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.
Very detailed and in depth. Since you brought up the question that maybe there is no strong female character, do you think that maybe it opened the eyes of many others that there is a woman out there like Dorsey even though Dorsey turns out to be a man? Or Maybe opened the eyes of transvestism - letting opened gays to be whom they are and that it's okay to be female even though they're male?
ReplyDelete