She’s the Man
Amanda Bynes starring
as Viola Hastings in the romantic comedy, She’s the Man, represents girl power
to young moviegoers. I will give those of you who haven’t had the opportunity
to watch a brief summary of what happens in this film. When the girl’s soccer
team at Violas school gets dismantled, she asks the boys soccer coach to join
their team. The coach refuses to let any girls on his team because he thinks
girls are not skilled enough to play or compete with boys. Viola decides to
pose as her twin brother and tryout for the boy’s soccer team at the rival
school. She plans to help the rival team win against her school to prove that
girls can play at the same level as boys. She succeeds in joining the team as
her brother and everything goes accordingly except for a love triangle that
develops. Her identity is exposed during the middle of the game against the
boy’s team from her school. The rival team’s coach allows her to continue to
play because he is aware of her great abilities having watched her practice all
season with his team. She ends up scoring the winning goal and proves to
everyone that girls can play at the boys level.
I have seen She's the Man and I agree that Amanda Bynes' character can be seen as empowering for girls. She defies gender stereotypes by proving her strength and skills while playing against a boys team. It is interesting that she also has a secret identity in the movie, a common theme for superheroines. As we discussed in class with the Wonder Woman comic, males may not want to fight women because of pride and the fear of losing to a girl. For this reason, it makes sense for Viola to take on the role of a man as her disguise. It is heroines like her who prove that women can be just as worthy an opponent as men.
ReplyDeleteIn your post, you mention that it is interesting that even in 2006 the gender stereotype is still prevalent. This is an especially good point because the play She’s the Man is based on, The Twelfth Night by Shakespeare, was written in the early 1600s. Although women equality has had time to develop for 400 years since then, the gender stereotype of women being physically inferior to men remains the same in today’s society. Obviously the role of women has not been changing enough if even today we find it necessary for women to disguise themselves as males to be taken seriously.
ReplyDeleteIt is very disheartening to see that a book about women's exclusion in society that was written in the 1600s being applied and rewritten into a present day movie. I feel that the although women have made many strides, there will always be this gender separation when it comes down to certain issues such as sports. This also reminded me of an old gatorade commercial of Mia Hamm and Michael Jordan dueling it out to see who's better at sports. It clearly shows that girls wish to be recognized as being able to beat a boy in a physical match and boys not being able to except defeat. Here's the attached video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zV12k6k9W4Q
ReplyDeleteThough She's the Man is based on Twelfth Night, they really don't deal with the same issues. We read Twelfth Night for my writing seminar last semester, and we discussed gender identity, but not in the context of gender roles, but the idea of identity itself. Viola doesn't try to prove on a equal level as a men in a physical or power way; she's just madly in love with The Duke. She poses in that way to gain his favor, not to prove something about women. There is a discussion about women having less of an ability to love, but it's not a major point. Twelfth Night has more to do with relationships crossing boundaries of class than almost anything else. So, I love She's the Man, but just because it is based of Shakespeare, doesn't mean the themes are the same. The movie altered the plot and themes to fit modern audiences, not that Shakespeare could foresee what would be a hot topic in the 21st century.
ReplyDeleteThis discussion is really interesting, Maggie! I always thought Shakespeare was just some crazy genius who could predict the future. I've never read Twelfth Night, so all I knew about it had come from She's the Man. It makes sense though that back in Shakespeare's time, the problem would not be gender roles but gender identity. Women had no leadership, no freedom. Without a husband, they were doomed to a life of poverty. Also the class rankings in society proved a much higher problem back then then they do today. I can totally see how the stories are similar, but She's the Man is much more about women empowerment than Twelfth Night, which focuses on a relationship and overstepping boundaries of class/gender.
ReplyDeleteI agree with this in that She's the Man does indeed act as an inspiration for young women to refuse to be limited by their gender stereotypes. I thought it was especially interesting in the movie how she was able to overcome her ex-boyfriend, Justin, who was extremely sexist and believed that women could not possibly be set on an equal field as men. I l thought how she refused to be belittled by him truly showed her strength as a female character, since most of the time, the stereotypical female character is easily swayed by her love interest.
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