Alex Truong
Professor Waggoner
Intro to Women's Writing
18 February 2014
Blog Option # 3: Gender Roles In Hollywood
After reading The 6 Male Characters Women Never Get to See in Movies, I instantly thought of Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. I immediately picked out the overhead idea of “gender roles” and who and how they are perceived. I came upon the article on accident, not meaning or looking to find an article pertaining to our class, the works, or discussions we have had in class. This being said, I was surprised that it could relate so well with the idea of “identity” and “expected gender roles” within today’s TV shows and movies.
In The Awakening, we see Edna struggle with trying to identify with the roles and titles that society and her community had given her. We see her distaste with the idea of being confined to her home and becoming a “slave” to her children when in fact, she had other interests and ways that she would rather spend her time. In the Cracked article, we read that Hollywood has been unfair to men in that we never see them portrayed in TV shows and movies as “the plot advancer,” “The Wet Blanket,” or “Contest Prize.” While these parts are less than desirable, the author makes an effort to point out that these roles are specifically designed for women and that it would be odd for a man to relate or even be portrayed as such. The article and The Awakening are similar in that both supply an idea that it is not only unfair to categorize a gender into a role, but also that those “persecuted” by such judgements may feel unworthy or oppressed by it.
My favorite line from the whole article was “For some reason, people don't seem to realize that sexism no longer exists today and both sexes are treated with complete equality, especially in the entertainment industry.” It was immediately followed by my least favorite line of the article, “If anything, men are the ones being discriminated against.” Although I felt like this article was written by a male author who was trying to spread a humorous and extremely sarcastic light, I did appreciate that it did call attention to the fact that some roles are exclusively saved for certain genders.
Despite being a very trivial article, I appreciated the humor and attempt to spread light on the fact that even though it is now 2014, there are still very apparent and expected gender roles, even in Hollywood.
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