Film Analysis of But Im a Cheerleader and Boys Dont Cry Movies - Movie Review Example

Film Analysis of the movies "But I'm a Cheerleader" and "Boys Don't Cry" The serious issue of homophobia and gender stereotyping in a barren world wrought in cotton candy colors of blue and pinks, with garish fake flowers and picket fences. Murder and rape and bigotry amidst the beauty of America's heartland. It is these contrasts, wielded by the expert hands of directors and cinematographers, that make the feminist message even more gripping. Through the sorcery of film, the complex and intertwined messages of gender stratification and hierarchical relations are made even more gripping. Perhaps no two movies prove this point more than But I'm a Cheerleader and Boys Don't Cry. In the outside, no two movies could be more different. The first is a romantic comedy romp set in stylized candy colors with serious underlying tones. The second is a true-to-life drama that is serious and heavy from the get-go. But both speak volumes on female oppression and the primacy of the "male gaze" in film and popular culture. Laura Mulvey (1990) has come up with the theory of the "male gaze", a theory that visual pop culture is tailored around pleasing the heterosexual male spectator and satisfying his desire for pleasure. Says Mulvey: In a world ordered by sexual imbalance, pleasure in looking has been split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects its fantasy onto the female figure, which is styled accordingly. In their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote looked-at-ness. Woman displayed as sexual object is the leitmotif of erotic spectacle: from pin-ups to striptease, from Ziegfield to Busby Berkeley, she holds the look, plays to and signifies male desire. This paper will explore two movies where the issue of sexual roles, and the objectification of women, come into fore. These two movies are But I'm a Cheerleader and Boys Don't Cry. This paper will also examine these movies alongside the movie Osama where the issue of gender also figures prominently. In the movie But I'm a Cheerleader , the lead character by the name of Megan Bloomfield is sent to a "reparative therapy camp" on fears of friends and relatives that she could be developing lesbian tendencies. The film is a virtual commentary on stereotypes and the deleterious effects of stereotyping. For instance, the "evidence" used to demonstrate that Megan is a lesbian or has lesbian tendencies is the fact that she is a vegetarian, the photos she keeps of girls, and a displayed poster of Melissa Etheridge, known to be a gay icon admired and loved by lesbians. Equally disturbing are the activities they are made to undergo at the camp. For instance, they are bombarded by images of women performing tasks that are stereotyped as being for women and men performing tasks that are widely regarded as being for men. What this does is that it pigeonholes women and relegates them to certain roles in society, and conveys the message that they cannot nurture dreams that defy social conventions or venture beyond the parameters that have been set out for them. In effect, this supports the theory of the "male gaze", for in fact, these roles and these boxes have been created by a largely patriarchal and heterosexual society, where women are judged according to the yardsticks set up by men. The attractiveness of women, for instance, is judged through male lenses. If a woman behaves in a manner disapproved by men, then she is castigated, or in this case, called a lesbian. For example, the lead character's abject refusal to make out with a male character in the movie, Jared, is perceived as a deviation from the norm. This springs from the assumption that women jump at the chance to make out with men. The look and feel of the movie is very cotton-candy. There are deep hues of blue and pink. This suggests that the director is using color to further emphasize the point on stereotyping. Deep blue is known to represent the masculine gender, and deep pink, the feminine gender. The set design - a colorful house and a bright picket fence - is a parody on the perfect American world with the perfect gender models. The response of the critics was less than stellar, for example Stephanie Zacharec commented that the movie was "preaching to the converted". The notion of the "male gaze" in relation to pop culture TV shows has several deleterious effects. First of all, it breeds stereotypes. It has long been established that factual and fictional media portrayals have a propensity to activate culturally shared racial and gender stereotypes and affect judgment involving those who belong to stereotyped groups (Murphy, 1998). Even news reports, for all its declarations of impartiality and objectivity, may be guilty of stereotyping. In his landmark study, Ungerleider (1991), states that a news report has the implicit agenda of "casting" characters as heroes, victims or villains. Members of minority groups end up either ignored or cast in the role of villains. In a parallel fashion, beautiful women are cast as damsels in distress. Since these stories are repeated over and over with this same angle, they become the "accepted understandings among those to whom alternative interpretations are not evident." (Murphy, 1998) Werner-Wilson, Fitzharris and Morrisey (2004) wrote a paper entitled "Adolescent and parent perceptions of media influence on adolescent sexuality". According to them: The media passively reinforce gender and ethnic stereotypes (Gerbher, Gross, Morgan, & Signorielli, 1986). Passive reinforcement of gender and ethnic stereotypes was demonstrated in a content analysis of Rolling Stone magazine, a popular adolescent periodical, which examined gender and ethnic themes in issues published in the years 1968 and 1988 (Wilson, 1990). Results from the content analysis suggested that women and people from traditionally underrepresented groups were rarely the source of stories; when they were featured, they were depicted unflatteringly. The stereotypes of women in media are easily evident. In television shows for instance, who has not seen the dumb blonde, the soccer mom, the girl next door, or the corporate go getter Though the stereotypes have undergone revamping since the 1950's, with less of the Brady Bunch images and more diversity with regard to the depiction of women, some stereotypes continue to persist and this is severely affecting the adolescents - particularly adolescent or prepubescent females who are only beginning to define their identity and chart their path in the world. Even is sports, studies show that there is the notion of gender-appropriate sports behavior (Kojvula, 1999). On the other hand, the movie Boys Don't Cry poignantly dramatizes what happens when an individual dares to break that stereotype and presents himself/herself in a form other than what the larger society is comfortable with. In this film based on the life of Brandon Teena, audiences were shocked and aghast at the scene wherein former friends of the lead character mauled and killed him upon learning that she had female genitalia. The fatal attack was not the first. Indeed, he had to undergo the harrowing ordeal of being raped and violated by his so-called friends who were out to prove that he was indeed a "she", while his devoted lover was forced to watch. While the message conveyed by the movie is dark and bleak, the director Kimberly Peirce contrasts this by providing occasional glimpses into the beauty of the landscape in which they are situated. This is effective, in that the rawness of the pain is heightened and emphasized, and the characters stand out - "pop out" if you will - with their depiction of grief that is neither cloying or manipulative. Many, if not all, film critics have praised the fine acting of the lead character Hillary Swank. Steven Hunter of the Washington Post described the film as "being driven by performances of such luminous humanity that they break your heart." Both movies share many resonances with the film Osama, produced in 2003 and directed by Siddiq Barmak, which tells of a 12-year-old girl disguised by her mother as a boy so that she can work to support her family. She worked in the grocery store of a friend, and for a while managed to circumvent the Taliban rule that all women should work indoors. She is made to join a local school, but her secret is discovered when she gets her first menstrual period. She is then forced to marry a man about four times her age. Her frightened eyes peeking from under the traditional burka, articulate more clearly than any words could, the suffering of this girl-child, thrust into a new life she cannot yet understand but has to accept. During the first part of the movie, when the girl had to dress up as a boy in order to support her mother and grandmother, one is shocked at what the young Osama is put through to fulfill a noble intention. Feminist discourse has long lamented how women often have to "man"-ify themselves in order to assimilate themselves into a world where the standards and yardsticks are still male-oriented. But never has this been more literal and more scary than in the case of Osama, hair shorn short and dressed like a young boy in a desperate bid to go around a patently repressive policy. It is truly appalling to think of the women of Afghanistan - talented, intelligent, beautiful, all - locked up in their dark houses, but it is more appalling to think of the premise of this policy. Women are considered impure, causing men to commit evil, and therefore must be "reined in" so as to protect social order. The oppression is more than socially-acceptable, it is state-sponsored, the product of government legislation. In these movies, women are expected to be beautiful and feminine. In But I'm a Cheerleader, the title itself suggests that a cheerleader cannot be lesbian - for indeed, a cheerleader is a bouncy perky blonde who dreams of going out with the school's quarterback hero. In Boy's Don't Cry the character played by Hillary Swank was mauled and killed because she distorted the notions of the men of what a woman should be. In Osama, she is married off to an old man who expects from her the grace, beauty and submissiveness he has come to expect from all women. This is consistent with the troubling phenomenon that is the eroticisation of young girls. For example, the fashion industry, a multi-billion dollar enterprise, has been portraying young girls not yet on the brink of womanhood in sexual ways. Smoky eyes on a child no more than fifteen distort notions of childhood and corrupt innocence - as do suggestive camera angles and the slightly gaping mouth. According to Conrad and Milburn (2001): Popular culture communicates a set of myths about sexuality that are so ubiquitous we hardly even notice them. These myths become so ingrained in people's thinking - in the form of unexamined assumptions about the function of sex, how we should behave sexually, what is "normal" or "abnormal" - that we often respond automatically within the framework of these assumptions. The message that is being communicated is that the relationships between politics, sociology, media and culture are unmistakeably and inextricably intertwined. Politics and sociology articulate messages of power and hegemony and subversion, of the problematique between genders. It reflects age-old cultural practices that define the relations of one gender to each other and how both genders should behave accordingly. Culture dictates that women are supposed to be beautiful and mute, and should define their self-worth according to how they fit into society's definition of beauty. Otherwise, they are considered failures. The beautiful are rewarded and get ahead. The ugly lose out on opportunities. There is no such thing as uniqueness and virtue. What matters only is beautiful skin, a thin frame, long hair and a perfect smile. One must aspire for perfection, and to be ugly is not an option. It cannot be denied that the body contains political meaning. Says Holmlund (1989): An analysis of the way popular film reflects and shapes the categories of body, sex, sexuality and race remains an urgent project for film theory. Despite the incorporation of critiques made by the women's black and gay movements of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s - indeed in some ways because of these critiques - we continue to see and speak about the body as the last bastion of nature. Media, instead of attempting to correct popular culture, is contributing to it by reinforcing the negative messages. It is a complicated cycle of profit and money. Multi-billion dollar cosmetic industries fund the media through advertisements and media campaigns. Thus, media's hands are hamstrung and must pander to the dictates of the big industries. Women must be beautiful so that they can find their Prince Charmings, or so that they will not lead miserable and lonely lives. Hence, they will have to purchase make-up tools and cosmetic products that will make it possible to obtain the high standard of beauty set by Media and culture as demonstrated by celebrities and TV shows. Those who want to propagate an alternative message stand virtually no chance of being heard. Their voices will be lost in the wilderness. At the end of the day, we have to communicate the message that there is no such thing as swans or ugly duckling. Every single female is a swan for she is proud, beautiful, free and happy and she can contribute to the world around her because of her own unique qualities. She can live the life of her own choosing, unrestricted by social mores or the politics of gender. Works Cited Conrad, S. & Milburn, M. (2001) Sexual Intelligence. New York: Crown Publishers. Holmlund, C. (1989) "Visible Difference and Flex Appeal: The Body, Sex, Sexuality, and Race in the "Pumping Iron" Films." Cinema Journal, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 38-51. Koivula, Natalie. (1999) "Gender Stereotyping in Televised Media Sport Coverage." Sex Roles: A Journal of Research. Volume 41, No. 7-8. Springer, Netherlands. Mulvey, L. (1990) "Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema", Issues in Feminist Film Criticism. Indiana: Indiana University Press. Murphy, S. (1998) "The Impact of Factual versus Fictional Media Portrayals on Cultural Stereotypes." Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, Vol. 560, The Future of Fact, pp. 165-178 Paik, H., & Comstock, G. (1994). The effects of television violence on antisocial behavior: a meta-analysis. Communication Research, 21, 516-546. Ungerleider, C. (1991) "Media, minorities and misconceptions: The portrayal by and representation of minorities in Canadian New Media," Canadian Ethnic Studies, vol. 23, no. 3,. Read More