Film Review : ' Clueless '

Gender roles have been a hotly debated topic in the most recent years, especially the role of women in society. Women have had set expectations that they are believed to conform to, which is shown in many pieces of film and literature. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald describes the life of a man in the upper class in the 1920’s, as well as women in the 1920’s. The movie The Princess Bride, written by William Goldman, visually explains the treatment and expectations of women, and especially focuses on the “damsel in distress” stereotype.. Roxane Gay’s “Bad Feminist” explains the stereotypes against women and ways women can come together and fight these constraints. Based on these sources, societal expectations take away from each individual’s identity, forcing women to conform to society's standards. In order to fight against these expectations, women have banded together and formed movements against these standards.

The primary source that I have chosen to analyze is a scene from the movie Grease. This movie was released in June of 1978 and is about a so-called good girl named Sandy falling in love with bad boy greaser Danny over the summer. Once it’s time for class to be back in session, they find out they attend the same high school and challenges face them as to how they can rekindle their prior romance with the eyes of their friends focused on them. Sandy is the typical good girl who obeys the rules and does what she is told. She falls in love with Danny who is a polar opposite to her. So instead of the typical movie ending where the bad boy turns into a good guy for the girl he is in love with, the writers threw in a plot twist and it ends up being Sandy who changes the most. She alters from a goody two shoes into a “hot and sexy bad girl” as co-creator Jim Jacobs states in an interview about the meaning to the ending of the film. I think that this movie is a prime example of the way gender roles have been visualized among society for a very long time. Additionally, it also doubles as an example as to how gender roles have changed as well throughout the decades that have passed by.

For generations, Clueless is one of the greatest teen movies of all time. By showcasing these stereotypes can impact the judgement of the audiences. Gender stereotypes exist today. The producers purposely set out to make new trends for teenagers, even releasing a Clueless-inspired line of Barbie dolls, and these efforts were wildly successfully. But, at the same time, the film is a satire on the very people it was marketed to. Clueless portrayed several out of date and offensive gender stereotypes. The film represents women as materialistic; the movie also characterizes women can not drive. Furthermore, the movie stereotypes that men are in charge; they are always at the

Movies will be completely biased on gender, race, orientation, and economic standing to catch the attention of anyone and everyone. The tendency to stereotype in movies seems to affect it’s audiences on usually a personal level. Hence, the reason for either the positive, curious, or negative attention it draws. An example for a gender stereotyped scene in film could be revealed in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. In this film, the female lead role plays a woman who joins an all male news team with a dream in becoming a news anchor in the 70s. Now during that time, all news anchors were white males. Since the feminist movement was taking place, it was believed that woman weren’t capable at doing a “man’s job” whatever men, at the time,

The behavior towards people’s judgement is based on what gender they are can be summarized in one movie Grease. Grease made 159 million dollars in the year 1978 alone, but the movie itself shows the double standards on gender with two main a groups of teenage high school students. The testosterone filled group of males known as T- Birds and the Barbie pink female group known as The Pink ladies, make up the popular crew in their school. If you aren’t part of these two groups than you are considered a lack of interest and a waste of existence. The movie also contains viewpoints of conformity taken place in high school that many teenagers experience in real life, by this I mean the movie is a reflection of what is taught in society since birth.

Discussing two films (Iron Man, Knocked Up and/or Gilda) how are the concepts of gender and social scripts represented? When there is a shift in ideology, does representation or symbols of gender change? How do (or not) symbols reflect the ideology of gender? How are those outside of established gender roles portrayed? What stereotypes are reinforced?

“Radio, television, film, and the other products of media culture provide materials out of which we forge our very identities; our sense of selfhood; our notion of what it means to be male or female; our sense of class, of ethnicity and race, of nationality, of sexuality; and of "us" and "them”…” (Kellner, 1995) Douglas Kellner expresses the notion that gender roles and the stereotypes associated with them are sets of societal norms that dictate behaviour which is considered acceptable, desirable and apt based on ones particular sex. These constructs are often depicted in media culture and especially film, which acts as a social comment and offers society the opportunity to reflect on the ways social issues are portrayed and examined. The

These stereotypes in the media for certain subgroups, particularly in television and film, can act as a threat to the men in society, thus perpetuating negative stereotypes. Traditionally, researchers have found that men tend to reduce women in television and film to three basic categories: homemaker, professional, and sex object. Researchers have also found that men tend to feel threatened when certain subgroups, of women, such as feminists or female athletes, express non-stereotypic behavior in the media. These two subgroups of women in particular can threaten men‟s economic success and physical strength (DeWall, Altermatt, & Thompson,

Harry M. Benshoff and Sean Griffin provide detailed insight into the relationship between gender and film in their book America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender, and Sexuality at the Movies. As a result of their investigation into the role of the female in the film industry, they assert, “…film texts reinscribing dominant [gender role] ideology usually sell more tickets than those critiquing it…because the industry itself is still mostly controlled by (white) men” (p. 611). In addition, Benshoff and Griffin highlight Laura Mulvey’s formulation of the male gaze, in which he suggests, “…the gaze of the camera, the gaze of the character with one another, and the gaze of the spectator toward the screen are all inherently male, even when the spectator is a woman” (p. 510).

Analyses of these movies illustrate that through time these gender stereotypes are decreasing. Whereas

Cut to the scene in Clueless where the water sprouts from the fountain behind Cher when she realizes that she loves Josh. It is shot in high and straight angle, boom down. The fountain is so dramatic, which shows that Cher had realized something really important.

The movie I went to go see was cinéastes: les homes. It was about a woman giving an interview to male French filmmakers. The woman asks the males the same question she had asked the females in the previous movie. She had asked them if cinema have a gender most of them answered that they really didn’t know if it did. But most of the men spoke more about the feminism of movies and how females make better actors then men, because they show more emotion then male actors. Most men also asked female director for help writing the female part of the script, because they don’t know how women think. They also feel female directors are better directors because they think like a woman and can have a better perspective on things. Also, most of the men directors focused their films on female audiences because they feel that the females would remember their films more than men. I had chosen to watch this particular film because it was free and the group I went with wanted to see it.

Females are still scene as miss treated and under appreciated by large portions of the United States and even more so in other parts of the world. But why is this still an issue, and why hasn’t it been fixed? No matter what gender you are, whether you choose to identify as a male, female, or one of the many newly established genders within the last couple of years, mass media has expectations on how individuals are supposed to dress, act, and function as a person based of their gender. It is not only females that are categorizing with certain notions, such as clothing, jobs, physical attributes, and hobbies, impacting how an individual thinks they are supposed to grow and meet the expectations of their role in society. Although usually favoring males, the media has done this, and continues to do this by carefully placing images, actions, and commentaries into various media tools such as advertisements, commercials, or anything else that will project the affect they want on society whether we realize it or not. In a test done by Melinda Jones a Professor at the

The world is full of many people. All are from various parts of world, they come from various backgrounds, and have different stories to tell. However, there are linking values that can bring us together. It can be race, sexuality, or even gender. Gender tends to be split into two ways in today’s society. People chose to be either male or female. And while this divide is not the most accurate, it is how people tend to be portrayed. In today 's society the media is one of the most efficient parts of our society to transfer thoughts and ideals and one of the most influential on portraying what is the newest trend and what is the model that people should aim for. This power is very important; however, it could be seen as a bad thing. People who watch television or read magazines or newspapers absorb what is given to them whether it is positive or negative. This is a problem for what the female image has come to. The female image that is portrayed in the various platforms of media such as, television, gaming, and movies is what I intend on focusing on.

Some of the things we see in our everyday life like movies, television shows, or commercials depict different stereotypes of men. Men are depicted to be people who are careless, make stupid mistakes, are self-centered, independent, and strong. They bring the money home and support the family, and the stars of the show but are often incapable of solving the simplists of problems. In these examples there are many times women in the background that hold everything together. These ideas can shape expectations and can be influential to young viewers.