Examples Of Looking For Alibrandi Gender Roles

“Looking for Alibrandi” and “Nine to Five” both explore different gender roles throughout, using various examples. The film “Nine to Five” was director in 1980 by Colin Higgins and Patricia Resnick. Looking for Alibrandi is a novel written by Melina Marchetta. The movie focuses on stereotypes and roles in the workplace in the 70’s and 80’s. Alibrandi on the other hand focuses on gender roles and stereotypes in an Italian cultural setting. Gender roles and stereotypes can be very negative for everyone involved and no one is safe from the roles expected of them.

The interactions between Violet Newstead and Franklin Hart in Nine to Five, demonstrate some of the common stereotypes for both men and women in the workplace. Hart gave a promotion Violet

had been highly qualified for, to a younger, less qualified male. Harts actions to those below him embodies the stereotype of men in positions of power being highly sexist. By giving the promotion to a man rather than a woman, despite how qualified the woman is, Hart becomes a male chauvinist. This is the belief that women are inferior to men, and don’t deserve equal treatment. Hart continues to show this through his comment on this situation, “The company needs a man in that position. Clients would rather deal with men when it comes to figures.” This quote, while chauvinistic, has been proven true many times through scientific surveys. The fact that Hart is in charge despite violet having earlier stated she was the one to train him, also shows the common belief that a man's role is to be in charge. In these situations, women are passed up in favour of men, as they are seen as more capable whether that is true or not.
Hart’s conversations with Doralee Rhodes are quite different to those with Violet.

When alone with Doralee he is still highly chauvinistic but also gains the stereotype that men think only of sex. Hart stares and grabs Doralee while spreading rumours that they were having an affair. He also constantly makes comments on her appearance asking her to turn around and saying things like “”I just wanted to look at you. Everything is very, very right.” Doralee does nothing about this because, like many women in this situations, their job is more important than the comments. Doralee herself is stereotyped by the other women she works with. She has a full figure, wears tight clothes and is comfortable with her body. This adds up causing many of them to see her as a floozy. This stereotype leads to the belief that the only reason she got the job was by sleeping with the boss. This belief leads to everyone accepting the rumours as fact. Hart shows the men who believe a woman’s place in below a man, in every meaning of the word. Hart in this also shows the stereotype of powerful men cheating on their wives with their secretary. The fact that both Doralee and Hart are married while he attempts to sleep with her and no one questions it, further cement this stereotype. Doralee’s situation shows how many stereotypes are influenced by rumours, even when there is no

evidence.
In Alibrandi, a great deal of the stereotypes and roles explored are cultural. Katia Alibrandi tells the story of her life shortly before and after her move to australia. In the italian hierarchy, women didn’t have much sway. In australia Katia was left alone in their shack in the outback while her husband went out to work. This was because to Italians a woman's role was to make the home for them and the man's job was to make the money. A women could easily be forced against her will to elope then left alone as no one else would marry her. The novel showed this through Katia’s friend terresa, who went through this situation. Katia also described women as belonging to the men stating, “”in Sicily men did not call out and whistle to a woman that belonged to someone else.” This quote also shows the difference between italy and australia when it comes to social behaviour. In australia, social roles are more relaxed than italy, allowing for cat calling and the like, in italy it is the opposite. These cultural roles dictated a great deal of people's lives and are found in every culture.
Stereotypes often lead to presumptions that people can’t, or won’t, live up to.

John Barton embodies the rich boy under too much pressure. People in these situations have high standards either given to them by well meaning family and peers, or add by themself in an attempt to meet others expectations. John, like many teens going through this eventually gave up and committed suicide. Jacob Coote is on the other side of the spectrum. He is seen as the local bad boy who won't amount to anything. This stereotype is most commonly seen in poorer areas and schools and can be caused by the smallest of things, their school, clothes, friends and more. This stereotype can prevent them from making good friends or getting respectable jobs as no one thinks they're smart enough to let the try. Both of these stereotypes negatively impact the social and mental health of those forced to deal with

them.
Both Alibrandi and Nine to Five explore gender roles and stereotypes. However the roles they explore are different in many ways. While Nine to Five was about women in the workplace, Alibrandi was about cultural roles. The negative impacts of these roles affect everyone, even those they aren’t about.