Unlike every other chick flick, which normally portray women as boring and typical, Bridesmaids offers a very different view of women. This flick portrays women as diverse and interesting, but still retains a relatable women feel. The film shows that women can be just as raunchy, vulgar, and pathetic as men. The ultimate testament to this is the infamous food poisoning scene placed in the film. After eating at restaurant, the bridesmaid go with the bride to try on dresses. While at the very nice, expensive, and white store, the women start to feel sick. This eventually escalates to the point of the women fighting for the bathroom to dispose of their bodily fluids. The scene goes as far as to have the bride relieve herself in the wedding dress, in the street. I don't think we have EVER seen this type of behavior from women in the media. Women are portrayed to not have these issues, to be pretty, perfect, etc. and this very real and quite disgusting scene challenges the norm of women in every way.
Bridesmaids food poisoning scene
VIEWER DISCRETION ADVISED
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eLbpcnzUdvw
The movie not only challenges gender norms, but sexual as well. The movie opens up with a sex scene between Kirstin Wig's character and her "friend with benefits." The scene is very awkward and funny and pokes fun at men. In this scene alone the viewer can tell the movie is written from a female perspective, but not the typical girl view shown in other female flicks, but the real view that is never really represented in the media.
As time goes on, I think we can see that women's role in films are starting to change and people are responding to that it. Ten years ago we would have never imagined a film like this, but now it seems like people can't get enough.
I really like your perspective on the female gender in this movie. I think that too often gender is overlooked in movies and that people don't even realize that many of the dominant roles are men, and that women aren't correctly portrayed. You hit it right on the head when you said that the movie challenges "gender norms." The typical 'behavior' of women is not seen anywhere in the movie, and the actresses are left to be the crazy, raunchy women that we at times are. Frequently women are seen in movies as calm, and we act doing womenly things ie cooking, cleaning, watching the kids. This movie shows that women can be themselves and act how they want without the influence of men. It is also interesting the very diverse cast they have. Not all of the women are of the same body type, in fact each actress is very different in that way. It is not the classic movie where the lead actress is model-esque, lacking any sort of blemish, this movies takes actresses who are all different and allows them to be themselves.
ReplyDeleteI like how you chose this example of Bridesmaids, I wouldn't have thought of it, but I like your points. It reminded me of how there's a "guy version" of this movie: The Hangover. And also, I find it interesting that the Hangover's main plot is about the bachelor party where everything goes wrong, whereas Bridesmaids' main plot is about the wedding. It's interesting that even while Bridesmaids is a movie where female gender roles are challenged by featuring strong, independent, funny women, there is still a gender separation between the Hangover and Bridesmaids because the Hangover focuses on the guy's classic "crazy bachelor party", while Bridesmaids remains in the domain of "excitement in wedding preparation". All of this being said, although gender roles are very dominant in our society, I think that isn't necessarily a bad thing. Simply, women and men are different - not ashamedly, but in a good way! However, when women or men are disrespected or misrepresented due to gender boxes, that's when it becomes dangerous. I appreciate your point about how women in this movie are represented in a more well-rounded way - not just the "pretty, quiet, modest, put-together" side, but also the "funny, raunchy, messy, spunky" side. Great insight!
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