggling to make a good life for herself and her children.
There are many dominant ideologies and assumptions concerning gender rolls presented in the beginning of the movie, for example it is stressed that Erin is a single mother yet we never once hear about the Fathers of her children. ‘Where are they? Why aren’t they a part of their child’s life? Are they paying child support?’ This reinforces the dominant ideology
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When asked about the legitimacy of the film she explains, “YES, the movie was true and probably 98% accurate. They took very few creative licenses.”(Brockovich) After reading various comments and posts by Erin herself on her website I am convinced that the director did an amazing and near perfect job portraying Erin Brockovich in the correct light. The voice and opinions of the real Erin Brockovich are almost spot on with Julia Roberts’s character. For example, in the film when her Boss, Ed Masry suggest that she make some changes to her wardrobe she replies, “well it just so happens I think I look nice and as long as I have one ass instead of two I’ll wear what I like if that’s alright with you.”( Soderbergh, Erin Brockovich). The real Erin Brockovich also received a lot of negative feedback concerning her wardrobe, she again explains on her website, “I was actually taken back by the response of many people regarding my wardrobe. I just dressed that way because it was fun and I liked it. I was taught never to judge a book by its cover. My clothing was nothing more than a cover and I have never thought that anyone was smart or stupid or anything else by the way they chose to dress.” (Brockovich) There are obvious similarities between the response of the real Erin Brockovich and the films
Each of these concepts are utilized at the advantage of men, and the disadvantage of women, and has shown to provide detrimental consequences and results for women in society. However, in this film, and other films by Tyler Perry, appear to take the added step to combat these aspects that are present in the media’s portrayal of women. While these are present in the movie, he often makes a point to combat it with an inverse portrayal of each
She discusses misrepresentation with a list of “ten enlightened sexism…pretense of simple, depicting reality.” (198) which reinforces these pop culture into own ideals of what gender roles should be in our society.
Analytical Summary “Are We Worried About Storms Identify or Our Own” by Patricia j Williams uses the child’s gender complexity issues of the parent’s decision not to release the gender once born to ask a philosophical question to people who feel that they must know a person’s gender. Patricia j Williams feels that the label of a gender should not be a crucial issue in the world that we live in today. She feels that the world should become less gender oriented in todays world. People talk all the time about how we should not categorize by gender, but as soon as someone attempts to erase gender ideals the world goes into an uproar.
Another reason is because she is a single mother with three kids. Last one I am going to state in this essay is because of the way she talks. Her language is very dirty (she says a lot of curse words.) Erin Brockovich faced a few of conflicts/injustice that I will explain, in the beginning of the movie Erin was in a vehicle crash with a doctor, she took him to court, but because he is a doctor the judge believed that it was her fault. Desperate for income Erin was in search for a job, she went to many places looking for employment but nobody would hire her.
Ever wonder about gender roles in Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew? In Taming of the Shrew, the gender roles affect the characters in a rather negative way, and when they surface in the play, it’s rather shocking. This essay will discuss how gender roles affect the characters in what I believe is a negative way, and how they surface in the play. In this play, the men appear to have a particular idea on how all women should behave.
Next, many gender and sexual stereotypes are perpetuated in media, through the ways of movies. In fact, the movie Legally Blonde fits under the category of stereotypes exceptionally well, since it shows many stereotypes of women in the society. For instance, there is one scene in the movie, where Warner, the handsome boy is playing football with his friends, and Elle, the dumb blonde sits on the sidelines to study and distract the guys playing as she wears nothing but a sparkly bikini top under a furry shawl on her upper half. This example evidently portrays the serotype of being a blonde dumb. Throughout the movie “Legally Blonde” Elle is shown as a material sorority girl, who is a duplicate copy of barbie in real life.
The movie’s content is much more complex than it seems at first glance, just like the protagonist, Elle Woods herself.
“Don't trade your authenticity for approval” stated an unknown author. In the novel To Kill A Mockingbird Scout is a young girl who breaks the social norm of wearing proper clothes such as dresses. In the town called Maycomb, the social norms are for whites to separate from African Americans along with women dressing a certain way and men dressing another. Those social norms don’t just exist in Maycom they are also in the real world. Ellen DeGeneres is a woman in the real world who breaks those social norms.
Both the play Real Women Have Curves by Josefina Lopez and the movie adaptation make an attempt to communicate the message of female empowerment through their respective protagonists, Estela and Ana. Men resolve most of Ana’s problems, whereas Estela relies on herself and other women. The play conveys the theme of female empowerment because it is female-centric, successfully addresses the issues of body image, and focuses on women’s independence and self-validation. Lopez’s play serves as an example of what can happen when women uplift and depend on each other, as opposed to men.
In contrast to the twentieth century we still see some of this in our current day and ages. Contrasting portrayals of men and women in films leave us with the fact that we haven’t changed. Men and women are sought to have different gender roles within
Cultural theories by Kathleen Rowe, Laura Mulvey and Stuart Hall can help the audience seek an explanation to how these stereotypical gender roles are portrayed in the movie and how it can create power for the specific
These experiences ranged from men catcalling her on the streets while making sexist remarks about her breasts, to those making comparisons of her height and attributing it to certain hobbies such as volleyball. In my mind, these give her quite a
Few remember that not just the indicted are changed in the prison system-the authority figures become different, too. Thousands of people go to detention facilities and stay there from minutes to decades, but the authority figures stay there with every influx of new prisoners. The wardens, in particular, are a monumental part of the system. They regulate the prisoners causing them to adapt to situations, whether positive or negative. Samuel Norton, the warden in the adaptation of Stephen King’s Shawshank Redemption, is embodied by the atmosphere of the prison.
The documentary went back in history to show how the reality of the past has shaped the lives of women today, without even realizing it. Media plays a huge role in portraying women and how they should look, dress, act, and what jobs they should hold. Therefore, through media, women are seen as doing the household chores and taking care of the children while the men
The 1996 film Fargo by the Joel and Ethan Coen captivates the rare heroics of a pregnant female officer from Brainerd, Minnesota. The film’s depiction of female heroics is a proponent for empowering women in the film industry. We are always accustomed to seeing men as the primary focus and center of a film and women as the impotent secondary character. Films today should start portraying women as the strong primary character and, a character that’s inspires women to make difference like Marge Gunderson (Frances McDormand) did. Film is a societal changing platform and The Coen brothers use that to bring some parity in our male dominant society.