Ok so I know this is late but even if I don't get credit I want to tell you about the wonder that is Tootsie. I am very happy I was able to watch this movie. Quick synopsis: Dustin Hoffman is Michael Dorsey an out of work actor who is an un-hireable man. His solution? Dress up as a women and audition for roles as Dorothy Michaels. Only his roommate and agent know the truth, but as Michael experiences the challenges women face in the entertainment industry, that soon changes.
This movie was entertaining but it also made me question the what's actually separating men and women as there are parallels between the unemployed actor's life and the role he's playing. This emphasizes the saying that "one is not born, but rather, becomes a women" Simone de Beauvoir. Under the patriarchal society of 1982 when this film was made and today, this saying rings true; women are become like women because it is said they can't be like men.
In the film there were very prominent examples of the advantages and disadvantages women have in the entertainment business. On one hand Michael found contentment by being Dorothy as he was finally getting hired. On the other, he found the life of a women to be an objectifying and condescending nightmare and the double life he had to lead to be exhausting and overwhelming.
The show Dorothy worked in is a metaphor for the reality women face. The doctor's sleazy character is reflected in the director who objectifies women in real life the way the doctor does on screen. While playing Dorothy, Michael had multiple male admirers but once it was revealed he was a man, they backed off, proving they were driven not by love but sex.
The director also wanted her to say lines that were passive in comparison to the situation but Michael's noble impulse allowed him to improv empowering words that women related to. Although I wonder had they known he was a man, would they have taken the advice? Does it matter who gives help as long as the person has your best interest at heart? It is also very important to note that while Dorothy was expected to speak her mind, Michael was deemed too difficult to work with for acting the same way. This is similar to our discussion during class on how men are taught not to reveal their emotions and feelings.
This is only tangentially related to Tootsie, unfortunately, but this post made me remember something that bothered me about the essay and I think can be brought up here. As you reiterated, de Beauvoir says that a woman must become a woman. A woman must fit within the patriarchy's idea of a woman, and Michael must become Dorothy. But the idea that one must become implies that one already is something else (or is not what they should be). Butler brings up again and again, sometimes through her own words and sometimes through others', that being a woman is a performance.
ReplyDeleteIf being a woman is a performance, then what is being a man? Anyone who's been at a gym or frat house for five minutes can probably see that "being a man" is just as much of a performance as being a woman, yet it's proposed as the default. Women are NOT men, so they must BECOME women. On top of that, men must act "manly". Boys don't cry, keep a stiff upper lip, don't be a pussy. Why is it that Michael Dorsey had to "become a woman" rather than stop acting "like a man"?