Rudy and Tootsie - Term Paper Example

Rudy and Tootsie Summary of the Films The two films under study are Rudy and Tootsie. Rudy is the story of how a youngman achieved his life long dream of playing football regardless of different obstacles such as his height, dyslexia and financial situation. Tootsie is about the changes experienced by an actor who turned from a person with problematic attitude that resulted to difficulty in finding roles to a person who was able to accept a woman’s role just to have a job and act. 2. Comparison of Characters Rudy’s obstacles were caused by his financial situation, his height and the later discovered dyslexia.

Dyslexia prevented him from passing the qualifying exam in his dream university, University of Notre Dame. On the other hand, his height had been an obstacle in terms of joining the football team. In term of personality, Rudy can be considered as a person with positive outlook in life and a good personality, thus, he was able to achieve his ultimate goals in life. There are different scenes that exhibited Rudy’s perseverance. Because of his lack of financial resources to attend his dream school, he worked and then studied in a nearby school to improve on his grades and have a chance to try to be accepted in the University of Notre Dame.

He also worked as a helper in school grounds and found a friend in D-Bob who is a graduate student and teaching assistant. He then became Rudy’s tutor and contributed to the discovery of his dyslexia, another obstacle. He also found a way around the said condition and was able to study in the University of Notre Dame. Studying in the said university is just the initial step for him thus he was faced with the challenge of joining the football team, which he successfully achieved after hard work.

The character of Tootsie has different obstacles in life. The main obstacle in the life of the main character, Michael, is his attitude and behavior. As an actor he became known to create problems in the different factors related to his work which resulted in the difficulty of acquiring new roles and new jobs. Although this obstacle can be resolved through the characters will, it still resulted to the difficulties he went through in the plot of the film. Another difficulty is the balancing act he undertook as the female character in a soap opera, Dorothy Michaels especially when it became a hit, since he had to live a double life. 3. The Conflicts in the Film Rudy Both movies have escalating or compounding obstacles as the story progresses.

In the film Rudy, the conflicts can be considered more organized and occurring in a subsequent manner, which means that at different points in the story each obstacle became comparatively more affective and more pronounced compared to the other obstacles and problems. Near the end though there is a build-up of the effects of the different factors creating greater obstacle for the main character, Rudy. In the beginning before he was set to fulfill his goals, his life can be considered simpler.

He has a simple job which was the same as his father. But when his friend died and stimulated him to set out and reach for his dreams, he felt the effects of the different obstacles in his life. The first obstacle he had to face was the limiting effects of his financial situation which pushed him to seek help from a priest for a place to stay and to find job to support his needs while pursuing steps in achieving his main goal. In addition to the financial issues, Rudy was faced with the condition called dyslexia which he also had to overcome.

This is the main reason why he cannot get high scholastic marks. When he resolved the said problem, he was able to improve his grades and he got accepted in the university he considered as his goal, the University of Notre Dame. Then, the goal of joining the football team became his next goal which was hindered by his height. He also reached that goal which became the climax of the plot. Basically, the different obstacles gradually escalated to highlight the lesson of the film, which is the attainment of set goals.

The significant presentations of each obstacle developed the climax. This is the main reason why screenwriters choose to raise stakes and heighten conflict as the film progresses. The said style also helped reinforce the tone and atmosphere generated by the film. Rudy is a representation of ordinary people with a dream. Almost all of the viewers of the film can relate to his situation and his obstacles. Most people are financially, physically and intellectually challenged. Due to the serious lessons in the story, the main approach of the story is dramatic, thus, the obstacles are more pronounced as compared to the film Tootsie.

Works Cited: Anspaugh, David, dir. Rudy. TriStar Pictures, 1993. Pollack, Sydney. Tootsie. Columbia Pictures/Warner Brothers Pictures, 1982.