Can you name three movies that involve men dressing up as women?
Tootsie.
Some Like It Hot.
Mrs. Doubtfire.
In all three of these movies, men dress up as women to get ahead in their work, try to win the lead woman along the way, and end up teaching us how women, and men, can Lean In!
Let's take the movie, Tootsie, first. Dustin Hoffman plays the lead character Michael Dorsey, who in order to earn more money and get a job, dresses up as a woman, Dorothy Michaels (see how they reversed her name?). In the movie, Michael is a headstrong, argumentative actor, who uses who he is to help differentiate his now female persona from the other somewhat wishy washy, stereotypical soap-opera female characters. Dorothy, irreverantly referred to as, Tootsie, by the story's director, models for the other women as well as the other women who she works with how to be a strong women who does not let men walk over her or treat her with disrespect.
In Tootsie and Some Like It Hot, the lead female characters, played by Jessica Lange and Marilyn Monroe, respectively, are similar to each other in that they both play women who are somewhat unsure of themselves, who think with their heart rather than their heads and who let men take advantage of them. The men in their lives, who they think are women, see this happening, and partly out of being the good "girlfriend" and their own interest in them, help these women to overcome their own self-reliance, and in the end, help them to Lean In. The lesson is that you can, you should and you will if you just believe in yourself...and this goes for the women and the men. By leaning in, you can overcome all obstacles and also save others along the way!
In the book Lean In, author Sheryl Sandburg asks women and men to look at the roles that we play in our work and in our personal lives, and examine them to see if we are "sitting at the table" and "leanning in" to the conversation, to the decision, as a leader, as a mentor and as a woman in a man's world. She suggests that not only do women not always lean in, they also are not often helping their fellow women to succeed. It is interesting to me that in these movies, men, dressed as women, pretending to be women, help the real women in the stories become stronger, and by the end of the movie, the men are stronger and more understanding too.
Take the character played by Robin Williams in Mrs. Doubtfire, who becomes a nanny to get a job and be closer to his children. When faced with the fact that he will not be allowed to see his kids, and that in order to ever see them again, he has to be gainfully employed, he dons a wig, dress and a entirely new persona. By leaning in, Mrs. Doubtfire becomes something she can never be as a man, but the man behind the wig is changed too...and can learns to lean in to his own life.
The women in these movies learn to have higher expectations for men and expect respect...which unfortunately is completely underminded by the cross-dressing characters being found out to be men, and therefore losing all trust that was built in their friendships with the women. However, the men also learn that they have to treat women with respect, and that true friendship is more than just pretending to be interested, and after having been women, the men are surprisingly more understanding of the opposite sex.
So, in these movies, the men dress up as women and by leaning in teach the women who they have fallen for to lean in too! How do you lean in, and what lessons do you take from watching men do what the women have trouble doing in these films?
Tootsie, 1982 #69 on AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies, 10th anniversary list
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http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx
Monday, January 6, 2014
Top 100 Movie Project: The Godfather is a look into the soul, heart--AFI'...
Top 100 Movie Project: The Godfather is a look into the soul, heart--AFI'...: After over nine hours of watching The Godfather--one, two and three--I'm wondering why I never felt compelled to watch these movies b...
The Godfather is a look into the soul, heart--AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies
After over nine hours of watching The Godfather--one, two and three--I'm wondering why I never felt compelled to watch these movies before?
Gangster movies, really? So, after making it about a third of the way through my watching of the AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies, I finally took advantage of a couple of snow days and watched all three Godfather movies. Wow! Why did I wait?
A movie about gangsters? Sure, but not really. It's a story about a man and his family and the trial and error of making it and losing it all. With the genius of Francis Ford Coppola, you are able to look right into the soul of the character Michael Corleone--the Godfather. Not a life he chose. Not a life he wanted. Not a life he loved. Rather, a life he controlled. A life he orchestrated. A life he wanted redemption for. A life where respect was more valuable than money, and love was longed for, and always lost.
The direction of the first two movies is something to be studied. I'll only mention a couple scenes that let you know that you are just getting a glimpse into the life of these characters...at the end of both the first and second movies, where his wife, Kay, is looking into the room, and the door is shut. It's an analogy for how she would and was shut out of Michael's life, but also how there is a barrier between being in and out of the family. In the first movie, the audience is viewing into the room, and is shut out. However, in the second movie, the audience remains in the room, and watches from the inside as the door is closed--after six hours of watching, Coppola has made us part of the family!
So, what's my favorite? The Godfather, Part II. I love how Coppola shows us the parallel stories of Michael as he rises to power along with his father Vito as he made a life for himself and became the Godfather. Because you see them together, you naturally compare them. Vito chose the life of crime, Michael was born into it and felt that his hand was forced, making him a criminal.
There's so much more to these movies to be analyzed, and it will take at least another viewing or two for me to be able to see everything that the director placed there for me to discover. I encourage you to watch these movies for yourself and see the beauty in them.
I'm working my way towards completing the first half of the 100 movies on the list. As a learner, I believe that there is something for me to learn in each movie...something from the story, the direction, the history or the acting. I challenge you to find out for yourself, and try a few of these great movies out this winter!
The Godfather, 1972 #2 on the AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies-10th anniversary list
The Godfather, Part II, 1974 #32 on the AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies-10th anniversary list
Gangster movies, really? So, after making it about a third of the way through my watching of the AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies, I finally took advantage of a couple of snow days and watched all three Godfather movies. Wow! Why did I wait?
A movie about gangsters? Sure, but not really. It's a story about a man and his family and the trial and error of making it and losing it all. With the genius of Francis Ford Coppola, you are able to look right into the soul of the character Michael Corleone--the Godfather. Not a life he chose. Not a life he wanted. Not a life he loved. Rather, a life he controlled. A life he orchestrated. A life he wanted redemption for. A life where respect was more valuable than money, and love was longed for, and always lost.
The direction of the first two movies is something to be studied. I'll only mention a couple scenes that let you know that you are just getting a glimpse into the life of these characters...at the end of both the first and second movies, where his wife, Kay, is looking into the room, and the door is shut. It's an analogy for how she would and was shut out of Michael's life, but also how there is a barrier between being in and out of the family. In the first movie, the audience is viewing into the room, and is shut out. However, in the second movie, the audience remains in the room, and watches from the inside as the door is closed--after six hours of watching, Coppola has made us part of the family!
So, what's my favorite? The Godfather, Part II. I love how Coppola shows us the parallel stories of Michael as he rises to power along with his father Vito as he made a life for himself and became the Godfather. Because you see them together, you naturally compare them. Vito chose the life of crime, Michael was born into it and felt that his hand was forced, making him a criminal.
There's so much more to these movies to be analyzed, and it will take at least another viewing or two for me to be able to see everything that the director placed there for me to discover. I encourage you to watch these movies for yourself and see the beauty in them.
I'm working my way towards completing the first half of the 100 movies on the list. As a learner, I believe that there is something for me to learn in each movie...something from the story, the direction, the history or the acting. I challenge you to find out for yourself, and try a few of these great movies out this winter!
The Godfather, 1972 #2 on the AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies-10th anniversary list
The Godfather, Part II, 1974 #32 on the AFI's 100 Years 100 Movies-10th anniversary list
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Watching AFI's top 100 Movies of All Time
So, after a long break from watching the classics, I am committing myself to watching and blogging about all of the AFI Top 100 Movies--the 10th anniversary list: http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx and finishing a project that was born out of a passion for film and a calling to have a deep understanding of the body of work.
Over the past year, I have watched about one third of the movies on the list. So, today I went to the video store and picked up four movies to watch this week, starting with Shane from 1953 and Bonnie and Clyde from 1967.
I have to admit that westerns are not my favorite, and so Shane, other than having beautiful scenery, did not really garner my attention. The second movie, Bonnie and Clyde, was interesting in that it made me reminiscent of my great Aunt Velda--there was just something about the rebel Bonnie that reminded me a bit of what she must have been like when she was a young woman.
A few weeks ago, I watched Annie Hall from 1977 and Sunrise from 1927--I like the black and white silent movie, but not the 1970's Woody Allen classic as much.
For me, it's how the movie makes me feel that leaves the biggest and best impression. It does make me wonder sometimes why some of these movies were selected for the Top 100 Movie List, and maybe I will not know until I've watched them all.
But as a self-proclaimed movie lover, I feel a calling to watch them all...the good, the bad and the ugly! This is your invitation to join me in watching them all, and appreciating the magic that is cinema.
Here's to happy watching, Karen
"A film is a petrified fountain of thought." --Jean Cocteau
Over the past year, I have watched about one third of the movies on the list. So, today I went to the video store and picked up four movies to watch this week, starting with Shane from 1953 and Bonnie and Clyde from 1967.
I have to admit that westerns are not my favorite, and so Shane, other than having beautiful scenery, did not really garner my attention. The second movie, Bonnie and Clyde, was interesting in that it made me reminiscent of my great Aunt Velda--there was just something about the rebel Bonnie that reminded me a bit of what she must have been like when she was a young woman.
A few weeks ago, I watched Annie Hall from 1977 and Sunrise from 1927--I like the black and white silent movie, but not the 1970's Woody Allen classic as much.
For me, it's how the movie makes me feel that leaves the biggest and best impression. It does make me wonder sometimes why some of these movies were selected for the Top 100 Movie List, and maybe I will not know until I've watched them all.
But as a self-proclaimed movie lover, I feel a calling to watch them all...the good, the bad and the ugly! This is your invitation to join me in watching them all, and appreciating the magic that is cinema.
Here's to happy watching, Karen
"A film is a petrified fountain of thought." --Jean Cocteau
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