Theoretical Analysis of Mrs Doubtfire

The film Mrs. Doubtfire is about a family who is in some turmoil. The mother (Miranda) of the family has requested a divorce from the husband (Daniel) and has denied him custody of their three children (Lydia, Chris, and Natalie). In response, the husband chooses to dress up as an elderly woman and is hired as the housekeeper and children’s nanny (Mrs. Doubtfire). The film portrays divorce using a comedic element. After the Mrs. Doubtfire is revealed to be the husband in disguise the mother petitions the court and is granted full custody. However, the children do not adjust to this change well. The children’s difficulty adjusting to the change prompts Miranda to seek out Daniel to change the custody arrangement. At the end of the movie, it is revealed to the children that the father will continue in his caregiving role without a disguise.

“Who giveth/presents this woman?” is asked by the priest in Vincente Minelli’s 1950 film Father of the Bride and in Charles Shyer’s 1991 remake of the same name, respectively. Both films are extremely similar in content, as the remake borrows heavily on dialogue, temperament of characters, scene progression, and the overall essence of the theme of adoration between a father and his daughter, even though they are set 41 years apart. It would be foolish to say that post-war 1950s gender roles of the original film are the same of those of 90s remake, but regardless of the vast societal progressions and gradual increase of women’s rights from the 50s to the 90s (and now) there is still a subconscious stereotype of a “traditional” family that conforms to the ideas of gender roles that live within films of today.

Regarding the family unit, Friedman, Bowden and Jones (2003) states “This basic unit so strongly influences the development of an individual that it may determine the success or failure of that person’s life.” Due to the this influence it is vital to assess the family during the process of caring for a patient. Their environment, lifestyle and support system all have a tremendous effect on the healing process either good or bad. In this essay, the Hillard family from the movie Mrs. Doubtfire (1993) will be analyzed.

To complete the movie analysis assignment I decided to use a fantasy comedy movie called Matilda (1996 Film) by Danny DeVito. Matilda family is an ordinary family with a mother, father and a brother. Matilda Wormwood is a genius girl, who lives with both of her parents. Her father Harry, who is a car salesman and Zinnia the mother, who has a tremendous love and need of playing bingo, and her older brother Michael. During this film we can observe different types of family dynamics such as gender factors. For

The movie Mrs. Doubtfire takes place in an upper-middle-class neighborhood with a typical all-American family being shaken up after a divorce. As a carefree father, who is deprived of his custodial rights to his children, we have Daniel Hilliard as recently unemployed, aspiring talented actor with a few tricks up his sleeve in order to preserve quality time with his children. On the other side of the family court, we have Miranda Hilliard, as a demanding executive interior designer, and the sole bread-winner that is tired of her ex-husband irresponsible ways and prosecutes him for it. The couple had three children, the eldest Lydia Hillard as the feisty and responsible teenager, Chris

To analyze the impact of women in the picture, one must examine Philip Marlowe, the hero and epitome of masculinity. Throughout the novel, Marlowe displays the admirable qualities of a man: intelligence, strength and justice. Additionally, Marlowe’s role as the hero of the film creates an example to which all men should strive. He represents the goals and desires of men, and as such his behavior helps define the position of women. Women constantly throw themselves at Marlowe, allowing him to pick from a fairly wide selection. His choice of Vivian holds considerable weight in determining the traits that make a woman popular. Marlowe’s interactions with all women help reveal the complexities of 1940s feminine attraction.

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.

Does deviating from one’s gender norms inevitably doom one down a spiral of moral corruption? Tim O'Brien, author of “Sweetheart of the Song Tra Bong” and Ernest Hemingway, author of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber”, certainly seem to hold this view, as evident by the fates of the major female characters in their respective works. The deviance of the major female characters in both works appears to corrupt not only themselves, but also pollute their partners, causing them to suffer injury or harm as a result. The degree of injury ranges from negligible, like Fossie’s demotion and broken heart, to fatal, like the bullet that rips through Macomber’s skull. It begs the question, are these stories meant to serve as cautionary tales for their female readers, or possibly for their husbands, so they may recognize gender deviance and stop it in its tracks before their wives transform into Margot Macomber or Mary Anne Bell? This essay will analyze what such characters say about pervading views of women, both in society and in literature.

In other words, Metalious’ novel fit into a larger 1950s picture of coexisting viewpoints that both undermined and supported prevailing beliefs relating to women, including marriage, children, and sex.

In conclusion, the film She’s the Man shows the audience how gender gets represented in films. It shows the traditional femininity as well as the traditional masculinity. This illustrates that gender has impacts on power and gender relations to contribute gender inequality. Gender norms are enforced in films which maintain the power inequality difference between both genders. These issues confine the way modern films represent gender and gives a direct effect to the

In the novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God, men and women hold very different roles. Not only are women the weaker sex, but their worth is dependant on how powerful and high up their husband is. Because of this, women are forced to be silent and are not allowed an opinion. If a woman shows traits that are considered manly, such as intelligence, determination, or control, she is considered masculine, and therefore unattractive. From a very young age, the main character, Janie, is taught that in order to find a suitable husband, she needs to suppress her independent personality. As a result of this belief being engraved into her, Janie does not realize her worth, therefore she is involved three abusive relationships. For years, girls were taught to make themselves smaller so they do not threaten the male’s reputation. The reader sees that Janie is an example the mistreatment of females through Janie’s three marriages.

When Nanny sees Janie kissing Johnny Taylor, Nanny forces Janie to marry Logan Killicks because she claims that Janie needs protection because “[The African American] woman is [the] mule [of the] world so [far] as [I] can see” (12-14). This shows that Nanny gives into the stereotype that women are weak and need protection by a man. This also shows that Nanny does not trust men around Janie and despises men that Janie feels attraction towards. In chapter six, the pugnacious men of Eatonville scold Tony because he refuses to slap his wife when she disrespects him, the men say things like “If [that was my] wife, [I’d] kill her cemetery dead” (74). This proves that men have to assert dominance over women through violence. This also proves that the society wants violence in relationships because that is how the order is kept. In chapter five, Joe does a speech because he is the new mayor is Eatonville. When Janie wants to do a speech, Joe does not allow her, saying that “She’s [a] woman and her place is in [the] home” (43). This demonstrates that Joe wants Janie to live up to her gender role as a woman. This also demonstrates that Joe does not want Janie to have a say in most things, he just wants her to be a quite housewife. Sexism keeps the characters from happiness because their persistence to maintain gender roles does

The Story of an Hour is short, yet, contains important examples of gender roles in marriage. They are important because they represent how women felt married in the 19th century due to male dominance that manifested throughout marriages all over the world. In The Story of an Hour, Mrs. Mallard is a wife that is, at first, seen as distraught, because of her husband’s death. She starts to cry and run to her room, to soon be lifted with the joy that she is now free. It is clear that she felt trapped in the marriage and is now happy that there is no one controlling her any longer. Mrs. Mallard is a prime example of women in marriages in the 19th century, and even some today. Unfortunately, they have to experience sexism from their husbands. Women are dominated by men in marriage and are expected to acquire the stereotypical gender roles.

Phillip Marlowe (Humphrey Bogart), P.I, is hired by the rich General Sternwood to out a blackmailer, but quickly finds himself tangled in the Sternwood family’s dirty laundry — it’s the classic film noir narrative. At the center of it all seems to be Vivian Rutledge (Lauren Bacall), a Sternwood daughter, and the woman attempting to cover up the murder at the bottom of Marlowe’s case. I used Vivian’s tidy adherence to the femme fatale archetype to dig deeper into its true message about women’s nature, beyond the mysterious façade.

“Aragay and Lopez find the late-twentieth-century cultural context, in which (they assert) female spectators no longer believe in romance yet need to do so, embedded in the Bridget Jones books and films. I take this to be a reference to the post-feminist world view, in which women's apparent freedom of choice implies that feminism is now redundant, but feminists argue that the position of women in this world is still "limited and unfair" and that this very freedom is complicit in constraining women to traditional roles and creating anxiety about achieving success in those roles” (Raitt).