Typically, when films are released, the plots of a romantic comedies are boy likes girl, girl likes the hottest guy in school and then guy messes up and nerdy boy somehow gets the girl. There is also the idea of boys and girls switches bodies and switching clothes however to me, Amanda Bynes‘ character stands out the most in the film ‘Shes the man’.
In 2006, the film ‘She’s the Man‘ breaks gender roles and anatomy. Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) just wants to play football (soccer to Americans), but after her school cuts the girls team, she finds herself fighting to be on the boys team. The coach of the boys team is the one who completely disregards the idea of her and her team playing alongside the guys. “But girls aren’t as fast as boys. Or as strong. Or as athletic. This is not me talking. It’s a scientific fact. Girls can’t beat boys. It’s as simple as that”, the coach tells her. “Girls can’t beat boys. It’s as simple as that.” Coach Pistonek expresses sexist views of females in the sport.
Those quotes are the reason Viola gets the idea to pose as her twin brother Sebastian, whom she is said to resemble because of her ‘total lack of curves’. The film provides laughs all the way throughout, but many people do not think behind this and they don’t seem to realise the real reason as to why she does this. Viola’s transformation presents the idea that masculinity and femininity is in the eyes of the beholder. This is certainly a man’s world however in order for a woman to be taken seriously, she had to dress like a man.
The film presents the expectation of women; which is that they should not play sports but they should wear dresses and be wife material plus attend debutante balls. Girls are expected to hold an image of perfection. However, the expectation of men is shown through Duke as he is an alpha male, attractive looks and impressive at football however when he is speaking about relationship he does not hold a male attitude. Men are supposed to strong and fast, emotion however is only to be shown by girls, however this is completely disregarded as soon as Justin cries at the end of the movie when Viola beats him.
She’s the man is a feminist movie, but the word is not uttered at all. The film provides the idea that love wins as there is no disgust that the idea that two ‘men’ can have a close relationship. The entire film addresses the reality of how women and men are expected to act and present themselves in a more current society.
“Inside every girl, there’s a boy,” Viola’s friend Jonathan Sadowski tells Viola as she nervously arrives at school for the first time as “Sebastian.” It may seem only for laughs at the time, but there’s also truth in the idea that gender is a social construct, not necessarily a biological one.
Throughout the movie Viola tries to imitate today’s masculinity by doing things such as trying to pick up as many girls as he can at a pizza parlor (even spanks one as she walks away) and even tells a girl that is trying to speak to him that he sees her as ugly and unfortunately the entire room applauds. This is an act of today’s society and the actions in which college students appreciate and consider to be a normality. Shameful. She’s the man has just been seen as a film which is a comedy for teenage girls but if you actually think about it, the movie provides many messages sociologically.
