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.