In class on Monday, we had to
write about our favorite movies. It was easy to choose which movie, or rather
movies, to write about for me. Although they are not necessarily the best
movies of all time, the movies Mean Girls and Bridesmaids. I knew
when I started writing that I didn’t like them for the “right” reasons. These
two movies are my favorite because I find them ridiculously hilarious. I am not
the only person who thinks this. The majority of my friends have watched both
movies with me at some point in time, and they find it just as funny as I do. It’s
cool because we can practically quote both movies from beginning to end, so the
environment that I am in adds to the fact that I love these movies.
Thinking about which type of
criteria I base my evaluations off of, I noticed that just humor and
environment really do not fit under neither the formal nor the cultural
category. However, once I got to thinking about it, I came to the conclusion
that it isn’t just the humor that I like about the movies, it’s how the social
norms are challenged in both of these movies, which leans more towards culture.
In Mean Girls, the girls are all called sluts and whores. The main
character, Regina George, cheats on her boyfriend, and everyone is okay with
that. In real life, if a girl slept around as much as Regina did, she would be
considered ‘easy.’ In Bridesmaids, one of the characters, Megan,
definitely acts different than you would expect a woman to act. She doesn’t
seem to care about appearances, and isn’t afraid to be herself. Now, it’s great
when people are like that, and in this movie, it just adds to the humor.
Both of these movies subtly are
promoting the empowerment of women. Not only are the women all the main
characters, but with every word they say, every move they make, they are
challenging how they ‘should’ behave. Men are usually seen as the ones who
should be sleeping around, and cheating on their girlfriends, and it’s seen as
normal when they do it. But when women do it, it’s pretty taboo. There was
controversy after Bridesmaids came out. People said it was the “female
version of the hangover.” I can see where they come to that conclusion, however
there were people saying the movie was way too raunchy, and only because the
main characters were women. This just increases the double standard even more.
Hayley Wiesman
10/10
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