Stereotypical Scenes in Cinema 2

Not as Dumb as She Look

              The movie Legally Blonde is focused around the stereotypes of blonde women being dumb in society. The movie focuses more on one blonde girl, named Elle, and her adventure of applying to Harvard Law and facing the challenges set against her by the stereotypes of blonde women. Elle is portrayed as a beautiful blonde woman who most people think are stupid and can take advantage of her. In one of the earlier scenes, Elle believes her boyfriend Warner is going to purpose to her so she goes out with her friends to go dress shopping for the special occasion. In the store the sales women sees Elle and her friends trying on different dresses and tells her co-worker “There's nothing I love more than a dumb blonde with daddy's plastic”, sales women then takes a red dress and rips off the “half off” tag and approaches Elle. The saleswomen asks Elle if she has seen the dress and lies telling Elle that the dress is brand new and they got it yesterday. Elle pretends to get excited asking a bunch of different questions and the saleswoman agrees with Elle even though she has no idea what Elle is talking about. After a few questions Elle tells the sales woman that the type of stitching Elle asked about was a lie and would ruin the dress. Elle then tells the saleswoman that she saw the dress in the store over a year ago and tells her that if she’s trying to sell it to Elle it shouldn’t be full priced, and that the saleswoman picked the wrong girl to fool.

            In this scene we get to see early on that Elle is not as dumb as society makes her out to be. This scene shapes the way we see Elle and that she may not be the smartest she can pick up different details most people don’t get and we see that when she wins the case for the big trial in the end of the movie. The scene about the dress also shows us that Elle is not shy to speak up and prove people wrong and to question their authority when given a challenge about stereotypes. Her behavior about proving people wrong eventually carries over into class where she will challenge the professor’s ideas and question her professors. This contradicts Tannen’s argument about boys and girls using language differently in the classroom because Tannen states that boys are more likely to challenge their teachers and professors, while the girls will accept their professor’s word and try to not challenge anything.  Elle is the opposite of the girl stereotype set by Tannen and frequently speaks out in class in order to learn and disprove the stereotypes set against her. In the end it makes us wonder, even though the stereotypes set by society have the potential to be true, can they always be disproved?

Stereotypical Scenes in Cinema

It’s a Male Monster’s World
Jeffery Campbell

Are females monsters meant for such an intense competition?

The truth of the matter is that Monster’s University focuses strictly on the male characters and pays little attention to the female characters of the movie. Throughout the movie, you see the development of many characters suck Mike, Sully, Randall, and other monsters that belong to the fraternities. But the only female character that you really get to know is Dean Hardscrabble and she still has minimum speaking roles compared to the male characters. Then, other than Hardscrabble, there is some females who have very small roles, but you do not get to know there character really at all.

Monster’s University is generally about competition. Majority of the move consists of coverage of the Scare Games, which decide the scariest fraternity of sorority. Mike and Sully are the underdogs in these games and their fraternity is expected to be eliminated early in these games. As these games intensify, there is a scene where fraternities and sororities begin to get eliminated and it just seems that you hardly notice or even care about the elimination of any of the sororities. Once a sorority is eliminated, you never get the chance to mourn that lose. The movie quickly moves on as if nothing happened. Your focus is never on them, you just expect their elimination, so you never really pay them any attention in the scene or the movie in general. This could definitely raise concerns for some, but I do not think it would surprise someone like Deborah Tannen.  In Tannen’s article, “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently", she talks about how males seize center stage and thrive off hierarchical statuses and how these are learned behaviors that we bring with us into the college environment. So, I feel that Tannen would think that this is because competition is meant more for males. Females do not thrive off of that competitive spirit so the focus has no need to be on them. This would also give reason behind the creation of the stereotype that such an intense competition is meant for men.

In Monster’s University, I think that one of the main reasons the females in the sororities are overlooked is because you never get the chance to grow an attachment for any the sorority members, you are introduced to their characters but that is about it. Once again, this plays into a stereotype that females are not meant for the same completion as men so it looks that they are basically sidelined from really having a chance to win in the Scare Games. Also, I think that this comes from the idea females are not as focused on hierarchal status than males. This idea supports many of Tannen’s theories about college boys. Throughout the movie, the male monsters use competition and challenging each to other to prove themselves. They obviously care about high status, which can be seen as they all want to be a part of the top fraternity which seems to be at the top of the hierarchy.

"Hunting" Stereotypes
Nick Clemens

“Good Will Hunting” is filled with historic scenes that are still talked about and referenced all the time. One of the most historic scenes in the movies happens in what Chuckie calls a “Harvard Bar”. Chuckie, who is Wills best friend goes off to flirt with two girls in the bar by pretending to be a Harvard student. After a little bit he is stopped and confronted by Clarke, a grad student at Harvard, who tries to embarrass Chuckie by asking him questions that he wouldn’t know. Will then steps in to shoot down Clarke by saying he just copied exactly what he read for a class.

This scene really pushes the gender stereotype that males often use status and knowledge to become the “alpha” of a group. This directly coincides with what Tannen said about males in her writing “How Male and Female Students Use Language Differently”. In her writing Tannen talks about how boys tend to play in large hierarchical groups. In these groups the high status boys push the low status boys around, using language to take control and challenge each other. The bar scene is filled with little details that really show males fighting to be the alpha of a group.

Chuckie first approaches the women at the bar confidently and tries to use false status to relate to and impress the women. The way he holds himself shows his confidence. He is moving and active in his stance then Clarke comes over. As Clarke takes control of the situation along with the alpha status we see the confidence in his stance. Clarke is using status and knowledge to take the alpha role just like Tannen writes about. As the challenge goes on we see a growth in the guys watching the verbal match ready to follow the winner who obviously would be Clarke. Just as Chuckie is about to be completely shut down Will jumps to his defense. When this happens there is a whole shift in the room. All the on-lookers step back in shock but continue to follow. Clarke on the other hand tries to defend himself but he total loss of confidence is obvious when Will sites the defense Clarke tried to use. Over the course of this new challenge we see Clarke set down his beer, start to slouch, and finally cross his arms showing his new insecurity.

Stereotypically most interaction among men are challenges for control of the alpha position in a group. Its how men use language. Not to relate to one another but to beat one another in competition. But how deep does this competitive nature run? It’s there among a new group of strangers but does it also run in friendships? Will may have jumped in to defend his best friend but by doing that he also made himself the alpha. I often see this competition in most male interaction even with my own with friends. When I'm with my best friend a large portion of are interaction is competition. Unlike with strangers though we know when to back off and give each other credit for a victory. On the other hand, I have friends who don’t know when to back off and keep trying to get the “alpha” position to the point of anger. Competitive nature seems to run deep in males, and “Good Will Hunting” does an outstanding job emulation this in the bar scene.

Gender Roles in College Movies
Kristen Young

In the article "How Male and Female Students use Language Differently," Deborah Tannen claims that the gender behaviors that we consider intrinsic are actually learned behaviors, and that school is often a place that reinforces these behaviors.  The movie Old School very much supports this theory.  Old School is based on the college stereotypes associated with fraternities and sororities.  The movie presents females as mere objects, there for the simple reason of male pleasure, both visual and physical.  The fraternity is created for the sole purpose of “getting ass” and the parties they throw all feature half naked girls with their tits bouncing around.  One scene in particular where this is displayed is in the celebration of Blue’s birthday.  Blue is the oldest brother of the fraternity, coming in at a whopping 89 years old.  At his birthday party, they have a wrestling match in a pool of KY jelly between Blue and two naked girls, with other topless girls all around.  Before Blue can even begin the wrestling match, he falls backwards and dies.  His death has nothing with the point though, that in real life there would probably never be topless girls at these kinds of parties, and if there really were, it could easily be blamed on movies of this nature. 

The one woman that is not presented this way is the wife of one of the main characters.  Although she is not seen as the typical half-naked bimbo shown throughout the movie, she is presented to be holding her husband back from his “full potential.”  Most college movies with male main characters incorporate this view of women.  They are nothing more than objects and relationships will only hold men back.  This shapes the way people view college education and college students, college girls in particular.  It is because of these types of movies that college girls and sorority girls are associated with partying, excessive drinking and low self-respect.  Males are also presented to be dogs who are only interested in drinking and girls.  It also seems that because of movies like this, people in fraternities and sororities think that they are expected to act this way.  This ties back to the fact that these behaviors are actually learned.  If college movies and media never existed, would college students be expected to act this way?  Or would they at all?  As a college girl, it is difficult to deal with these stereotypes as people just assume that because I associate with sorority girls, I am a crazy party girl who never goes to class.  Sure I go to parties sometimes, but I certainly would never skip class without reason or expose myself at a party for “male pleasure.”  I encounter questions about the parties I go to from my non-college friends and adults more than I receive questions about my education and I put most of the blame on college movies.  Education is downplayed and people automatically associate college with the parties, which is altogether frustrating and embarrassing and I find it easy to blame these presumptions and stereotypes on the media and college movies.