Essay \"Gender stereotypes in romantic comedies (the holiday film analysis) (the moving image 2)\" PDF

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Gender Stereotypes in Romantic Comedies (The Holiday Film Analysis) (The Moving Image 2)...

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The Holiday Gender Stereotypes in Romantic Comedies ! “Gender is the relations between men and women, both perceptual and material. Gender is not determined biologically, as a result of sexual characteristics of either women or men, but is constructed socially” (FAO,1997). “Gender is often misunderstood as being the promotion of women only. Gender issues focus on women and on the relationship between men and women, their roles, access to and control over resources, interests and needs. Gender relations affect household security, family well-being, planning and many other aspects of life. (BravoBaumann, 2000).! ! “People complain all the time about the way women are depicted in Hollywood, but it's usually about female characters that are only there for men to have sex with or want to have sex with, or that walk around doing improbable action poses in skintight suits with 6 inch heels” (Christina H., 2011). In romantic comedy movies, there is always a stereotype towards women which is they can not live without a man. They are usually the ones who always confess that they are in love. They are the ones who want marriage, they are the ones who think the life is over when they have a break up. Basically, they are shown as the weak ones that cannot do anything without a man.!

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! The Holiday (2006), written, produced and directed by Nancy Meyers, is a romantic comedy movie which shows both sides and both versions of the women and gender stereotypes; one character shows the side which is the constant lies that the society says about women and how they should be in their professional life, relationships and so on, and the other character shows the side which is what women actually should be and what they are capable of. ! ! There are 2 main women characters in the movie. Iris Simpkins, played by Kate Winslet, who is a society column editor in The Daily Telegraph Magazine in London. Even though she has a successful job, in the movie she is constantly shown that she is always effected by men even in her professional job. Nevertheless from the beginning of the movie, she is introduced as a platonic lover, heart broken, pathetically in love to a man who cheated on her, they are still friends but it is obvious that he is using her. In an office Christmas party, when everyone, even Jasper, her ex boyfriend is having fun, she is crying about her love to her friend. The beginning monologue of her shows that she has every women stereotypes that society wants to put on women; weak, needy for a man, can not make her own choices, instead of having a pride and power, she is still friends with someone who cheated on her, in fact, she is still in love. In one of the scenes she even says “You are supposed to be the leading lady of your own life, for God’s Sake” about herself knowing that she fails being the boss of her own life. In the beginning monologue she says “ I have willingly loved that man for over 3 miserable years. The absolute worst years of my life… These years I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life all because i have been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him. Heart pounding, throat thickening, absolutely can not swallow. All the usual symptoms.” Not just this monologue,

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but in the other parts of the movie she is constantly shown as she is being used by the man that she is platonically in love. For example; when she is in Los Angeles and having one of the best vacations that she has ever had, she still reads Jasper’s column drafts and corrects them for him even though she does not have to. Iris is a passive character who represents the stereotypes which should be cleaned from societies mind in the beginning of the movie but when the movie gets closer to the end she wins her independence, realises that she was wrong the whole time and she becomes an active character.! ! The other main character is Amanda Woods, played by Cameron Diaz. This character breaks all the stereotypes of women in this movie that the society created. She is a successful movie trailer maker living in Los Angeles. She is powerful, rich, not just in her professional life but also in her love life she has the power in her hands. Opposite of Iris, in her introduction scene she is breaking up with her boyfriend because he cheated on her. There are some strong lines which shows how powerful Amanda is in her introduction scene; She is in a balcony looking down to her boyfriend, her boyfriend is outside begging to her; “Look at me - sweating like a pig. And look at you. The only woman on Earth who breaks up with her boyfriend and does not even shed a tear?” One of her most important characteristic features is that she can not cry and this characteristic feature of her breaks the stereotypes too. Her character’s introduction scene constantly draws attention to how powerful she is, most importantly she is not needy for a man. She is the boss of her own life and she decides who can stay in her life or who can not. Not just in the introduction scene but also from movie’s beginning to end, she has the power in her hands. In all of her relationships we can see that she is actually the ‘man’ in the relationship. For example; one of the reasons why Ben cheated on Amanda was because Amanda was working too much and not caring about him and their relationship. If

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we look at the stereotypes, working way too much and not caring about the relationship would be something a man would do, and the woman would be heart broken because of that. Although, there is a part that should not be missed; Amanda is a workaholic and she has the power in her hands and her boyfriend cheated on her because of that, even though this breaks most of the stereotypes, it also implies that even with that power she is not happy. She needs to find real love to find happiness, which is finding a man. Despite all the power she has in her hands, she is still not feeling satisfied and does not feel completed without love. She is under men’s control to have a happy life. “The work-family conflict is a very real issue in a lot of women's lives, and a lot of romantic comedies try to address it by giving us a female character that's so driven in her career that she doesn't have time to find love, and the movie helps her discover what's really important in life... finding a man” (Christina H., 2011). There are still some flip-sides which still empowers the women stereotypes but still Amanda is a character who breaks the most of it. She is trying to find real love but still while she is trying she has the power in her hands. For example her relationship with Graham; Graham is the one who wants to know more about her, he confesses that he is in love with her first, and then afterwards he does not even get an answer. ! ! Graham is an important character which breaks many stereotypes about men. First of all, he cries a lot. He confesses to Amanda in their first unofficial date that he cries a lot. He even says; “More than any women you have ever met.” Another key point of him which breaks the stereotypes is that he is the father also the mother to his children. He says to Amanda when she first meets with his children “ I am a mother and a father. I am a guy who reads parenting books and cookbooks before I go to sleep. I spend my weekends buying tutus. I am learning to sew.”!

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! The characters, the plot-lines, the lives of the characters in this movie both empowers the women and men stereotypes but also it breaks them, which shows that in reality there should be no stereotypes. A man can cry and read cookbooks also a woman can be the boss of a company also the boss of her own life. A woman can be weak, can cry a lot but also she can be powerful too. This is a movie which shows every side of both genders with and without the stereotypes. After all those classic romantic comedy movies which women and men are covering in stereotypes, this movie is really successful to tell a story by mixing the gender characteristics and give a different taste to the movie.! !

References! FAO. 1997. Gender: the key to sustainability and food security. SD Dimensions, May 1997 (available at www.fao.org/sd).

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! Bravo-Baumann, H. 2000. Capitalisation of experiences on the contribution of livestock projects to gender issues. Working Document. Bern, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.! ! Christina H., (September 20, 2011) Cracked, http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-obnoxiousassumptions-hollywood-makes-about-women/! ! Word Count: 1540

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