Napoleon Dynamite Stereotypes

Movies are a new edition in today’s culture. They are a new form of art medium that has arrived in the late 1900s and were a new way to express ideas and viewpoints of the time. A good example of this is the movie The Manchurian Candidate. The movie had a simple plot a man is kidnapped after the Korean war and is hypnotized to work for the communists and take down the U.S. This movie showed the American public’s fear of communism at the time. If a movie like this can easily portray the fears of the American people at the time then it can easily portray stereotypes of gender. There have been thousands of movies where the male protagonist is a rough tough dude but there is one movie that has that stereotype is broken. That movie is none other than Napoleon Dynamite.

Before dissecting Napoleon Dynamite the first thing to talk about is movies with the male stereotype.

Trying to find a movie like this is incredibly easy. Funny enough these movies tend to portray the women in these films in their stereotypes as well. A perfect and prime example of this macho man type film is none other than the 80s classic Rambo First Blood. This movie is a prime example of what the male stereotype is. It’s some big buff guy killing everything in sight. He is shown as this ruthless machine that has no emotions or no remorse. This is just one example of 100s. Another great example is western movies those are full of the male stereotype.
Napoleon Dynamite is a comedy film from the TV producers MTV that premiered in 2004 that stars our awkward but likable protagonist Napoleon. He isn’t like the male stereotypes that appear in other films. And he is very different from the rugged Marlboro Man (McCombe 567). He isn’t your action packed super buff gonna fight all guy he is just some awkward nerdy teen trying to get a hang on life. It’s a really enjoyable film and it doesn’t rely on the big macho man stereotype for the

protagonist.
Napoleon in the movie makes fun of the macho man role multiple times too. Especially with their uncle in the film. He is shown to be a huge macho man stereotype. It allows for a lot of comedic value.
One problem with the film that can be notice is well obviously it's a comedy and poking fun at the guy who doesn’t fit the stereotype may seem likes it’s purpose. But in all reality that’s not the case because in movies the protagonist is always going to be the winner in the end and Napoleon is no exception.
These movies are very rare because this isn’t a thing that people are focusing on these days. Every movie these days always show them as a macho man and not enough show them breaking it and showing it’s alright not to be like that. They all follow formulas that follow basic male styles. For example in most of these movies the male protagonists feel nothing like how Gretel Ehrlich found out in her study About Men (570). And as ReBecca Walker said in Putting Down the Gun that this makes males feel like they have to conform to this type of behavior which can seriously harm them (573).
As stated in the intro movies can depict things and styles. And when movies are constantly showing men has emotionless robots hellbent on killing it can leave very wrong impressions especially on the minds of younger kids. It can make them feel as if they don’t do acts that make them brave, heroic, or what is perceived as masculine they with feel shunned and like an outcast because other boys have to do the same. Movies have powerful impacts and Napolean Dynamite at least tries to break this norm of masculinity.
But sadly these movies that try to break this are very far and in between. While making great strides in movies that break the traditional female stereotype we are ignoring the other half and how this can still have horrible and negative affects on the minds of people. It’s sad in a lot of ways that boys have no media that can really show that a male figure, that can be looked up to, in any type of media that is sometimes weak a character that doesn’t have to be strong. While Napoleon Dynamite tries and it honestly does it sometimes loses that value through comedy which can be very damaging.
Napoleon Dynamite is a film that goes against the gender norm for boys. It tries to make the character seem weak and the complete opposite of the male look and while it tries it’s hardest it sometimes loses itself through it’s comedy and makes fun of, at some points, what the character is. Hopefully in the future movies can start to portray a character that don’t follow the traditional stereotype of masculinity.