Now and Then

This week I have chosen the Movie Now and Then for my blogging. For those who have not seen it, it’s a movie from 1995 about four women who made a promise when they were twelve to always be there for one another, no matter what. The majority of the movie is a flashback to the summer when the girls made the promise to each other. Each of the four young girls (Roberta, Chrissy, Teeny, and Sam) sends different, individual messages about femininity based on the way they dress, act, talk, and interact with both each other and the neighborhood boys.

Roberta is the “tomboy” of the group. Her mother died when she was younger so she lives in house with all males. Roberta is told throughout the movie to act more like a girl. Chrissy is one of the characters in the movie who asks Roberta why she can’t act like a normal girl. What Chrissy means is that in order to be a “normal girl” Roberta should stop playing sports and rough games with all the boys. She should also dress in cuter clothes like the other girls and stop always getting dirty.

Roberta is embarrassed and ashamed of her developing body and sexuality. She wears baggy shirts throughout the film and in one scene of the movie she is seen ducking taping her breast down so they don’t look as big. Towards the end of the movie however one of the neighborhood boys kisses her and she stops with the taping. I think this symbolizes Roberta accepting that she can be feminine without changing her personality and who she is. She doesn’t have to stop playing sports with the boys to be a girl.

Teeny is the opposite of Roberta. She is a big flirt and is obsessed with boys and sexuality. She also, unlike Roberta wishes she has bigger breasts. In one scene during the movie Teeny is explaining to the girls that she stuffs her bra with balloons of pudding because “guys like it when they’re big.” (Teeny goes on to get breast implants as an adult.) Teeny sends the message that being feminine means wearing cute clothes, having big breasts, and getting all the boys to like you.

House Bunny

Over the weekend I watched the movie House Bunny. As soon as it finished I knew it was the perfect movie to begin my blog about gender messages with.

In short, House Bunny is about an ex-playboy bunny (Shelly) who goes to a university to be a house mother for a sorority that is having trouble recruiting enough new pledges to keep their on-campus house. Shelly teaches the seven sisters how to be more popular and attractive to the fraternity boys because if the boys like the sorority, girls will want to be in the sorority.

One of the major messages of the film was that in order for a girl to attract a guy, she should be “herself”. Keeping in mind of course that “herself” shouldn’t be too smart or too ugly. Oh yeah, and “herself” should also always wear a push up bra, heels, fake eyelashes, and miniskirts. But besides that, a girl should always be herself. This film sends the message that pretty girls will always get the guy, be more popular, and have more fun.

I get what the film was trying to do. Shelly would give the girls a makeover and in return they were going to teach her, as she points out, that her “tricks” won’t work on all boys. Her tricks being to act stupid, stand over manholes so her dress flies up, and talk about her…lack of tan lines. In the end though, Shelly still get’s the guy, and after the “ugly girls” are made over into bunny look-a-likes they are much happier about their lives and themselves.

Basically, this movie portray the stereotypical sorority girl/playboy bunny as the ideal image of femininity and leaves the female audience with the feeling that if they do not fit this mold they are obviously not as happy as they should and could be.

As far as masculinity goes, the only boys depicted in the movie to be desirable were buff, athletic jocks who never appeared without a football or Frisbee in hand.

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