Blog 4
Lefebvere's concept of passivity is basically an attitude of "That's life, it's not going to change, so what can I do about it?" Passivity is seen more in the lives of women and the poor who may or may not have as much say in the way their everyday lives are carried out due to social norms. Alice's mom and her neighbor are confined to everyday passivity in that Alice's mom is a single mom, and the neighbor is left helpless after her boyfriend abandoned her. The passivity of both women is enforced by men. Alice's passivity can be seen in the beginning when she is passed over by her teacher for the boys in her class when she has a question, when she keeps getting harrassed by the "kung-fu boy", and when she quietly tolerates her friends ditching her and making fun of her. However, at the end of the film she yells at her friends and beats up "kung-fu boy" and steps "out of bounds" as she overcomes some of this everyday passivity.
Alice is continually searching for gender cues throughout the movie but she keeps getting mixed feedback about the way she should act. Her neighbor dresses her up and tells Alice how pretty she is and how much attention she will get from boys. But when she walks out on the street, she gets negative vibes from men and wants to cover herself up. The guy in the store gives her compliments, but he does so in a creepy way, and we are left to wonder if he is doing it just to impress another woman standing nearby. Also, Alice's self-expression is limited not only by conflicting gender cues, but by economic standing. She doesn't always fit in because she can't afford a sleeping bag.