Gender Stereotypes In The Piano By Jane Campion

Just as there is a male gaze, there is also a female gaze. Mulvey argues that, “... such arguments don’t consider how insistently women are presented as sexual objects” (Monash). And yet many continue to argue that genres such as romantic comedies invalidate the male gaze’s offensiveness because it sexualizes men in the same way women are. In response Mulvey points out that, “... female viewers are not invited to desire male bodies, instead, they’re positioned, to identify with a heroine that is desired by a man” (Monash). Take the widely popular Love Actually. One of the most prominent romantic comedies in the industry, it follows several storylines of characters falling in love. Though good natured in spirit, the movie’s assigned gender roles pose a problem. The relationship between the latina maid, Aurelia, who doesn’t speak English, and novelist, Jaime is purely physical. Due to the language barrier, they never have an actual conversation and in fact Jaime doesn’t even admit that he’s in love with Aurelia until she strips and jumps in the lake to retrieve his papers. After Jaime leaves, Aurelia learns English, but doesn’t pursue a better situation, instead choosing to wait for him to return. It displays the woman as dependent with a future dependent on the man. Prime Minister, David, and house staffer, Natalie’s, relationship should also be examined. The romance plays on the boss/subordinate trope. It

Alan is married and has two daughters. He is a heterosexual that acts edgy and tense around homosexuals. He shows hostility toward Emory, who is a gay man who behaves like a feminine. He has an absolute

In Trifles, Susan Glaspell debates the roles between men and women during a period where a debate was not widely conducted. Glaspell wrote Trifles in the early 1900s—a time when feminism was just getting started. In this play, Glaspell shows us her perspective on the roles of men and women and how she believes the situation would play out. Trifles seems like another murder mystery on the surface, but the play has a much more profound meaning behind it. Glaspell presents the idea that men and women analyze situations differently, and how these situations are resolved based on how we interpret them. Research shows that women’s brains “may be optimized for combining analytical and intuitive thinking.” On the other hand, male brains are predominately “optimized for motor skills and actions” (Lewis). In the play, this research shows true when the women, Mrs. Hale and Mrs. Peters, analyze details rather than looking at the apparent, physical evidence, and they find out the motive of the murder. The men, on the other hand, look at broader evidence that does not lead to any substantial conclusion. When Glaspell was writing this play, she wanted the women to be the real instigators, the ones that would end up solving the mystery. While the men in the story laugh at the ‘trifles’ that women worry about, these details mean a great deal in Glaspell’s eyes. Glaspell presents the idea what men and women are different in the way they live their lives through detail.

As she protests against her guardian Nanny’s decision, she says, “Ah wants things sweet wid my marriage…” (Hurston 24). Janie hesitantly expresses her true feelings about her current relationship to Nanny, and her guardian tells her that love isn’t important in the relationship. Nanny clearly wants Janie to have wealth and status in the society, something that Nanny never had for herself. But even after Nanny passed away months later, Janie is doubtful if she will ever get his love. And as she leaves Logan for Joe hoping for a fresh start, her desire for love in a relationship grows stronger. She always though“Husbands and wives always love each other, and that [is] what marriage mean[s].” (Hurston 21). Janie knows that in her society she will have to submit under her husband, but her dreams of acceptance and love overshadow the negative aspects of being tied into marriage.

In the 2005 film The Wedding Crashers directed David Dobkin show many normal gender stereotypes and gender inequalities that are still present in today’s society. The film mainly focuses on two divorce mediators Jeremy and John who enjoy sneaking into wedding parties in order to get drunk off free booze and seduce bridesmaids. Certainly, the film exposes the bromance relationship that Jeremy and John have, which opposes the hegemonic masculinity that society renders on. Their attendance to Secretary Williams’s party exhibits the patriarchy of a white, rich, and powerful man. And lastly the way the guys view women as part of objectification and women displaying sexual agency towards these two gentlemen has been able to change overtime in society where both concepts have become a norm.

In 1976, when the short story was written, the second feminist wave was taking place. This movement focused on equality in the workplace, with the success of having The Equal Credit Opportunity Act being passed two years prior to the release of the short story and the first marital rape law enacted in Nebraska the same year. Godwin intertwined the latter law, by mentioning how the McNairs “lay tenderly together on these weekends, like childhood friends…. their mutual sorrow like a sword between them” (431). It is known that not all husbands were as kind to their wives as now socially expected. Godwin uses the word “tenderly”, which demonstrates that feelings are still present between the two, but also hints that not all marriages were tender. Just like

“You’re Convinced there was nothing important here…Nothing that would—point to any motive?” (Glaspell, pg. 5, 1908). In 1916, Glaspell worked for Des Moines daily news as a reporter where she later met her husband George Cook who was a play director. Together they wrote and produced plays, two of which are Trifles and Jury of Her Peers which are based off a crime scene she encountered while being a reporter. Glaspell’s plays are on the feminist side focusing on the roles women are forced to play in society and their relationships with men. Motive is the overall theme found in both versions of Glaspell’s story and is evidenced through the Wright’s relationship, the anger portrayed in various ways, and finally, regret found in Mrs. Wright.

When you send your children off in the morning to go to school, no matter what grade they are in whither it be elementary, junior high, or senior high, you expect that they will receive the best education that they can get. They should be asked challenging questions, encouraged and called upon to participate in class, they should also be given as much help as they need to secede by the teacher. However, this is most commonly not the case. Parents and the children themselves are unaware of what is going on because gender bias is not a noisy problem. Most people are unaware of the secret sexist lessons that occur every day in classrooms across the country. In this essay I will use two essay's from the reader:

Susan Glaspell’s one-act play, Trifles, weaves a tale of an intriguing murder investigation to determine who did it. Mrs. Wright is suspected of strangling her husband to death. During the investigation the sheriff and squad of detectives are clueless and unable to find any evidence or motive to directly tie Mrs. Wright to the murder. They are baffled as to how he was strangled by a rope while they were supposedly asleep side by side. Glaspell artfully explores gender differences between men and women and the roles they each fulfill in society by focusing on their physicality, their methods of communication and vital to the plot of the play, their powers of observation. In simple terms, the play suggests that men tend to be assertive,

Susan Glaspell uses a variety of symbols in her play to demonstrate the stereotypical view and treatment of women by men during the start of the twentieth century. She intricately portrays the female characters in her story as intelligent, but passive due to the fact that males dismiss their ideas and conversations as unimportant. The play, Trifles, uses multiple symbols to show how men fail to recognize the intelligence of women, and oppress the feminists’ way of thinking throughout society.

Women have been experiencing gender discrimination for years. Gender stereotypes for women are formed by unfair beliefs that all men and women are the same. This discrimination leads to certain effects such as how men expect women to do housework, take care of the children, and take on a passive role. Similar gender stereotypes are seen in “A Jury of Her Peers” by Susan Glaspell. In this short story, the murder of Mr. Wright was investigated by a group of men and women in Mr. Wright’s home. As the men search for evidence of a motive upstairs, the women stay downstairs and accidentally find the evidence needed to solve the murder. In Glaspell’s short story, “A Jury of Her Peers”, and in the article “Philosophical and Political Issues Surrounding Gender” it is made clear that gender stereotypes lead to gender discrimination. This discrimination causes men to assume women’s opinions are not as important as theirs and expect women to do all the house chores.

George’s relationship also changes with his children. Although the children and their father saw things differently, such as the arranged marriage, they still had love for each other. This changed when George threatened, and hit the kids. This was mainly because the kids did not agree with George’s beliefs, and he simply could not accept that. On the other hand, Ella had a strong relationship with her kids. She found the balance between discipline and

One of the prominent issues presented in this movie is sexuality; more specifically homosexuality between women. In the past homosexuality was not accepted. Virginia and Laura lived during a time where it was not acknowledged. This is most evident during the scene where Laura is making a birthday cake and Kitty visits her. Kitty stops to ask Laura to feed her dog while she's in the hospital. Kitty becomes upset when she explains the reason for the hospital stay. While Laura gives her a hug, they suddenly kiss each other. This is a shock to both women. Laura and Kitty's first foray past the bonds of friendship result in confusion and they pretend that it was not something significant enough to deserve a discussion. Fortunately, Clarissa's character lives in a time where same sex relationships are more accepted, thought not as readily. The hesitancy can be felt in a scene takes place close to the end of this film where Clarissa is in her room and her friend, Sally, walks into

In the beginning of reading the book you read a letter from Alex and he describes himself to the reader he goes on talking about the things he likes and how he has many women that want to be with him and reading this you would think of him as a lady’s man. “… Many girls want to be carnal with me in many good arrangements, notwith- standing the Inebriated Kangaroo, the Gorky Tickle, and the Unyielding Zookeeper. If you want to know why so many girls want to be with me, it is because I am a very premium person to be with. I am homely, and also severely funny, and these are winning things” (2). Alex seems to be a very confident person and outgoing. He seems to have a personality that is very “loud”. The reader is lead to believe that this is Alex’s personality and that he is not a homosexual, throughout the book. Then at the end we see this change and Alex confesses his love to Jonathan in a way that is not plain and

Gassner notes in Best American Plays "Their most violent attacks are not without a loving component and each provides the other with the opportunity for expressing these ambivalent feelings"(148)."Their relationship is an incredible inferno of sado-masochism" (148). After Martha commits adultery, George jealously attempts to choke her to death. Their relationship is demonstrated in the series of insults in which they enjoy the negations of love.