The Chinese New Year break and the rash of deadlines have been preventing me from posting, but now I'm back!
To summarize, the movie is about a down-and-out actor (Dustin Hoffman) who unexpectedly finds critical success, both professionally and romantically, in a female role he auditions for out of desperation to prove his acting chops.
A few thoughts on the movie:
1. Gender equality and the feminist movement. This movie uses comedy to highlight the more serious theme of gender inequality, especially in the workplace. Since the film was set in the 1980s, the third-wave of the feminist movement was just gaining traction, so I wouldn't be surprised if the movie's themes hit a chord with many of the working women out there.
2. The irony of gender-benders. One of the criticisms raised against this movie would be the tension between overt theme of combating gender equality, and the underlying meaning behind a plot which has gender-bender main character. This to some reeks of some "false consciousness" or a subtle attempt to prove male dominance/monopoly over certain traits such as assertiveness, pro-activeness etc. Is it necessarily true though? Perhaps the separating the issues of innate gender traits and that of education should be made distinctive instead, which would put the movie in a less harsh light.
3. Gender characteristics: Innate or arbitrary? That's another great issue point that the movie seemed to weigh in on. On the surface, it does seem that male and female have certain dominant character traits, with the main character being mellowed by his stint as a female, and the females learning from his assertive self. On the other hand, going slightly deeper, there seems to be this message of self-journeying by the character, in which he gradually realizes a different side of him that seemed to have been repressed by his social experiences. Interesting point.
4. The homosexuality taboo. Another source of humor which was not resolved or addressed through the movie at all was the underlying ideas of homosexuality. Given the gender-bender role of the main character, it is quite surprising that the issues of homosexuality was not at all addressed throughout the movie. Then again, it's the 1980s, and issues of homosexuality only became a hot-button issue in the 1990s.
It's a good movie though, despite how old it is. Does help that the main female character (Jessica Lange) is quite hot too! Wonder what happened to her. In any case, I've quite a few posts that I'm working on, so stay tuned!
