Tootsie (1982) on Gender Roles & Stereotypes

Tootsie (1982) - Challenging or Reinforcing Gender Roles and Stereotypes?

Tootsie is the story of a male actor, Michael Dorsey, whose plan to cross-dress in order to obtain a role on a popular soap opera goes completely haywire. Michael's roommate, a director, and a student of Michael's from his acting class are collaborating to put on a play. In order to put on the play, the three need to find a way to make eight-thousand dollars. Feeling discouraged and futile, Michael's student, Sandy, almost decides to give up and move back West. Michael encourages Sandy to stay, and he then takes it upon himself to find a way to make the money that they need. After we see Michael get into all these ridiculous characters for auditions in order to get work as an actor, it turns out that no matter how much he dresses up, he just isn't right for any part. After feeling a little discouraged himself, Michael then comes up with what he believes to be a brilliant idea.

Auditions are being held for a popular soap opera that would easily help Michael make eight grand in just ten weeks of work. The only problem is the fact that the soap opera is calling for a talented, strong female actor. Desperate and in need of money, Michael does the unthinkable and cross-dresses as his new alias, Dorothy Michaels. With lots of cosmetic preparation, Michael actually becomes convincing enough to pass as a real woman, so convincing, that he nails the audition down at the studio, and is granted with the new role as the hospital administrator. Thinking that he has found the solution to his problems, Michael learns that being a female comes with a whole other world of obstacles. While everyone at the television studio believes that Michael is a woman, he is of course treated as one. But he soon realizes just how much women are disregarded and talked down to by other men in the world, and this begins to spark inspiration for his character. Michael starts to develop Dorothy into a strong-headed, assertive woman who stands up for herself and the rights of women on and off the set. Dorothy is soon idolized and looked up to by the other women on the set. As Dorothy, Michael even begins to develop a close friendship with another actress, Julie, a woman he would pursue further if he were not passing as a woman himself. Here in lies another obstacle faced by Michael in the time that he is cross-dressing: his ability to form and keep relationships.

As a man, Michael begins to form an intimate bond with Sandy, but she soon becomes suspicious of the fact that Michael is never around and how he often becomes skittish when she attempts to see him, the only reason for this being that he is doubling as a woman. While having conflicting emotions about Sandy, Michael is also challenged by the fact that he is unable to act upon his affection for Julie. Throughout the rest of the film, we see Michael's relationships with these two women fail, as he realizes there is no possible way for him to balance playing two genders at once. Another issue occurs after the television studio renews Dorothy's contract for another year, meaning that Michael would have to continue hiding under his false female identity. Consumed by the pressure, Michael radically reveals that he is not really a woman during a live taping of the soap. Appalled by the shocking news, we see everyone's perspectives drastically change after Michael's secret is revealed: Sandy, who is outraged and now refuses to speak to him, Julie, who is hurt and almost disappointed that Dorothy, someone that she has grown to love and trust, is a fake, and the people working at the studio who were once perplexed by "Dorothy's" strong and assertive nature.

So, aside from all this chaos, here lies the real question: does the film Tootsie challenge gender roles, or simply reaffirm them? This could be argued many ways, but it seems as though these gender roles and stereotypes are validated by the actions of Michael as a woman and a man, and others' perceptions of "Dorothy". In the beginning of the film, we learn that Michael has a stereotypical, assertive male personality. He does not let himself get pushed around by others, and he does not let Dorothy get pushed around either. One could say that, after becoming a woman, Michael has a realization about the degrading way in which the men on the set treat the females and begins to develop a passion for the cause of women's rights. But it can also be said that, since Michael is spending the majority of his time as Dorothy, he wishes to be treated with just as much respect as he would be if he were a man. Throughout Dorothy's time on set, she is admired for her low level of tolerance for disrespect and for the fact that she stands up for herself. But could this film be making the statement that there is no such thing as a true, powerful female character? After all, Dorothy is really a man, and in the end of the film, everyone realizes that that is the reason behind her powerful personality. By the end of the film, there is no radical change of heart in anyone's minds about gender equality: after seeing that Dorothy is a man, it gives everybody and explanation as to how this woman could be so powerful, and not because she really was just a powerful, strong woman. It seems as though the statement that this film has made is that there is no power achieved by female means, because in the end, the mind of a male was behind the entire operation.

Thelma and Louise: A Story About Breaking Free

Thelma and Louise is the adventurous, pulse-pounding story of two women who go on a small getaway, that quickly takes a turn for the worst and becomes a fugitive escape. The lives of Thelma and Louise portray the oppression faced by females in a typical, male-dominated society. We see the two women in the beginning of the film fulfilling all the typicalities of feminine stereotypes: Louise waiting tables at a diner, a job that is not uncommon for a woman, and Thelma, the wife of a loud, abusive, misogynistic man, who does not have a say or a place in their relationship other than to do domestic work. Even after being polite and asking her husband what he would like for dinner, he lashes out on her as if he feels that she needs to be put in her place; one could certainly say that Thelma's husband is an enforcer of the female stereotype, because he practically forces his wife into it by ordering her around and disrespecting her.

The two women then take it upon themselves to leave their mundane lives as they go off on a vacation, a vacation that Louise must persuade Thelma to partake in because her husband surely would not allow it. We see the women all done up and ready to go as they prepare for an exciting trip. We get a sense of relief, a sense of liberation as the two girls make their escape, but they're relief and their freedom is soon taken away. After stopping at a country bar, Thelma meets an alluring, attractive man who woos her into dancing with him. The two begin to hit it off, and we almost forget that Thelma even has a husband back home. At first, this man is such a contrast to Thelma's husband, so much that it could lead us to believe that he story is about a damsel in distress who is soon rescued by a "prince charming" type figure. But we later see his true colors, as the two go outside and the man starts to kiss her. She is resistent of this but he insists and keeps on going, even after she repeatedly begs him to stop. Fed up with Thelma's cries for help, the man becomes even more forceful and begins to rape Thelma. He takes a hold of her, even hits her and forces her down onto the hood of a car. This moment in the film takes us right back to the idea portrayed in the beginning that this film is not about a woman's reliability and dependence on man, but about the way a powerful male society dominates and oppresses its women. Before anything truly horrid happens, Louise comes to Thelma's rescue. She is holding a gun, threatening the man to back away from Thelma. This was a particularly memorable moment in the movie, because despite the usual story line, it is not a man who comes to the woman's rescue, but a woman, Louise. Louise manages to force the man to free Thelma, but even though he has let her go, she pulls the trigger and shoots him. This action marks a major turning point for the film; the two are now guilty of murder, and have no choice but to begin to run away.

"The police will never believe us Thelma, we don't live in a world like that.", a line said by Louise after  Thelma suggests going to the police. The two are now on the run and looking for an escape, as they are the source of a murder. And even though it was committed for defensive purposes, would the police really take the word of a female over a male? Gender puts Thelma and Louise in a tricky predicament throughout the rest of the film as well. For example, Thelma's submissive manner and weakness for men manages to get the two into even more trouble, just as it did in the beginning of the film when she was raped. Thelma befriends a cowboy, this "lone ranger" type man, and insists on Louise giving him a ride across town with them. Reluctant to partake this, Louise agrees and soon regrets the decision she made. After spending some time in a motel, Thelma learns that the cowboy is a thief who holds up stores. When telling Thelma about his routine whenever he performs a holdup, he is cool, collected and almost proud of what he does as if it is honorable. Thelma is even turned on, intrigued by his "bad boy" ways. Another problem soon emerges for the girls as the cowboy steals the large sum of money that Thelma and Louise have traveled all this way to get. He then takes off, and Thelma and Louise are again stuck in a situation.

With no choice but to keep running, that is exactly what the two do. Although the women are in a large amount of trouble, we see a sense of relief about both Thelma and Louise; they may be on the run from a crime, but one could say this escape that they've made symbolizes a woman's escape from the male-dominated, patriarchal world around her. On this journey, there is a change about Thelma and Louise, but most significantly in Thelma. Once a docile, timid and submissive housewife who had no voice in the relationship between her and her husband, Thelma becomes rebellious, spontaneous and independent. Thelma and Louise are not only fighting for and defending themselves, but it seems as though they are doing what they're doing for all women; they become these sort of "feminist crusaders". While on the run, the two pass a rowdy truck driver who makes degrading gestures at them; he does not hurt or threaten them, but the two decide that they've had enough of letting men degrade them. They later meet up with him, pretending that they want to engage in sexual activity, and we see them shoot up his truck with no hesitation or sign of remorse, causing it to explode. Now guilty of another crime, the women are on the run again. They drive further and further until suddenly, the police begin to catch up with them. Almost making another narrow escape, they realize there is nowhere else to go, since they are backed by a squad of police cars, and practically on the edge of a canyon cliff. Thelma and Louise are given the chance to surrender, but why give up now? After all the time they've spent running and fighting, why would they just give up to surrender to men once again? Thelma shockingly convinces Louise to make a drastic decision to drive off the cliff together, finally free from the hostility of their society, and the two drive into one of film's most memorable endings