Kit10Phish Explains It All: RomComs Narrowly Define Women [8]

There was a lot of information packed into this post:

https://kit10phish.wordpress.com/?s=Problematic+RomCom&submit=Search

So I'm going to do a series to split it up into smaller chunks.

There are TWO Types of Women (and only 2)

Until recently, I didn’t stop to think just how harmful these films’ portrayals of women could be. Most female characters fall into two categories: desperate to fall in love and get married (think of Ginnifer Goodwin in He’s Just Not That Into You), or too career-driven to ever want or attract a man (Sandra Bullock in Two Weeks Notice, The Proposal, Miss Congeniality or perhaps any other movie she has ever been in). Let’s call this second character Jane.

These movies do an incredible disservice to Jane and characters like her because they paint them as cold, out of touch and clearly Missing Something. In fact, there is usually a best friend character prone to “messy” relationships who summarizes this sentiment early in the film. She’ll state that Jane is so set in her ways and afraid of getting hurt that she risks finding true happiness. Also, would it kill her to put on more makeup and wear her hair down once in a while?

Never mind the fact that Jane loves what she does for a living and is well suited for it. Pop culture tells us that the woman who focuses “too much” on her career is simply doing so to distract herself from finding a soul mate. Only when she lets her hair down (literally and figuratively) and demonstrates some form of vulnerability, perhaps by crying or getting drunk in front of the male love interest, does she open herself up to a happy life. Only then does she truly become the character we like and root for. After all, what man would want to be with a woman who enjoys her job?

In real life, there are gradients between these extremes. Women who love their careers and enjoy being in a relationship do exist. In addition, there are plenty of men who like independent women. Why do we have to box ourselves into these two very limited categories? (And for the women who don’t ever visualize themselves in a relationship, who are we to judge?)

We value a woman’s willingness to be in a relationship as a trait to be valued, but not her independence. In the movies, Jane’s “independence” is clearly just a wall she put up after someone hurt her, a wall that is meant to be broken down by the male lead.

Employment

Why do women make up only 6.2% of Fortune 500 CEOs, 20% of equity partners at law firms, and 30% of all practicing physicians? It's complicated and multifaceted. But one factor is it’s harder to actualize a goal if you can’t identify with anyone who has previously accomplished it.

Even though these films star women as the leading roles — it’s still men whose jobs and careers tend to hold more power or authority.

To investigate, I took a closer look at my favorite rom-coms from the era, categorizing the role or career chosen by the female lead vs. her male counterpart. Boxes shaded in green show which character held a role or career with higher status or more implicit power. Boxes in gray represent the roles that are arguably equal in terms of the power dynamic.

What do you notice?

Of these 32 films, 21 portray men as carrying more prominent or powerful roles. Only 4 movies highlight women with higher status positions or occupations than men, and 7 offer “peer relationships” of individuals of similar status.

Remember: By definition, chick flicks cast women as the lead. These are movies promoting “girl power,” independence, and living the American dream. They are supposed to be our heroes and our role models. And yet — by and large — these characters still seem to put a ceiling on their own personal ambitions, instead pursuing men who carry more power than they do.

When it comes to women at work in rom-coms, they are allowed to be (ultimately) successful in their relationships but rarely successful in their careers. Take, for example, Bridget Jones’s Diary, which follows Bridget Jones, an assistant for a London publisher, who has a huge crush on her boss. She shows up to work in increasingly scandalous clothing, which gets his attention and results in him casually treating her inappropriately at work. They engage in a relationship until he cheats on her, and she moves on to a childhood acquaintance. Both of Bridget’s love interests are superior to her in the professional world, already painting their power over her, but she also sexualizes herself to seduce her innocent, hard-working boss in a work environment. It screams to the audience that female worth is rooted in their ability to distract the men from hard, professional work— a space they don’t typically get to occupy. When Bridget finally does stand up for herself and start her own career as a news anchor, she embarrasses herself, is portrayed as incredibly dumb, and only makes it when her second love interest uses his power as a lawyer to land her an interview. Once again, her success relies on her ability to get into a relationship with a much more powerful man.

In other words: chick flicks and rom-coms have been tricking us for years. Rather than position women as the forefront of success, they have subtly been reinforcing the gender stereotypes that we are now fighting so hard to eradicate.

Saturday, April 26, 2025

RomComs Narrowly Define Women [8]

No comments:

Post a Comment

Followers