"She's the Man"
Before this class I watched movies with my friends, but I usually just laughed at the punch lines and enjoyed the overall picture. Now after a semeseter of Feminist Film Studies I noticed that I am analyzing films even when I am not thinking about it. This past weekend I watched the movie "She's the Man" with a couple friends from my dorm. I had never seen this movie before and while watching it I realized that clips had been used from this movie in the film final project we watched. I enjoyed this movie, because it was a comedy and it took a new look at the women's movement while it's target audience was teenagers and young adults. Its utlimate goal was to project that women are equal to men. It did this by using sports and showing that a woman could play on an all boys soccer team. However, like a lot of media we have been analyzing this semester its overall goal of projecting a feminist film wasn't exactly a success. There were so many heternormative ideas being projected and so many stereotypes of women that even though this film started with a good idea of equal rights in the end it was another Hollywood hit that supported a poor image of women and a heteronormative society.
Amanda Bynes played the leading role and she like most of the other girls on screen had long beautiful hair, was very skinny, and of course was dating a jock. Her boyfriend like most of the other boys on screen was tall, muscular, and not very smart. There were plenty of shots in the shower room to create the audience gaze and there were many scenes of women in beauty contests, swim suits, etc. to create the male gaze. Throughout the movie Amanda Bynes had to disguise herself as a man to get ahead, which is an idea that is hurting the feminist/women's movement every day. This is shown through the title "She's the Man" the pronoun she represents women as a whole. Women need to be treated and act as equals, but this movie is just another eye opener that shows us that being a male is often easier in our society today. When women were not disguising themselves as men they were being portrayed as the "stereotypical slut". Mini skirts, low cut shirts, and way too much make-up were applied. Although this movie was entertaining I couldn't stop analyzing all these things. I began watching this movie with the idea that it was feminist film showing the strength of women, but after seeing the film I realized it was covered with heternormative images and showed that women had to disguise themselves as men to get ahead.