In the She’s The Man (2006), Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) cross dresses for the majority of the film, pretending to be her twin brother Sebastian. She does this in order to play for Illyria’s men’s soccer team as her school, Cornwall, cut the women’s soccer team and wouldn’t allow her to play for the men’s team. Her main motivation is to beat her former schools team and prove to them that even though she is a girl, she can play on the same field as the boys. While pretending to be Sebastian, Viola initially struggles to hide her femininity, such as when it is discovered that she has tampons in her bag. As the movie progresses her ability to hide this femininity and express masculinity becomes easier. Her cross dressing has an effect on everything and everyone around her and it pushes the line on the comfort people feel when stereotypical gender norms are challenged/ She becomes interested in her roommate, Duke (Channing Tatum) and throughout the movie the two become closer on an intimate level even though Viola is still masked as Sebastian. Duke is obviously uncomfortable with this as made evident by the end of the movie, when it is revealed that Viola was pretending to be Sebastian the entire time. His look of relief reinforces this idea of stereotypical, heterosexual gender roles, as now that Viola is revealed as a female, it is socially acceptable to be attracted to her. She’s The Man reinforces the stereotypical gender roles that society expects out of
On the Twelfth Night or, What You Will by William Shakespeare was written in the Elizabethan era and on the movie She’s The Man by Andy Fickman it was written in modern day. William Shakespeare’s original version has been passed down and changed from the original version and authors have made many key changes to help the new generation understand the story. Authors and directors have changed the original version to help modern day society learn about the Elizabethan era in a different and more interesting way for today’s society. There are many comparisons and differences between the original version and the modern day version mentioned above. In Shakespeare’s version Viola believes her brother Sebastian is dead so she dresses like a man and calls herself Cesario to work in Orsino’s home, but in She’s The Man Viola takes advantage of her twin brother being in
In this film, She’s the Man Olivia Hastings revolves around gender portrayal and her objection to join a men’s soccer team. She’s the Man demonstrates gender representation of femininity and masculinity through a number of characters. Olivia gets rejected and unable to join the men’s soccer team which shows how empowering it can be to be a female. Oliva’s brother Sebastian Hastings goes to London as his band got a spot to perform at a music festival for 2 weeks, so Olivia disguises to be Sebastian to be able to join the male soccer team. Both power and gender are big roles in the film as Viola continuously switches from being female to male and shows how much power both genders get.
Gender equality, Identity, and Relationships. All of these themes can be found in She’s the Man. In She’s the Man there is a scene in which Duke sees Olivia run and kiss Sebastian, but what Duke doesn’t know is that it isn’t the Sebastian he has been living and grown to by teammates with. Duke then becomes very angry and soon after kicks “Sebastian” who is really Viola out of their room, and she has no idea why. It was Viola’s decision to change identities that started much confusion, and severed the close bond between her and Duke. This movie has many examples of the theme identity. I personally have learned that it is always important to stay true to who you are, and if you do want to change your identity, that you need to be mentally and
The feminist school has various goals when being used to scrutinize a piece of literature. As Gillespie points out, historically texts were written by males with primarily male protagonists, and thus, the male sentiment is most dominantly expressed in many works of literature. The lessened representation of women in literature is usually confined to typical stereotypes of the historical period. This can be seen in Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, and this will be further explored and discussed. Through the feminist lens, women’s presence and portrayal in the play, as well as the common stereotypes about women in Shakespearean society, can be studied carefully, despite the centuries that have passed between the play’s conception and the present. Additionally, as stated in Literary Theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses,
Can a play written in the 1600s be turned into a modern film, yet still share important similarities? Twelfth Night is a play written by William Shakespeare in which a female, Viola, conceals her identity and pretends to be a male, Cesario. A modern adaptation of the play is the film She's the Man in which Viola, a soccer player, disguises herself as her brother Sebastian. In the play, Viola disguises herself as Cesario in order to have a place to work and for protection as it was not acceptable to be a female traveling alone at the time. On the other hand, in the film Viola feigns that she is Sebastian in order to play soccer for the boy's team at Illyria since the Cornwall girl's soccer team has been cut. She’s the Man is a suitable representation of Twelfth Night because in both the film and the play Viola has to overcome obstacles, and Malvolio or Malcolm are overconfident.
Twelfth Night is a very feminist play once readers have been reading it. The story’s protagonist is a woman, Viola. Viola displays herself as a rational, strong, witting woman, who has to disguise herself as a man to be able to become a faithful attendant of Orsino. With Viola doing this it creates a big sexual mess as Viola falls in love with Orsino but cannot tell him since he still thinks she is a man. While Olivia, who is the object of Orsino’s affection, falls for Cesario, the disguise for Viola. Once Viola’s true identity is revealed Orsino declares his love for Viola which suggest that he may really just loved the masculinity she possessed. Orsino says to Viola, even after seeing her true identity, “Cesario, come; For so you shall be, while you are a man; But when in other habits you are seen, Orsino's mistress and his fancy's queen” (Shakespeare, Twelfth Night 5.1.2599-26001). After everything has been reveled Orsino still calls Viola by her disguise name…her boy name, Cesario. The readers can only wonder is Orsino truly loved Viola for her or if he was in love with the male persona she gave.
All throughout Illyria, there is romance, passion, royalty, and an immense amount of gender stereotypes. William Shakespeare imagines the kingdom of Illyria to have very traditional norms for both women and men in his play Twelfth Night. In Scene 2 of Act 1, Viola, recently rescued from a shipwreck, hears about a duke named Orsino and instantly comes up with a plan to get closer to him. Her plan is to disguise herself as a boy who she will name Cesario and become one of Orsino's’ attendants. Right off the bat, we begin to see gender stereotypes. Why must Viola become a man in order to work for the duke? Elizabethan society “molded women into the form of the dutiful wife and mother” (Elizabethan Women). Viola could not have served duke Orsino as a woman because as a woman she was expected to work at home and be either a “dutiful wife [or a] mother”. Scene two prepares the audience for the idea of gender throughout the rest of the play. Shakespeare's Twelfth Night is very traditional play due to its ideas of gender stereotypes in Elizabethan society.
Although these very common gender roles appear in many musical films, there are also many occasions of the characters fighting these gender roles. From the same story as mentioned in the paragraph above, Babe also fights throughout her story to break out of the norms
In the movie, women are controlled by men in almost every single aspect. They can’t talk to other men without a permission from a male relative, they can’t be heard by other men, they can’t ride bicycles, they can’t drive, etc. Women were supposed to obey men in everything they do.
Being that the majority of the characters in the novel are male, as the reader, you might not quit grasp the concept of feminism right away. Feminism is widespread throughout the story and gradually portrays a clear image of what life was like for women. Some women go along with the concept by obeying and others go against it and live their own way. This, in so many ways, allows for understanding of the life of women during this time.
Lady Macbeth is an example of the feminism. Lady Macbeth puts herself with power by actually going through with her decision to murder Duncan. Lady Macbeth makes sure that she can persuade Macbeth to kill Duncan for her. In order to do this, she can’t act very feminine like to put herself into the leadership position. “Come you spirits/ That tend on mortal thoughts, unsex me here/ And fill me from the crown to the toe top-full/ Of direst cruelty. Make thick blood/ Stop up th’ access and the passage of remorse” (Shakespeare Act I.38-42). Lady Macbeth is upset that Macbeth gets to murder Duncan when
movie varies greatly from the original play. The frivolous tone of this adaptation fails to epitomize the historical setting, depth of characters, and poetic magnificence of this comedic play. In She’s The Man the plot revolves around Viola, and her struggle to be recognized as a professional soccer player. When the girls’ team at her school is cancelled, she decides to disguise herself as her twin brother Sebastian (who coincidentally leaves for London to pursue his passion in music) in order to join the boys’ soccer team at his boarding school. However she is instantly captivated by her new roommate Duke Orsino, and he asks her to divulge his fervent and vehement love for their classmate Olivia. The movie essentially modernizes the play in order to remove the boring stigma associated with Shakespeare’s plays but with some futile additions that distort or are gross misrepresentations of the original play.
As much as I enjoy musicals, most songs are about men, either women singing about men and how they desire a man or haw men have done them wrong, or men singing them. Where are, the songs belted out by the ladies for the ladies? That’s where feminism comes into play. Feminism is one of the most important social themes. Feminism is a range of social movements, and political movements that share a common goal, to achieve, establish, and define personal, economic, political, and social rights for women. This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in employment and education. Feminist movements have campaigned and continue to campaign for women’s rights. They fight for women’s right to vote, hold public office, earn fair wages, work, equal pay, receive education, own property and more. Five musical plays that speak on the topic of feminism is Wicked, The Color Purple, Funny Girl Yentl and Mary Poppins. Wicked is an alternative telling of The wizard of the Oz told from the perspective of the witches of the Land of Oz. The Color Purple focus on the life of African American women, addressing numerous issues, including their lower positions in American social culture. Funny Girl is based on the life and career of Broadway Star, film actress and Comedian Fanny Brice. Yentl is based on Yentl, a young girl who lives secretly as a man. And last but not least Mary Poppins is about a magical nanny that helps bring two children that she’s in charge of closer to their
Equity between men and women is a deeply rooted battle. As the modern culture shifts further from patriarchal rule, it is interesting to question why females remained the submissive sex for so many centuries. When examining the play Twelfth Night, it becomes apparent that Shakespeare considered such an issue and used the character Viola and her interaction with Orsino as a vessel for gender equality.