Blog #5

The Made of Honor

The Made of Honor, a movie about a man that is in love with his engaged best friend who tries to win her over while also trying to be her made of honor, does not pass the bechdel test. The one and only topic in the conversation among women in this film revolves are a man. There was one scene where I thought there was conservation purely based on a new fab diet, but the woman explains that its in order to try and find a man.

The main female character in this film is a young woman Hannah who is trying to make her way in life like any average young adult. Right off the bat in the opening scene we see an event that reoccurs throughout the whole film. A woman being treated as sexual object. A man who mistaking thinks Hannah is his wife, grabs her and begins to touch her all over. Hannah fights back with pepper spray and here we see her character start to form. She is not a woman willing to be used. She is very strong opinioned and not scared to stand up to men.

Hannah is also a talented artist. She is passionate in her work and comes off as a woman who doesn’t need a man to keep her on her feet. While on the plane going to a business meeting she rides in first class, wearing a business suit surrounded by only men in suits. This to me seemed like the director was biased towards women. Why did she have to be the only women flying in first that obviously look like she was doing well in the working world?

The first time I saw Hannah lack this dominance was when her best friend Tom ordered her meal at dinner. Her reaction really did shock me. She didn’t seem angered by him taking control.

Tom, Hannah’s best friend, father jokes about his countless divorces with his much younger wives. It made these women seem worthless and uncommitted. The song “Gold Digger” plays at one of his many weddings while he dances with his new blonde bride who seems to portrayed as a sexual object. She has fake breast, hair and comes across dumb as rocks.

The men in the movie also have that “typical view” on women. When Tom and his friends get together to play basketball or poker their conversations all involve women. They seems to always talk about the importance of having a women at all times. Not for love, but for pleasure. Tom tells his friends that he can “sleep with anyone.”  The women he dates are very reliant on him. Tom sees these women as a pleasurable escape from his work life, but Hannah is different. He is dependent on her and when she is away on business his life falls apart.

When Hannah ask Tom to be her “made of honor,” Tom is first off embarrassed to be doing a women’s job but also heartbroken because he has feeling for Hannah. At this point we see a woman, Hannah, wearing the pants in their friendship. Hannah is the one woman that Tom can’t snap his finger and have.

When Hannah gets engaged it seems like her individuality and strong sense of self she had once had has been taken away. She plans to leave behind her job and friends for a man. She is no longer this strong woman we saw in the beginning, she finally fell to the stereotype that the other women in this movie are being portrayed as. When Hannah finally realizes that she isn’t the woman that her new husband has turned her into she finds the strength to do what’s rigMade of Honor ht for her. She calls off the wedding and realizes that Tom, and her old life, are two things she couldn’t let go of just because a man told her to do so.  

The women in the movie, including Hannah, are always dressed showing a little too much skin. Even though Hannah is a workingwoman, they seem to dress her always with no intention of hiding very much skin. The other female characters are either showing too much cleavage, or lying in bed nude with covers draped over them.

Hannah and Tom are the only two characters that have a conversation other than money or women.  At first we think Hannah is the main character, but of course Tom takes the stage throughout the whole film. Other than Hannah these women don’t seem normal. They all come off unintelligent and act as if the only way to survive is with a man by there side.

            When Mrs. Jackson explained to us what the bechdel test was I was a little disturbed. I couldn’t believe that there was actually a test out there, a test that many movies have failed, that basically proves that our film industry is still based on male dominance. The one movie I chose to watch didn’t pass the test. I know I will keep continuing to watch films looking for the three components. This blog assignment really opened my eyes up to what’s going on “behind the scenes.”