What does it mean to be a woman or a man? The question is not only determined by our sex organs, but also by the bestowed societal beliefs and attitudes that are upon the human population. Every culture has different gender roles; they all have specific expectations for the way men and women should act. These determining factors range from how one may talk, how a person dresses, behaves, and/or what they look like. The film Grease, promotes and advocates three specific stereotypes through it’s main characters: gender personality traits, behaviors, and finally, physical appearances.
Grease is a film of idealized, over exaggerated teen life set in the era of the 50’s. This widely known feature can be described as an optimistic and romantic story that has tugged on the heart strings of many since the late 70’s. This cliché love tale then advanced to a Broadway musical and expanded with a second film, Grease 2, in 1982. It has since been recognized as a
…show more content…
gender stereotypical film due to it’s portrayal of not only individual main characters, Danny Zucko and Sandy Olsen, but also their social groups. One of the first observable stereotypes that Grease obtains is the characters’ array of banal personality traits. Personalities are what make us different and unique when compared to others. Our distinct qualities and characteristics ultimately accentuate who we are as a person. Within the movie Grease, it takes these individual qualities, throws them to the wayside, and focuses them into a box of stereotypical teen traits for both Sandy and Danny. Sandy, the main female character, is a stereotypical female who strengthens Danny’s ego by being passive, naive, innocent, and flirtatious. Her personality traits are hyper-feminine and identified during a sleepover with the Pink Ladies. Rizzo puts on a blonde wig and the girls begin to sing a song sarcastically poking fun at Sandy’s goody-two-shoes persona singing “look at me, I’m Sandra Dee, lousy with virginity,” and “I don’t drink, or swear.” The lyrics are blunt in nature as they degrade her personality and morals. Sandy also perfectly embodies all of the clichéd personality traits of a housewife, being selfless with no specific career path mentioned in the film. In an article written by Joy Parks, she contends that being a housewife was one of the main expectations for women around the time that this film is set in. Most of this was due to advertising as it would guilt women and disguise the emptiness that they felt inside (212). Sandy’s personality also occupies the persona of a typical naive woman being desperate for a man. For example, in the film she realizes that her pure and kind personality isn’t good enough to be accepted by Danny and his friends, so she recruits the help of Frenchy to create a personality that Danny and his friends die for. The new Sandy has attitude, spunk, and an obvious sex drive as she waves her hips around with a cigarette between her red lips. But behind her fabricated ensemble, Sandy’s concern for a man and weak ambition for an education fully demonstrates female personality gender stereotypes. Say goodbye to Sandra Dee, and hello to Mrs. Zucko! Behavior is the way in which a person conducts themselves in public and private. There are multiple social and external influences shape one’s behavior. For example: social peers, advertising, and media. Ultimately, these social influences create internal pressure leading them to behave in a specific way to conform to peer expectations. What often affect women to conform, is their self esteem and social acceptance. Because of this, they may be lead to alter themselves into someone that they’re not. In the film, Sandy’s behavior reflects her drive for social acceptance by her peers. This is important to Sandy, being the new person in Rydell High from Sydney, Australia. When the film first introduces Sandy, she behaves in a shy, polite manner, speaking kindly to everyone. Because of this, Sandy is deemed too innocent for the Pink Ladies and gets rejected right away by Rizzo claiming that “she’s too pure to be pink.” Not only does Sandy crave admission from her peers, but also from Danny. For Sandy, having a man is the ultimate goal shown in the film. Her character never studies or works, showcasing the limited interest that she has in succeeding in school. Her focus mainly points to one aspect, Danny. And because of her virtuous reputation, the only way that she can obtain her dream man is by morphing her behaviors by smoking, dressing scantily, and becoming a sexually available woman. Eventually, she achieves her happily ever after, and her peers finally accept her, but only after she changes herself. This openly displays the stereotype that females obtain to fit in and be adored. Physical appearance holds the first impression that one gets when they first meet a person, and society puts an overwhelming value on it. A variety of different stereotypes apply to women when it comes to physical appearances. The stereotypical woman is thin, but not too fit. She wears mostly dresses with heels, rarely ever wearing jeans or pants with tennis shoes, and her skin is porcelain without any sort of flaw or blemish. This idea is touched on in an article written by Sarah Kendzior about women in politics and how they’re expected meet a certain standard. Sarah claims that in Washington as a political figure, women are not allowed to be flawed. They are held to certain ideal personas and often get criticized for their fashion and lifestyle choices almost as if they aren't human (265). Sandy possesses these stereotypical standards as if she’s a Barbie Doll. Like the women in Kenzior’s article, Sandy promotes the idea that women shouldn't be flawed. She does this by constantly wearing dresses and skirts of all sorts throughout the entire film. Besides, the beginning. This is the only moment in the film where Sandy is wearing shorts, showing off her slender, tan legs and fit body. Sandy imitates the look of a Disney princess by acquiring flawless skin, and a sparking white smile. She makes it nearly impossible for any man not to want to make her his housewife. At one point in the film, her physical appearance changes drastically and she becomes the embodiment of a sex toy. Her hair changes from tamed and straight to curled and loose. Tight, black clothes dress her from head to toe as she red lipstick covers her lips, portraying the perfect look of a bad boy’s dream girl. Sandy’s image showcases the female stereotypes of being thin, immaculate, and beautiful, when real women have flaws and imperfections. Let’s turn to the male lead character, because men are not free from stereotypes either. From infancy, their minds start to shift and mirror the societal definition of what a man is. Throughout their lives, conscious and unconscious impulses continually bombard the male population. According to gender stereotypes, men are to be competitive with other men, dominate women by being more aggressive, sexually experienced, and physically attractive. Furthermore, they are not to cry, to suppress their emotions, and not to possess any feminine qualities. Danny’s character is a victim of these stereotypes, possessing a stereotypical macho personality. During the summer of meeting Sandy, he seemed to be compassionate and charming. But when they see each other at school, Sandy discovers a different Danny. This version of Danny is a callused and insensitive character, a character that he only possesses to put on a show for his friends. When Sandy asks what happened to the Danny Zucko she met at the beach, he makes a joke out of it and states “well I don’t know baby, maybe there’s two of us.” This sure made his friends laugh, but Danny’s smile abruptly faded when Sandy told him that he was “a fake, a phony” and that she wished she never laid eyes on him. This scene creates a clear representation of a stereotypical male personality. Although Danny wanted to show Sandy how delighted he was to see her, he was afraid to show his emotions in front of his obnoxious acquaintances. Like women, men experience the same social and external influences to lead them to behave in a certain way. For example, peer pressure drives Danny to behave in a clichéd masculine manner. Within the first few minutes of the film, they show Danny hitting on a girl. He later then proceeds to sing a song about his summer chanting “we made out under the dock” and “summer fling, don’t mean a thing” proving his promiscuity and lewdness. Danny’s exceedingly different storyline from Sandy’s justifies that he lies to his friends in desperation to appear more rebellious and masculine. The night of the school bon fire, Danny clouds his affection towards Sandy because of the stereotypical notion that expressing one’s feelings appears weak and could damage one’s popularity and reputation. He does this by making a joke out of Sandy’s irritation, and when she mutters his name with heartache he adds, “that’s my name, don’t wear it out.” Danny’s persona during these scenes plainly advocate for the behavioral stereotype that being sexually active and unemotional is what makes a man masculine. A vast amount of physical appearance stereotypes apply to men as well. A stereotypical male is well groomed, physically fit, and good looking. In an article written by Charlotte A. Jirousek, she argues that “for men, athletics and fitness have been the source of standards of body image and appearance” (238). Because of this, men have a nearly impossible expectation set upon themselves. Let’s be honest, Danny is not hard to look at. His hair is always greased back, he’s mostly seen wearing his T-Birds leather jacket with a white t-shirts showing off his muscles, and his pants may be seen as a little too tight in order to grab women’s attention. His appearance portrays a classic 50’s bad boy persona. A look once topped off with a cigarette, may be irresistible for some women. His outer appearance is the epitome of a ladies man, and according to what’s shown in the film, he is. Danny’s image undoubtably reveals a male stereotype that being muscular and physically attractive implies masculinity, when that’s not the only thing that makes a man, a man. The film Grease, promotes and advocates three specific stereotypes through it’s main characters: gender personality traits, behaviors, and finally, physical appearances.
Sandy’s personality depicts a goody-two-shoes persona reflecting her purity and innocence as a character. Danny, on the other hand, possesses a stereotypical bad boy reputation as he refuses to show his affection for Sandy. Sandy’s behavior reflects her desperation to fit in and obtain a man. Because of this, she changes her appearance and adopts a sexual persona to satisfy the man of her dreams. Danny behaves in a way to impress his friends and arouse any girl who is willing to give him what he wants. Both main characters paint a picture of a stereotypical attributes through their physical appearances. Danny sports his tight pants and greased hair while Sandy advertises the look of a Disney princess with her thin figure and radiant smile. Some films represent stereotypical gender roles more than others, and the movie Grease is a clichéd
jackpot.
Throughout the film of Smoke Signals, the story centers on two characters, Thomas and Victor. Thomas, through his storytelling shows Victor that there's more to life than cynicism and pure anger, while Victor let's Thomas know what it means to be a real Indian. We can see this in the scene where Victor tells Thomas that Indians are not supposed to smile to white people and that Indians always should look mean in order to gain the respect of white folks. However, we can see that after they return to the bus their seats have been taken by two white men and neither did Victor’s mean face and faded smile help him gain their seats back. This scene shows us that those stereotypes about how what an Indian is supposed to act are not in fact true because
‘Lad flicks’ or ‘lad movies’ is a type of film genre that emerged in the late 1990s. They are defined as a “‘hybrid of “buddy movies”, romantic comedies and “chick flicks”, which centre on the trials and tribulations of a young man as he grows up to become a ‘real man’. ‘Lad flicks’ respond in part to the much-debated ‘crisis in masculinity’” (Benjamin A. Brabon 116). This genre of film explored what it meant to be a ‘real man’ in the twentieth century and in order to do so, they would have to grow up and leave their juvenile ways behind to enter the heterosexual world. Gender relations in ‘lad flicks’ portray masculinity as a troubled, anxious cultural category hiding behind a humorous façade and also rely greatly on a knowing gaze and irony. The two ‘lad flicks’ that will be analyzed are The 40-Year-Old Virgin (Judd Apatow 2005) and Role Models (David Wain 2008).
Grease the hit music sensation of the late 70’s and early 80’s took the Hollywood industry by storm. Not only is Grease a classic, but it was the start of theme of high school musicals. There is an enormous amount differences between Grease One and Grease two, it’s almost heart breaking. The music and theme are completely different it’s difficult to tell that it’s a Grease sequel.
“There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept responsibility for changing them.” -Denis Waitley. This quote can be interpreted to mean that if you accept things as they always were, then stereotypes will never change. However, if you want to change societies generalizations then you need to change your actions. The theme of the novel The Outsiders is do not let stereotypes define who you will become and how you act.
AIn the movie, The Grudge (2004), a woman is used to play the four big roles, which are the main character, supporting character, victim who dies early, and the evil creature, which is the dead mother who is now a ghost. The main character, Karen Davis, is an exchange student who works at the same place as one of the supporting characters as a care-worker. Throughout the movie, she learns about the events that brought the ghost into existence, while simultaneously being followed by the ghost. In the end, she attempts to kill the ghost, but it survives and continues to follow her. One of the gender stereotypical characteristics of the main character was her job as a care-worker. Care-workers are people who care for others such as children,
The movie Crash was directed by Paul Haggis is a powerful film that displays how race is still a sociological problem that affects one 's life. It also focuses on how we should not stereotype people based on their color because one may come out wrong in the end. Stereotyping is a major issue that is still happening in today 's society and seems to only be getting worse. This movie is a great way to see the daily life and struggle of other races and see how racism can happen to anyone, not just African Americans which seems to only be seen in the news and such.
In today 's society, gender stereotyping of men and women has influenced the society’s actions and how it has reflected in recent years. Everyday stereotype is being used whether if it’s on movies, workplaces, playgrounds, homes, or even magazines. There is gender diversity in the movie Grease which took place in 1978. This movie focuses on several different types of stereotyping throughout the movie. Two specific characters in which we are able to use as an example of gender stereotyping are Sandy and Danny. There has always been a specific boundary between a male and a female gender. The femininity side that is shown in the movie Grease of how it is described by the character Sandy of how women were once portrayed back in the day has changed
Have you ever felt judged or marginalized only because of the situation you were born in?Having to walk on the street wondering if you’re safe. Have you ever been the one that gets made fun of? The laughing stock? The uncool one? The one with the bad luck? In S.E Hinton's The Outsiders, the Greasers are all of those things. It’s a dark world they live in but they have no choice. Although the narrator, Ponyboy, may not lead the best life, he still tries to make the most of it. Heroism, social class and survival are some of the most transcendent themes demonstrated in S.E Hinton’s The Outsiders.
Everyone is unique, every group consists of different individuals who are even though brought to group by similarities and similar interests, however each of them differences from one another. In this example group so called “Greasers” has a very tight relationship, and are ready to help each other because they were raised basically by the same environment. In my opinion Dallas one of the characters plays important role in this movie that even though is older than his boys and not participating too much with in his group is still helps younger boys and teaches them life tricks. He feels very comfortable with boys and he doesn’t really feel more important than they are. He knows if something bad happened they are going to him like
The film being analysed is the Breakfast Club, directed by John Hughes. Trapped in Saturday detention are 5 stereotyped teens. Claire, the princess, Andrew, the jock, John, the criminal, Brian, the brain, and Allison, the basket case. At 7 am, they had nothing to say, but by 4 pm; they had uncovered everything to each other. The students bond together when faced with the their principal, and realise that they have more in common than they think, including a hatred for adult society. They begin to see each other as equal people and even though they were stereotyped they would always be The Breakfast Club. The Breakfast Club highlights a variety of pressures that are placed upon teenagers through out high school. One of the most challenging aspects of screenwriting is creating characters that an audience can identify with, relate to, and be entertained by.
Not all African Americans are thugs and people that do not work. A lot of them have successful careers and have put in the time and effort to have good work ethic and be good people. African Americans have had a difficult history in the American film industry. During the early 20th century of filmmaking, blacks were stereotyped as not worthy of being in films, and they were only certain types of characters such as servants, mammies, and butlers. From several decades of filmmaking, African Americans have been sought out to be trouble makers, incapables, intellectually limited, and also lazy. Although blacks have won Academy Awards for acting, screenwriting, and music production they still find trouble in getting quality roles within the film industry. (Common Black Stereotypes)
This novel by S.E Hinton , “The Outsiders” shows a crucial point that everybody is special is some way and be known as who they are not as a group. The important message of the story is that individuals should not take people for granted. Instead, treasure those close to you and understand them.
“The sitcom is a jumble of mixed metaphors: the repetition compulsion of eternal sameness conjoined to a desire to overturn the established order; a profound aesthetic conservatism bundled with an ingrained desire to shock. Every sitcom possess not just a routine that it perpetually seeks to overturn but also a particular style of fomenting that chaos.”
The Boondocks is an animated cartoon series that premiered November 2005 and ended June 2014. The Boondocks is centered on the lives of two young brothers, Huey and Riley. The two brothers move away from their birth city to live with their grandfather in Woodcrest, a predominantly white upper middle class suburb. Huey, the older brother is very politically and socially motivated and is named for Black Panther Party co-founder, Huey Newton. Huey spends most of his time reading and getting involved with political ventures. He despises all stereotypes associated with his black culture. On the contrary, the younger brother Riley understands the stereotypes around him, yet he indulges himself in the gangsta rap and hip-hop
While watching movies, have you ever noticed that the villains in almost every single Hollywood film are of Middle Eastern or European descent? In a reoccurring theme of Hollywood, the villains in these films are almost always foreigners or people of color. This is a stereotype. On the other side of the spectrum, we often see that the heroes of these films are most often than not white males. This is another stereotype. Within the last few years, we’ve seen actors such as Will Smith, Morgan Freeman, and Zoe Saldana take the lead roles, so it can’t be said that there are no non-white heroes, but there certainly isn’t many. Hollywood action movies, moreover than other genres, are typically loaded with an abundance of stereotypes. The way these movies are composed and structured can tell us a great deal about the views held within the American psyche and who holds the social power. The harsh reality is that the media ultimately sets the tone for societal standards, moralities, and images of our culture. Many consumers of media have never encountered some of the minorities or people of color shown on screen, so they subsequently depend on the media and wholeheartedly believe that the degrading stereotypes represented on the big screen are based on fact and not fiction. Mary Beltran said it best when she stated in her “Fast and Bilingual: Fast & Furious and the Latinization of Racelessness” article, “ultimately, Fast & Furious mobilizes notions of race in contradictory ways. It reinforces Hollywood traditions of white centrism, reinforcing notions of white male master while also dramatizing the figurative borders crossed daily by culturally competent global youth – both Latino and non-Latino” (77). This paper will specifically look...