In American society, gender stereotypes are highly discussed amongst individuals and stereotypes as a whole remain a central focus of art. Creatively, Rob Reiner addresses stereotypes in Reiner’s film Stand by Me by shedding light on multiple stereotypes. In a scene from Stand by Me entitled “Milk Money,” Chris, one of the main characters from the film, cries to Gordon because the school Chris attends holds the misconception about Chris stealing the milk money. Near the end of this scene, Chris says, “I guess I’m just a pussy, huh?” (find time). Chris’ inquiry raises questions about the use of the word “pussy” and its negative connotation. Throughout the film, Gordon, Chris, Vern, and Teddy, the main characters in the movie, frequently use terms to describe each other, which characterize the stereotypes in American culture. In Reiner’s movie, Reiner utilizes these four young boys to adeptly illustrate the manner in which boys and men should act. Additionally, Reiner employs the main characters in the film to display various stereotypes that society holds for both men and women. Reiner’s film shows that men have a preconceived and detrimental belief that showing emotion is a sign of femininity and therefore weakness because society sets unrealistic standards for men. …show more content…
Before delving into the negative impacts of gender stereotypes, it is first necessary to establish the use of gender stereotypes in the film and in American culture.
One of the most prominent aspects of Stand by Me is how Reiner applies the gender stereotypes to the main characters in the film. During the film, several characters describe the actions of others with the use the derogatory word “pussy.” The boys use “pussy” as a synonym for the words girly or feminine. In American society today, individuals continue using stereotypes to define specific actions and groups. Researches Deborah A. Prentice and Erica Carranza address the topic of gender stereotypes in American culture when they
state: “Gender stereotypes are highly prescriptive. The qualities they ascribe to women and men tend also to be ones that are required of women and men. For example, the stereotypic belief that women are warm and caring is matched by a societal prescription that they should be warm and caring. Similarly, the stereotypic belief that men are strong and agentic is matched by a societal prescription that they should be strong and agentic.” (269). Prentice’s and Carranza’s findings suggest that gender stereotypes force individuals to conform to the stereotype assigned by society. Members of a society must follow their stereotypical description in order for society to accept these individuals. By misusing the word “pussy,” the main characters are categorically holding themselves to the standards that society sets for them. Not only are gender stereotypes portrayed throughout Stand by Me, but gender stereotypes are displayed in society. Furthermore, individuals engrain stereotypes into society by using stereotypes on themselves. According to scholars Melissa Burkley, Angela Andrade, and Edward Burkley, members of society tend to use negative in-group stereotyping; people use negative in-group stereotyping when they encourage a negative stereotype about their group to justify failure (202). Burkley, Andrade, and Burkley explain the concept of negative in-group stereotyping by saying, “For example, women are more likely to endorse the stereotype that “women are bad at math” after failing a math test, and doing so actually protects their self-esteem from the math failure…” (202). Burkley, Andrade, and Burkley continue on to illustrate the negative ramifications of negative in-group stereotyping by stating, “But like most self-protective strategies, using stereotypic excuses may be a double-edged sword. Although it may protect self-esteem in the short-term, it may result in long-term negative consequences.” (203). Although the unintended negative consequences are not specifically explained, Burkley, Andrade, and Burkley studies suggest that negative in-group stereotyping counterproductively impacts those using negative in-group stereotyping. In the case of the Milk Money, Chris’ use of negative in-group stereotyping displays the counter-productivity. After Gordon asks Chris to take college courses with him, Chris responds by explaining to Chris that he could not possibly take those classes. When Gordon asks why, Chris responds, “It's what everyone thinks of my family in this town. It's what they think of me. I'm just one of those low-life Chambers kids.” (find time). Instead of overcoming the stereotype about his family, Chris uses it to justify his fears of failure in college level courses. Engraining this stereotype upon himself, Chris uses his family to excuse his failure.
Aaron H. Devor argues in his essay “Becoming Members of Society: Learning the Social Meanings of Gender” the gender roles casted by society help shape the definition of gender and that society’s norms aren’t necessarily correct. In America, the two traditional categories for gender are male and female (109). He claims that gender is taught through their culture’s social definitions of gender; children see themselves in terms they have learned from the people around them (110). To support this claim, he introduces the “I”, “me” and “self”; the “I” forms a self-image to oneself as distinctive while the “me” allows one to fit into social norms (111). Together, they form the “self” that allows one to oversee and remove any behavior that is unacceptable
Klumas, Amy L., and Thomas Marchant. “Images of Men in Popular Sitcoms”. Journal of Men’s Studies 2.3 (1994): 269. ProQuest. Web. 27 Jan. 2014.
There has been a significant shift in this generation when it comes to gender roles and identity. In her book, Peril examines advertisements and propaganda from the 1940s to 1970s, when gender roles apparently influence stereotypes and societal pressure on women in America. In one of her examples, Betsy Martin McKinney told her readers of Ladies’ Home Journal that the sexual role of women is to have intercourse and complete it with pregnancy and childbirth and denying it would be denying her femininity.2 It is not right to take one person’s word and speak it fo...
Stand and Deliver is film about a mathematics teacher named Jaime Escalante in a low-class hispanic neighborhood. Convinced that his students have potential, he does everything he can to help his class pass the AP calculus exam. Once the exams scores are released, the proctors accuse the class of cheating because of their unusually high grades for their demographic. The acting of this movie is very convincing (though the cast of high school students do not look like high school students) as Mr. Escalante struggles to balance his burdens. There is a scene in the movie where Mr. Escalante is so stressed to the point where he has a heart attack. At this point the students realise all the sacrifices he had to make for the students to succeed and they get their act together to study diligently for the AP exam. The scenery accurately conveys the low class slums of Los Angeles, with dirty and dusty car auto shops and the rundown highschool that most of the movie takes place in. The scenery also showed the culture of the setting, where there was a scene that takes place in a
As a society there are a lot of qualities that men have been socialized to uphold when it comes to how they act or react, what they support, and what they suppress. This movie produces a harsh critique of male socialization early on and continues
Since the advent of the word “sexist”, the label itself has carried numerous negative connotations, regardless of whether or not it has been applied to the male or female set. This idea of the modern teenager became initiated by the proliferation of visible sex symbols in the 1950’s such as Elvis Presley and Marilyn Monroe and has since become increasingly more prevalent in American society. While the connotations may be well deserved, we as culture rarely seem to remember that most stereotypes are originated as a result of an observed pattern in the behavior of certain groups of people. John Updike is merely trying to embody the mind of the modern American teenage male in “A&P”, and not expressing his own opinion as to whether the thoughts going through Sammy’s mind are acceptable or not.
In an excerpt from his book, Guyland: The Perilous World Where Boys Become Men, which was first published in 2008, sociologist Michael Kimmel shows us how the teaching of masculinity in America begins to form at a very young age and goes far into adulthood. He focuses on how boys are molded from a young age to be men, by forms of harassment, teasing, and peer pressure from parents, relatives, friends, teachers, and society. In this specific essay, Kimmel explains the pressures young boys experience and the expectations as they grow into manhood. Kimmel vividly describes men who are pressured by their own peers to prove their masculinity. Furthermore, there is a relentless sense of having to show ones ' 'manly ' ' behavior. Masculinity is expected, and needs to be shown in-front of others at all times. For most men, being able to do
The movie, Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity produced by Jackson Katz and Jeremy Earp, deconstructs the concepts that create the social constructs of masculinity. Masculinity, a set of behaviors, roles, and attributes correlating to men, is earned, not given (Conley 190). Starting from television shows to children’s toys, the idea of masculinity has infiltrated their minds starting at a young age. Moreover, the concept of masculinity has physical attributes, such as muscles, a deep voice, and be able to protect themselves. Masculinity, for boys of any races, socioeconomic classes, or ethnicity, has grown up with the same stereotypical image of what a man should entail. Since many media outlets show that a form of masculinity
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
Despite the tremendous steps that have been taken towards reaching gender equality, mainstream media contradicts these accomplishments with stereotypes of women present in Walt Disney movies. These unrealistic stereotypes may be detrimental to children because they grow up with a distorted view of how men and women interact. Disney animated films assign gender roles to characters, and young children should not be exposed to inequality between genders because its effect on their view of what is right and wrong in society is harmful to their future. According to Disney films, it is important for women to achieve the stereotypical characteristics of a woman, such as maintaining their beauty to capture a man, and being weak and less educated than male characters. The women in Disney movies are always beautiful, which helps them to find a man.
Much of what society dictates can affect children’s perceptions of the ideal gender standards, and can lead to abuse and violence. Media has a huge role in perpetuating these dangerous gender stereotypes. Numerous male images are used in advertising and television, representing themes such as "heroic masculinity" and "might is right". These portrayals of violent behavior associated with masculinity target young men and convince them that in order to live up to society’s standards, they must resort to aggressive and dominant behavior, the use of assertion, and physical violence. Males are saturated with images of glorified aggression through movies such as Lethal Weapon, sports programs, and "macho" celebrities, like Bruce Willis and Arnold Shwartzenager. Female stereotypes span the opposite extreme. Innumerable young women perceive "ladylike" expectations to be neatness, passivity, politeness, and struggle to meet them, hence they appear nurturing and feminine. Women in the media who challenge these stereotypical behaviors and display assertiveness tend to be slotted into the role of "tomboy" or "dyke". These impositions contribute to the breeding of young men who act in an abusive manner, and are terribly restricting towards boys who covet deep emotion. The antagonist of Lord of the Flies, Jack Merridew, perceives himself to...
“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.”
Contrary to popular believe, gender is referred to the attitudes, behaviours and emotions linked with a specific sexual group. There are two dominant perspectives that illustrate two different viewpoints of gender inequality. The functionalist perspective, by Talcott Parsons, believed that both men and women possess specific qualities that make them excellent at specific events, and these qualities are not interchangeable (Brym, 2014). The Marxist-Feminist perspective; however, viewed qualities for men and women as to being dependent on social conditions rather than being inherited (2014). In order to further illustrate the presence of gender inequality in the present society; the film Missrepresentation, by Jennifer Newsom reveals the lack of female presence in lead or authoritative roles in media, in comparison to men (Newsom, 2011).
Toys, literature, media, and films also encourage sex roles. Males are depicted as "doing", while females are always "receiving." In this paper, 5 articles focusing on sex roles were used. The articles look at the damaging effects of sex role stereotyping, and some ways the sex roles are accentuated in the schools.
Ferrell’s films and his comic fame certainly raise stimulating thoughts within a grander discussion of contemporary masculinity, sexuality, and social politics. The majority of his films, present idiotically archaic varieties of “normative” masculine conduct and in nearly every case, Ferrell’s humor develops completely on devaluing and growing these gender norms. He instills both earlier and existing representations of manliness with both a juvenile approach and comedic tendency to go over the top, thus discrediting these stereotypes and opening them up for ridicule.