Testing
web
papers
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
YOUR TEXT REPLACES THIS CAPITALIZED MATERIAL. BE SURE PARAGRAPHS ARE SEPARATED WITH A BLANK LINE (OR WITH , BUT NOT BOTH).
Women in sports are a topic that is not always as heavily discussed as men in sports. Even less discussed, however, are the films made about women in sports. In this class, we watched many versatile movies depicting different women and the role of sports in their lives. Each director clearly chose certain actresses to convey the parts, but even more importantly are the images in which the director portrayed them. A very different effect is put upon an audience when you see a woman playing a sport and looking dainty and pretty versus a woman playing a sport that is sweating and possibly bleeding or crying. Some would say that the directors have presented images like this to affirm that women are equivalent to men. That is true but instead, I think that they are included in the movie to show a woman competing with herself and not the opposite sex. "I believe in me more than anything in this world", said by the Olympic gold medal runner Wilma Rudolph, which sums up what the directors try to portray. These women must battle themselves in sports not necessarily battle other people. In the movies Pat and Mike, A League of their Own, Rocky, Girl Fight, Pumping Iron II, and Bend It Like Becham the directors choose to portray women in not conventional, not pretty scenes in order to show the theme of the character's inner competition with defining herself.
The first film we encountered, Pat and Mike, told a story of a woman who is a natural athlete but finds herself handicapped and unable to perform around her fiancé. She feels that she has lost her identity, so she goes out on her own in an attempt to rediscover it and she does through the medium of sport. Thus while the protagonist is a female athlete, the actual narrative is not about the athletic struggles of Pat. Instead the story is centered around her discovering herself through playing sports, and getting out of a bad relationship and entering one that is healthier for her and allows her to express herself much more freely. Thus, while Pat and Mike is a film that breaks the tradition of the era it was made in because of its choice in protagonist, it does not break the traditional narrative structure of Hollywood films, especially since it does not address the issue of gender roles with respect to sport much at all.
The next movie we saw was A League of Their Own, a movie about an all women's baseball league that is formed during WWII as a means to temporarily fill the void created by the members of the male league being at war. This movie is more effective in its representation of women as athletes, because it shows their struggles as a team and as individual sportswomen, and also questions how their involvement in the world of professional sports affects their personal lives and their ability to fulfill their roles as women. Characters within the film showed the evolution of the thoughts and ideas regarding the role of a female athlete. The league starts off as a group of girls made to look nice and behave like ladies so the audience has something to see, but over time, people begin to see them as ball players and not just beautiful women who serve as eye candy. The character played by Tom Hanks also shows this progression, as does most of the general population. Their decision to keep the league at the end, to me, makes this movie one that breaks from the traditional narrative. While the relationship between the siblings, as well as the various interpersonal relationships of the other players is portrayed in the film, the film is ultimately about women's baseball and how it was recognized and legitimized by the world. In this way, it allows women to break from the traditional roles assigned to them, that of a mother, a wife and a sister and shows that women can in fact be successful in their societal roles while participating in things outside the house.
The next set of movies we watched were Rocky, followed by Girlfight. These movies were very interesting to compare as it allowed us to view a traditional narrative of a men's sports film and there contrast it with a woman's sports film dealing with the same issues but from the perspective of the woman. Girlfight does not break from the traditional narrative much, because while it is a movie about a girl who takes up boxing as a professional sport, it tells the story in a form very similar to that of Rocky. Instead of class barriers, the boxer in Girlfight has to deal with gender barriers as well as her own personal demons. This is another reason why it does not radically break from narrative tradition, because though both movies are about boxers, Rocky emphasizes the struggle of becoming a good boxer, while Girlfight emphasizes the struggle of boxing while being a woman.
Next we viewed Pumping Iron II. This movie definitely was not a traditional narrative because it did not give us the same story of a woman trying to make it in a man's sport. Instead we have a story of a woman who is at the level of men's fitness with respect to body building, but has to find a place in the world of women's weight lifting. Her femininity is called into question, which is not seen in any of the other films, where all the women are taken more seriously when they take up more masculine characters. In this case however Bev, the protagonist, has to defend her so called masculine characteristics, and prove that just because she has very well developed muscles does not mean that she is not feminine.
The last film in the series was Bend it Like Beckham. This movie tells a story of an Indian girl in England who is a football player but has to deal with the concerns of her family in order to be able to play. This movie is similar to Girlfight in that both movies tell stories of women who want to take part in a sport, but have to deal with their personal demons and their families before they can be successful. In this respect, the movie has a traditional narrative. However, if we look at the evolution of the thoughts shown in the movies from the film we started from up to this one, we can see that the traditional has been modified. While in Pat and Mike, Pat's ability to play was a novel idea, in Bend it Like Beckham, the novelty is not that Jess is a sportswomen, but the fact that she is an Indian sportswomen. Thus we have come a long way with respect to what is an acceptable role for women to have. Most of these movies show that it is possible for women to have a fulfilling life in all aspects despite being in sports which puts women in a much better light, that Pat was in the beginning of the movie Pat and Mike.
Thus, while tradition is a term that changes with time, most of these movies do work within the confines of a traditional narrative, even if they are telling stories that have aspects that may be considered radical. In my opinion A League of Their Own came closest to breaking the mold as far as popular cinema is concerned, allowing women to be successful in their societal roles while playing a sport, while films like Bend It Like Beckham allow us to see how the idea of the female role does change over time.
I found the most compelling films to be the ones who used sports as a lens to look at other aspects of women's lives: A League of Their Own, Girlfight and Bend It Like Beckham. I think these were the strongest films, the most original, and the most daring in terms of the way they dealt with women in sport because the sports became the context instead of the main story. If I were to change the other movies, I would make sports less central to the plot and use it instead in the way that the directors of these three films did.
Amy Campbell
Image of women in sport
The first film, Pat and Mike, was quite unique in the context of its production date, but, overall, did very little, if anything, to stray from the typical Hollywood narrative. A female professional athlete was not a very common or acceptable idea at that point, and, most likely, neither was the idea of a woman being away from her fiancé for so long in order to pursue a career in sports. In these ways, the film broke away from what was traditional. On the other hand, Katharine Hepburn's character, the protagonist Pat, left much to be desired in her role as a strong female, in that I did not walk away from the film feeling like Pat was a female athlete above anything else. Her dedication to the two sports she played, golf and tennis, seemed to waver at times. For example, when her fiancé Collier came to her tennis match, the nets grew to enormous heights in her mind. She could not perform in Collier's presence, signifying that her mind was not totally on the sport. When she did find a man whose presence did not disrupt her concentration, their relationship overshadowed her sports career. As the credits rolled by, I found myself thinking, "So she ended up with Mike," rather than, "So she got to be a professional athlete," and that perfectly sums up the problem with a lot of these films.
I felt that the film that definitely and most outwardly challenged the typical Hollywood narrative was Girlfight. After having watched Rocky, the quintessential male sports film, the differences were quite obvious. Diana faced head-on the reactions of "But girls don't fight," and went on to be better than her younger brother, who, in contrast, was much weaker and less cut out for boxing than she was. Diana ended up with a guy at the end, but that did not interfere with her role as female boxer. In fact, she fought him and won. Throughout the course we have discussed whether the female protagonists would be willing to put the sport above the relationship if pressured to do so. For example, Dottie, for all intensive purposes, was ready to drop baseball as soon as Bob came back, and only played one season. In my mind, that is what truly challenges the typical Hollywood narrative: these women being dedicated enough to temporarily or permanently – whatever the case may require – their relationships in order to remain dedicated to their sport. Diana did exactly this. In the practice ring, she didn't hold back because she was afraid of losing him: she told him, "I love you, I really do," and then proceeded to punch him in the face. When it came about that she had to fight Adrian, she was more than willing to do that because she felt secure enough in herself as a boxer and as a woman to do so. He voiced his displeasure at the notion immediately, but she did not let that sway her, and even told him, "Then maybe you shouldn't be a boxer." She had been fighting for a relatively short amount of time, but she had become so committed to it that she refused to avoid a match for a boyfriend. It is this pure and lasting dedication to the sport and faith in herself as an athlete that makes Diana the perfect example of a female protagonist who was able to break the mold.
In male sports' films, athletes are shown in complete comfort with their sports, dedicated and naturally able to devote their whole lives to it. They have no obligations to do something else with their time. Women, however, have always been portrayed as having their place in the home, with children, sitting back while their husbands do what they want to do. Relationships have always been placed as the be-all, end-all of women's lives; it is the epitome of their happiness, the goal that they strive to achieve, the measure of their true worth and accomplishment. In the films we watched, though, most of the female protagonists found sports to be just as fulfilling, if not more so. However, this was not necessarily enough to break the "typical Hollywood" film narrative. In order to do that, these women had to make their sports their lives, and allow the rest to unfold from there. The vast differences between Pat in Pat and Mike and Diana in Girlfight perfectly exemplify the progress that was made in the films we watched. While Pat found true happiness when she settled down with Mike and got to play sports as well, Diana was willing to put her relationship on the line for her sport and was rewarded for it. In this way, a protagonist having the faith in the sport and in herself to put it above a relationship, that the typical Hollywood narrative was challenged.
In A League of Their Own, women were given a chance to participate in a sport which they loved – but only because many of the male baseball players were going to war. Furthermore, they had been expected to wear mini dresses. This alone showed that promoters were less interested in their abilities, and more interested in exploiting their looks. Even when selecting the players for the league, the scout made it clear that he had wanted attractive women to play – almost overlooking a very talented woman just because she was not considered beautiful. The characters were developed, however, to show that there was much more to them than just sex appeal. As director of this film, Penny Marshall demonstrated the hard work and dedication of the women by showing shots of their dirty uniforms and many bruises.
In this film, one quickly realizes that a major challenge the players faced was getting people to actually come to their games. At that time, it seems as though women athletes were not taken seriously. Thus, attendance for their games was low. They had to use their abilities to provide the crowds with entertainment (for example, doing splits and catching the ball in a hat, etc). Eventually, against all odds, the women succeed at impressing those who had doubted them before. However, it seems to be a requirement in sports films about women to have them prove themselves as athletes. They had to show that, even though they are women, they too can play just as hard as men.
Pumping Iron II follows the story of women who are participating in a type of competition once open only to men: bodybuilding. One would assume that the point of such a competition would be to build muscle mass and sculpting form, and developing every muscle in one's body. However, it becomes apparent that these women are expected to retain some form stereotypic femininity, and avoid appearing too masculine. What I loved about this movie is that it allows for the viewer to gain perspective about the personalities of those involved in the competition. Therefore, the viewer may find herself supporting Bev Francis, the most "masculine" of the bodybuilders, even though the judges and some of her competitors are expecting her to lose because of her lack of a feminine form.
This movie definitely challenges the role of women. It seems that quite a few of the women in Pumping Iron II had started considering the contest to be more like a beauty pageant. They primped their hair, overdid their makeup, and tried to find the perfect bikini. However, because Bev Francis was more interested in displaying her muscular structure – and, to some extent, I think that is what set her apart from the other, more "feminine" bodybuilders. Ultimately, one is left with the feeling that competitive female bodybuilding has a long way to go before it can distinguish itself from any usual beauty contest.
Lastly, I think Girl Fight really broke ground in terms of women in sport films. Finally, they made a movie about a young woman who succeeds in a typically masculine sport - boxing. She does not depend upon her boyfriend to motivate her or train her. In fact, she even beats him in the ring. However, the main character in this film, too, must prove herself because of her gender.
I think that the other three films are equally entertaining and enlightening, but for different reasons. For example, Katherine Hepburn as the female protagonist in Pat and Mike definitely challenged the idea of women in sports. However, the film takes a step back when aligning her with a coach who becomes a love interest. What I find upsetting is that Bend It Like Beckham seems to do something similar. This brings about the question of how far we have really come.
As I have said in my posts to the forum, I would have removed any romance between Jess and her coach Joe in Bend It Like Beckham. The movie is substantial enough without trying to bring in a typical Hollywood scenario such as that one. The movie's main character was confident in her abilities (which were, in fact, fantastic) and did not require a significant other to develop that confidence. This, of course, is a step forward compared to the story of Pat and Mike.
As for Rocky, I believe that that movie has little to do with the role of women in sports, and more to do with challenging yourself and the beliefs others have about you. There is actually nothing that I would change about Rocky. I find it to be interesting and moving as it is. The fact that there is a relationship that is a central focus of the film is acceptable, in my opinion. This relationship provided both Rocky and Adrian with a new perspective on life and a new hope, as well.
I think, with the exception of Rocky, each of these films contributes to creating a proper place for women in sports. Even in Pumping Iron II, the viewer may consider the criticism of great muscularity by the judges to be unfair. This realization may cause a demand for equality in different sports and competitions. There is no doubt that each film about female athletes portrayed these women as being very gifted and talented. And it is nice to see that the most recent of the films, Bend It Like Beckham, has a protagonist that is determined and sure of herself. This gives hope that eventually films about female athletes will not need to involve romantic relationships or require the women to have to compete to prove themselves as equals. Rather, they should have the characters compete to demonstrate their natural abilities without having a stigma attached to them because of their gender.
The typical Hollywood film narrative has many elements that allows it to fall under such a category. There is a protagonist, usually male, who has a challenge to overcome. However, with the adversity of societal standards weighing down upon him, he is unable to do so immediately. Finally, it is not until there is a greater force pushing him, that he is able to overcome the obstacles and ultimately achieve his dream. Surprisingly, with these cliché elements, one would imagine that the audience would grow tired of such a predictable series of events, yet, without these, rarely will a movie be able to succeed.
Whether ethnicity, age, sex, gender, etc. there are definite societal pressures by which everyone is expected to perform and abide. If anything, these social pressures and commonalities are only all the more emphasized through film and media portrayal today. Therefore, whenever there are films that come around and attempt to break these molds, they really should be celebrated more than ignored. Through films such as A League of Their Own, Pumping Iron II, and Bend it Like Beckham, society is continuously being encouraged to break through the social norms and open up issues of women in sports today. Then again, that is not to say that there are no other films out there that attempt to do the same. Pat and Mike, Girl Fight, and Rocky were three other such films that discussed the issues of women in sports but were still somehow lacking in one way or another.
The three films I found most compelling were Girlfight, Bend It Like Beckham, and A League of Their Own. Although the three have very different settings (contemporary America, contemporary England, and America during the 1940's, respectively) all deal with similar themes regarding women's place in society as compared to men's. In all three films women are told they shouldn't play sports professionally – that it is unfeminine and unnatural. However, each main character works to achieve her dream and ultimately achieves success.
In film, directors use a variety of elements to add to characterization. One of the foremost of these is the way in which costuming is used. From Pat and Mike to Bend It Like Beckham, films about athletics are no exception.
So in talking about sports films with women as the protagonists--and their ability or inability to challenge traditional film narratives—it is important to remember that failing to completely topple or otherwise upend the traditional narrative does not mean that the film itself didn't challenge it. It only means that narrative structures of traditional Hollywood are powerful. The traditional narratives of the cinema--boy meets girl, boy does thing, girl watches, boy wins girl as prize for job well done: alternately, girl meets boy, girl's ability to trap boy is threatened by shrew/slut, girl eventually succeeds in trapping boy through various acts of cunning/virtue/luck, and shrew/slut is left crying over her failure to deter boy from rightfully pursing correct girl--are representative and in some ways indicative of overarching structures of power in our society: so large, in fact, that no one person--or, for the purposes of this work, no one film--could successfully challenge and overcome them entirely.
In women's sports films, there is an inherent challenge presented to these and other traditional Hollywood in just being women's sports film: the conflict which comes forward in representing the female athletes as athletes--as active agents, as bodies-in-motion. Traditionally, female characters in films are objects and not subjects; their bodies are displayed as being beautiful and not as becoming strong. Each of the films reconciled this aspect of their stories differently: Pat and Mike's choice to have Pat be strong from the beginning, thus playing down Pat's body as a source of strength and potentially rising agency. The focusing in In Girlfight, the object/subject conflict is resolved in Diana's transition from fighting-in-the-halls delinquent to boxer-in-training; channeling her unfeminine aggression into a more appropriate medium for such behavior resolved and dissolved her tendency towards threatening the structures of society more broadly--school, her family, etc, making her character's transition in woman-as-active subject less threatening. The threat of masculinization in Pumping Iron II is in some respects very much in line with the traditional representation of women's bodies as objects: the big question of this film is not whether women should be lifting weights, but rather what sorts of physical qualities their bodies need to display in order to be perfect: it is a question of reshaping themselves as object, and doing so in terms not properly aligned with hetrosexual masculine desire--what the judges and competitors all refer to as simply "feminine"--is, the film tells us, inappropriate for those ladies who want to win. Jess's ability to play sports is not the focus of Bend it Like Beckham: she struggles to fulfill a sense of agency that is being granted by her understanding of the world but is denied by her family. The focus of much of the camera work is on bodies, though, on the way bodies move: through society, through the family structures, through tradition and through breaking with it. But in contrasting shots of the challenging narrative--Jess' playing sports--with the very traditional narrative--Jess' sister's wedding--the filmmakers have make a subtle point: that the challenging notions of women as athletes is really not all that different from the traditional modes of women's behavior in film, and as such, the narrative of marriage is shown to be the same as winning the game. In saying they are the same sorts of things, Bend it Like Beckham is also denying that the way that thinking about female bodies in terms of subject/object representation complicate the narrative.
But in each of the films watched for this course, the very fact that these reconciliations had to be worked out shows that the traditional modes were challenged. And for each challenge these films present, a concession had to be made as regards the narrative. So victories, if one wants to speak in terms of progress, are apparent: even if the narrative still stands, it changes ever so slightly because of the way women as athletes are represented.
I will focus on "Bend It Like Beckham", "Pumping Iron II", and "A League of Their Own," as I found these three films to be the most compelling of the six that we viewed in the course. I thought that they explored a great range of social issues of women and sport, and presented characters that were charismatic and fascinating. "Bend It Like Beckham", "Pumping Iron II", and "A League of Their Own" introduced interesting contexts for women in sport and presented varying views of women athletes, which I found to be extremely appealing and provocative.
"A League of Their Own," the first of these three films viewed in the course, was a story about a women's professional baseball league team, focusing on the relationships and game of a few main characters. It was made in 1992, was directed by a woman and is a film essentially about women. This film explores what sport, specifically baseball, and women playing that sport meant at the time, and perhaps remarks upon the present day and what may or may not have changed since that time. It presents two woman as the main characters; Dottie, the older of the two, is portrayed as the best player around, but is committed to her husband and the life that they will share once he returns from the war. Dottie's sister, Kit, on the other hand, is a woman with a lot of spark to her, and a passion for playing baseball and succeeding in the sport; she harbors no fantasies about getting married and having children. The film is focused on these two sisters, and also brings in other personalities that make the film entertaining and fun.
Dottie and Kit are good examples of the varying degrees of what women might want out of life and out of the sports they engage themselves with. There is obviously the sister rivalries and complex relationship which is played out in the film, but their personal relationships with baseball are central. I found Dottie to be quite believable and challenging as a character because of her ambiguities and loyalties. She obviously enjoys the game of baseball and excels at it, but she is bound to tradition and what she believes she ultimately wants in her life. She enjoys baseball, but does not equal it to her whole life. Judging from the various parts of the film, including those when she has aged, it seems that she is never quite sure what she feels or thinks about that time in her life. Then there is her sister, Kit, who wants more than anything to shine and stand out baseball. She may believe that one day she may marry and have a family, but at this time in her life she is willing to devote herself fully to the game.
"A League of Their Own" is further complicated by the fact that these talented women all play and are under the control of men. A man is their coach, he is essentially 'in charge' and yet he is the least able individual in the film (at least in the beginning); he drinks, he yells, he is unengaged, he is mean, and he is a failed baseball player. In addition, those who hold the money and make the choice to invest in women's baseball are all men. This is certainly the way it was at the time, and it makes the film even more appealing, for the women must prove themselves and work hard to continue their game; and they do a pretty good job of it.
"Pumping Iron II" is a documentary that I found quite riveting. It was made in 1985, was directed by a man, and is about women in the sport of bodybuilding. It presents an interesting view of different women in the sport, and each of them is very distinct. The film really questions what exactly bodybuilding or weightlifting is; it looks extensively at femininity and masculinity, and examines what a woman is and how a woman should look physically. In addition, the film ponders the idea of beauty, questioning who gets to decide what is beautiful in terms of the female body, which is loaded, as with some words and notions, with certain connotations and historical ideals that may or may not be true or able to be judged without intense subjectivity.
This film examines women who must explain their choice to compete in this sport, which traditionally men only competed in. This is even more complex, because these women must decide their own views on femininity. They must choose how they will present their bodies, and decide how much they want to challenge the judges and society and traditional notions of femininity, (which they do no matter what), but as they look less and less 'feminine' in the eyes of the world, they challenge these deeply ingrained notions even more. They must decide their take on the sport and femininity all within the realm of competition, where the judges make the final decision, and where the judges are biased in ways that one can imagine.
Finally, "Bend It Like Beckham" looks a woman who plays soccer and enjoys it immensely and even dreams of playing professionally, but must overcome the traditional ideas of her family in order to achieve what she wants most. This is the most modern film, made in 2002 and directed by a woman. It presents a myriad of complex issues and presents them in a way that is appealing and stimulating. In this film, women in sport is an issue, but one that has come far in the history of women and sport—now, at least in soccer, women can and do play professionally and that is not an odd or remarkable thing. Women are now able to play sports; however, there are still obstacles and stereotypes which the characters still come into contact with and deal with on a daily basis. Jules, one of the main characters, has to live with her mother who tries so hard to make her more feminine; while Jess, the main character, must live with the traditional notions and experiences of her family.
I thought that "Bend It Like Beckham" really presented a more realistic example of the obstacles that women face, by looking specifically at one individual and her specific circumstances. It allows for a situation in which Jess must fight for what she believes in and try to move her own family forward. This film also brought in questions of not only femininity but also gender issues and gender relations, and what it means to be a woman playing sports today. There are still stereotypes and ideals about women that are not necessarily written in stone any longer, and it appears that we can look forward to a future where those stereotypes may no longer be so deeply imbedded.
As for what I might have done as director of the three other films to make them more compelling, I must first say that I did find the other films compelling; but in terms of women and sport and the issues that women must face, these three films really appealed to me. Additionally, I am not sure that changing things is the answer in examining these films, for they show a diverse range of subject matter and film narratives. I found them all extremely enjoyable and felt that they achieved what they seemed to be hoping to achieve. I felt that each film said something different and portrayed women in ways that fit certain models that the directors or writers or actors wanted. Certain films focused on certain issues, and did so in a determined manner, that I believe was useful in examining these films. To a certain degree, it is a matter of mere personal preference as to which films one found most compelling, and I would argue that we could speak of any of the three films and see a countless number of social issues women face in sport in days past and present.
The question of which films supported the traditional narrative and which did not requires a definition of the traditional narrative. Essentially, the traditional narrative involves a male athlete winning a game or match of some type, after a considerable amount of hard work. He always has to overcome some type of obstacle in order to make it to the final match. Of course, his "little woman" is always there on the sidelines cheering him on to victory. In contrast, films that did not follow the traditional narrative would have some crucial difference from the above. For example, the protagonist would be female instead of male, the film would deal with issues outside of sports, like cultural identity in Bend it like Beckham, and there might or might not be a man on the sidelines supporting her. Given the considerable variety of films in the course, some followed the traditional narrative and some went against it. I think that Rocky, and to a lesser degree, Pumping Iron II, followed the traditional narrative the closest of all of the films. Girl Fight and Bend It Like Beckham both went against the traditional narrative.
Rocky had many elements of a film that followed the traditional narrative. The protagonist was a working-class male athlete who had to fight his way to the top (pun intended). He was extremely "macho," as he practiced his boxing skills by punching sides of beef in a freezing meat locker. His girlfriend Adrienne was a "typical weak female" who lived with an abusive brother, Rocky's best friend. Adrianne needed Rocky's support to change and acquire some backbone. The one point on which Rocky is not a traditional sports film shows up at the end of the movie, with the outcome of the final match. First-time viewers (like me) hoped that Rocky would win the match, in traditional "underdog-comes-out-on-top" fashion. However, he technically lost to his opponent, the famous Apollo, symbolically named after the Greek god of the sun who represented the perfect male form. Rocky did not lose completely. He did knock Apollo down first, before Apollo knocked him down. They were very well-matched in the fight. Also, Rocky achieved a personal victory for a working-class person from a poor neighborhood, because he followed his dream and got to show people what he could do.
Pumping Iron II appeared, at first glance, to go strongly against the traditional narrative. It was different from all of the other films in the course because it was a documentary. The idea of female body-builders seemed ground-breaking and exciting. Even the judges were not sure how to handle the sport, which I think caused problems. Having a male body-builder do the show at intermission provided a contrast to most of the women in the pageant, except for Bev. However, the woman who won the pageant, as I do believe it was a beauty contest and not a body-building contest, gave the most sexualized performance and portrayed a weak, scared woman alone in the jungle. I was rooting for Bev all the way. She was clearly physically strongest and considered the most "masculine" because of the way her considerable muscle mass had made her body look. If she had won the competition, which she should have in my opinion, it would have sent the concept of traditional gender roles completely out the window. However, those same gender roles that she was defying were the reason that she came in last, because she was too different from some of the judges' conception of what a woman should look like.
In contrast with Rocky, Girl Fight involved a female boxer. There were some interesting parallels with the movie Rocky. The protagonist's name was Diana, who was Apollo's sister in mythology. Apollo was Rocky's opponent in the final boxing match, as I mentioned above. Diana's boyfriend's name was Adrian, whereas Adrianne was Rocky's girlfriend's name. It differed from the traditional narrative because the protagonist was a girl. She also had to deal with her father being against her boxing. She had to confront him, because she didn't want what had happened to her mother (suicide because of her father's abuse) to happen to her. Diana ends up dominating over all the men in her life: her brother, her boyfriend, even fighting with her abusive father and practically killing him near the end of the film.
In Bend It Like Beckham, the film was more about the protagonist Jess, a teenage Indian girl living in England, having to overcome cultural and familial barriers to playing sports than actually having to come to terms with being a female athlete in general. Her family expected her to find an acceptable (meaning, Indian) boyfriend and get married soon after, if not during, college. Her goal to be a professional soccer player definitely conflicted with the role she was expected to fill as a young Indian woman. She had to hold onto her ideas about what she wanted for herself and be willing to defy her family at points during the film, which definitely goes against the traditional "submissive female" role in the traditional narrative.
In conclusion, the variety of sports films in the course all challenge the traditional narrative of "a male athlete trains hard, overcomes obstacles, wins the match, and gets the girl." Rocky challenges it the least, because he achieved a personal victory but technically lost the final match. All of the other parts of the traditional narrative hold true. Then comes Pumping Iron II, a documentary on women's body-building. This challenges the traditional narrative more than Rocky because the athletes involved are all female and they are participating in a sport that is usually considered very masculine. However, traditional gender roles are essentially not challenged because the "most female" body-builder is the one who wins the competition, by giving a performance that portrayed a "classic," sexualized, "typical weak female." Girl Fight challenges the traditional narrative because Diana ends up dominating every man in her life, and, lastly, Bend It Like Beckham challenges it because Jess has to overcome cultural barriers to be an athlete, not societal barriers to be a female athlete.
Did any of the films successfully challenge the traditional narrative?
With the exception of Rocky, I believe that all of the films challenged the role of women in the traditional narrative to some degree. From our class conversations, I believe the traditional narrative runs as follows: Characters are introduced, a conflict, the movie climaxes, and then resolves. The roles of women within this narrative are to support the other characters and visually enhance the movie (be "eye candy"), but they are peripheral to the central problem and resolution. In this essay, I will describe the narrative of each movie and discuss how each challenges or does not challenge the traditional model.
Thus Rocky is a movie about one man's personal physical struggle against himself and the world. The role of the woman in this film, Adrienne, is to be his supportive companion and comfort him in the end. Resolution occurs when he fulfills his goal after building his personal stamina, strength, and skill. To me, this is the story that has never yet been told from a woman's perspective. None of the other movies we watched accomplish this, but they do expand the role of women.
Two conflicts occur in Pat and Mike. The first is that her fiance causes her to perform poorly even though she is a gifted athlete. The second is that her trainer Mike can't handle that Pat beat up his attackers. He had been all set to sacrifice himself for her sake, but instead she saved him. The first conflict is resolved when Pat (at first temporarily) leaves her fiance to pursue sports alone. The second is resolved when Pat and Mike become romantic as well as professional partners. At the end, Pat wears a skirt (maintains her femininity) and still does well at sports. Pat and Mike joke about who owns who.
Especially considering the time this movie was made, this movie breaks a lot of molds. It includes a scene were a woman physically defeats several violent men. It departs from the traditional narrative by making the woman the central character who is supported by a man (Mike), instead of vice versa. However, it does not completely separate itself from tradition; Pat's story is defined by the men in her life rather than on her own terms. The movie gives very little time to her athletic competitions, focusing instead on the relationships.
In A League of their Own, the overarching problem is that the women ball players are struggling to win recognition and financial support. The additional problem is that Kit can't get out from under her older sisters shadow. These are resolved when Kit wins the final game for her team against her sister, and the women play to full audiences until the men come back home. Because the movie ends with the main character (Dottie) leaving, the audience doesn't have to deal with this as a problem. Dottie wanted to go home anyway. At the end they are recognized in the Hall of Fame.
This movie also reverses the norms by allowing women to drive the plot forward. The central character, Dottie, is the main thing keeping the narrative in traditional patterns. Even though she is the star of the league, she repeatedly insists that it is not important to her. As soon as her husband comes home from the war, Dottie stops playing. Thus the movie can never be completely about the women playing baseball, which is what would be truly unconventional.
The conflict in Girl Fight is that Diana is angry and unhappy at home and at school. She wants to box, but her dad is against it. In the end, Diana confronts her dad. She boxes, defeats her boyfriend, and is still able to keep their relationship Thus, Girl Fight focuses on the story of one woman and gives more time to her boxing and physical training than most of the movies give to the women's sports. But the boxing scenes are treated artistically and Diana's training scenes aren't nearly the same amount of time as Rocky's.
In Pumping Iron II, women compete to win a body building competition. The major conflict is that the most built woman, Bev, is viewed as not feminine enough.
In Bend it like Beckham, Jess wants to play soccer, but her family doesn't want her to. There are cross-cultural problems as well. In the end, Jess plays soccer and gains the support of her family. This movie probably comes the closest to presenting a truly alternative narrative. Because it also addresses the challenges faced by women and by cultural difference, it is not the feminist version of Rocky. This is not necessarily a bad thing since women should be able to build roles different from those established by men. However, because the star actresses never actually play soccer, and equal attention is given to issues of romance and family, Bend it like Beckham does not represent a movie solely about a woman's personal physical and mental development to meet a competitive goal. This movie has yet to be made.
All the movies from this semester brought a different perspective to the topic of
Using sport as the theme and women as the protagonists presents the opportunity the challenge the 'typical Hollywood' film narrative. Did any of the films successfully challenge the film narrative? Why or why not?
In the movie Pat and Mike, Pat is first introduced as this amazing athlete. We see that she has an enormous talent that is just natural to her. This definitely goes against the typical narrative in that she is the main character, a female, and amazing at sports. However, that is about the extent to which the movie challenges the typical narrative. Though she may be good at sports, within the first ten minutes of the movie we realize that her one apparent weakness has to do with men. She cannot play in front of her fiancé. Her fiancé has some hold over her by just looking disapprovingly at her. Even when we do see her rebel against him and jump off the train to pursue an athletic career, she first says she is doing it to partially prove herself to her fiancé. Also she just ends up running straight to another man who ends up controlling her other ways and whom she becomes dependent on by the end of the movie because she ends up falling in love with him. Pat is dependent upon Mike in a very father/child dynamic and needed him to make decisions for her. She needed him to "manage" her. This fits back into the typical mold of the Hollywood leading lady or of the general portrait of women in films as being incapable of taking control of their own lives. In the end, though she is still a professional athlete instead of simply quitting and becoming a wife, the audience gets the sense that the most important part of the ending for Pat and the producers of the film is that she is empowered or enabled to pursue her athletic career because of Mike and the romantic relationship that is realized in the end.
In A League of Their Own there are certainly elements that challenges the traditional narrative, but there are also elements that keep it from challenging the narrative completely. First, the entire movie is about women athletes where all of the leading women in the film are athletes. This would seem to put them inherently in a place of action and of empowerment, but there are certain factors that keep them from being completely acting. First, they have to be dependent upon men to form and financially back the teams and in the end, the audience sees that the league did ultimately disband. Secondly, the movie showed distinct moments where the women seem vulnerable and passive. Many of the women are married with kids and are seen as having to struggle with both roles as mother/wife and athlete. In the end, one player is forced by her husband to bring her child along with her on all the road trips. Other moments of passivity include when the organization was threatening to shut down the league unless the girls could bring in more people by using they feminine powers. They basically sold tickets through the promise of short skirts flying, kisses for viewers who caught a ball, and doing splits in order to add a "show" aspect to the game. The women were not allowed to simply play a good game as men would be expected to do. Instead, they were forced into passivity by having to act in a way that was not at all a part of the game, but rather a part of them just being desired objects performing theatrics. Also the main character Dottie is seen as the best athlete, but one who is constantly saying that she wants to put her husband and her role of wife first. In the end, she gives up the chance to play in order to go back and be a wife.
In Girlfight, Diana does challenge the traditional female role, but the ending does not challenge the typical narrative as she still gets together with her boyfriend. Diana does however challenge the typical female in movies in many ways. She is tough, aggressive, angry, and actively pursues boxing training. The sport itself is a very unusal place for females to be active in and by the end, she seems to have actually found a foothold and a place within the sport or at least her gym. She also attacks her father and is empowered by acting finally upon all of the emotions that she has towards her father. However, the movie does not really challenge the typical narrative as a whole. Firstly, it still had to show her heterosexuality and her growing attachment to a man. Though she does beat him in the end in the ring, he still has some power over her. When he brushes her off, she cannot just let it go. Rather, she is seen watching him at work. Though she won in the ring, which does challenge the typical female role as well as the typical narrative, he still has a power over her outside of the ring. The movie, though challenging in many ways, could not just let Diana be a boxer with no real romantic interest. They also had to put her in the typical comfortable role in a man-woman relationship in order to counter the other ways in which she challenges the typical role.
Pumping Iron II most challenges the traditional narrative. Though Bev does not win in the end because she was not the most 'feminine' of the women, she is seen as not really compromising or being affected by the way the judges scored her. She is aware of who she is and seems very comfortable in that skin. We also see Bev as independent from being placed into a typical relationship of romantic nature or of dependent nature. She does train with a man, but the audience also sees her many times training by herself using her own body, not weights, as the only tool to work out with. Though there were other characters who did not fully challenge the typical female like Rachel and Laurie, the main character and main bearer of the message of the movie was Bev, who remains and independent individual very self-aware and comfortable with herself.
Full Name: Stephanie Masiello
Username: smasiell@brynmawr.edu
Title: Believe in Yourself
Date: 2004-12-05 23:25:10
Message Id: 11878
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
(Question #2)
In the first movie, Pat and Mike, starring Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracey, the director portrays Pat in a conventional manner at first. She is a woman who sacrifices her athletic ability for her fiancée and even changes her clothes to set the "right" picture with him. Then as Pat realizes she needs to make something of herself first, before she can be married, the audience rarely sees her in a skirt. She starts to become this different person. She wears slacks throughout most of the movie, which was quite a big deal for Katherine Hepburn's time. The audience also gets to see Pat's injuries. She becomes sore and experiences pain. Her struggle to become this great sports woman reflects on Pat's personal need to find out who she is. She is competing with herself to see if she really can become this amazing woman she wants to be. The harder she works at her athletic ability, the closer she is to becoming the woman she knew she could be. She even solidifies the new her by choosing Spencer Tracy over her fiancée since Tracy was the man who also always knew she could be this great woman. At the end of the film, Pat truly is a winner. Having competed with herself on what kind of woman she wanted to be, her involvement in sports lead her to become a stronger one, as depicted by her transformation of clothing and soreness from athletics throughout the movie.
A League of Their Own is another movie in which the depiction of women in non-conventional images portrays the theme of inner struggle. The women of the leagues are shown in scenes where the sweat, get huge bloody bruises, and even get into fights with each other. These women are fulfilling a dream of theirs and taking it to new levels. Each woman struggles with being a lady and being an admired baseball player. In the film, the players take an etiquette class. A few scenes later they are punching each other in the dirt. These images convey the struggle each player felt between being a woman of her time, who was waiting for her husband to come back from the war or trying to do more with her life, and a talented, chosen athlete who has something to offer the sport. To these women it meant more to play the sport, than to play each other.
Rocky and Girl Fight also express the theme of non-conventional images used by a director in order to show personal struggle. Though Rocky is about a male boxer, his brutal beatings and the scene were his eyelid needs to be cut open depicts just how hard he needs to prove to himself that he can go the distance. In Girl Fight, the character of Diana is not that different. Instead of Rocky needing to prove to himself that he can go the distance in this one fight, Diana needed to prove to herself that she could go the distance in life. Each time Diana hit the punching bag, or took a jab at someone, she was struggling with herself to prove that she can have a better life. Her bleeding and multiple bruises that the audience witnessed were reminders that she needed and wanted to do this for herself. She needed to believe that she could have that better life like Pat and the women of the ABL when she put her mind to it. In Girl Fight it is interesting, because at the end of the movie, when Diana reaches that goal within herself, we see the sunlight directly on her face for the first time in the whole movie, an image that would be used commonly to portray beauty and gentility in a woman.
In Pumping Iron II, the central theme was this idea of a womanly woman who was also strong. Each bodybuilder in the film struggled with her own idea of what the competition was looking for. Bev had to struggle with the fact that she was strong, but perhaps not womanly enough for the judges. This was depicted by Bev's dance performance in the movie. She added little hand waves and hip motions at the end of her dance that was distinctly feminine. Rachel had to struggle with being pretty and perhaps not strong enough. Each woman had to define strength and beauty for themselves before they could go out on that stage and be judged. Some women cried while working out, some women felt foolish while getting "prettied up". A few seemed to be able to really feel comfortable with who they were. Bev did settle her inner struggle in the movie after losing. She knew who she was, and was proud of it as shown by her immediate happiness at ordering food after an unfair loss. Like the women above, Bev's bodybuilding struggle and unconventional appearance lead her to define what kind of woman she is.
Jess in Bend it Like Becham used her struggle in soccer to define what kind of woman she was as well. She was depicted as a non-conventional girl for her background. Jess used soccer to help show her family that she was still apart of their culture, but needed to define her own life a little differently. The image that depicts this the best is when Jess puts on her sari after a soccer game. Suddenly all the bruises and sweat are covered by this lovely garment. The director shows us the two sides of Jess. She can be strong and feminine at the same time. This is who she knows she is, she just has to convince other people of it as well. In Jess going against the grain of her culture and playing soccer, she is able to finally define herself as an adult to herself and to her family.
The directors in all of these films use non-conventional and sometimes not pretty images of women to reflect the inner struggles that the characters are dealing with. For Pat, with her pants and pain, she uses sports as a guide to a better life and better man. The women of the ABL use their baseball bruises to help them fulfill a part of their lives that most women were not able to at that time. Like Rocky going the distance, every bruise and bloody knuckle made Diana push that much harder for a better and happier life for herself. Bev's struggle with the definition of femininity helped to define who she was to herself. Similarly, Jess used soccer as a catalyst to change her life so that she could become the woman she wanted to be. All of these women suffered pain and hard emotions in each of their sports. The directors depictions of these two things expressed to the audience that these women needed to "believe in themselves more than anything in this world" before they could truly begin living.
Full Name: Angeldeep Kaur
Username: akaur@brynmawr.edu
Title: Challenging Tradition: Hollywood Narrative of Women's Sports Films
Date: 2004-12-08 11:21:07
Message Id: 11909
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
Since before the birth of cinema, social roles, especially with respect to gender, have been created in a rigid mold. Through the years different mediums of thought and expression have explored these roles assigned to men and women, and often they have questioned them, challenged them, and reformed them. However, despite these attempts, even today gender roles exist in society, and these are reflected or challenged in the creative mediums of today, one of which is cinema. 'Women in sports' is an image that challenges these gender roles to a large extent. Women are meant to be caretakers, looking after the husband, the home and the family. Tradition would say that being involved in sports requires a personal involvement and time commitment that takes away from a woman's ability to fulfill this role. Thus while placing a woman in the role of an athlete and a protagonist in the narrative in this capacity does challenge tradition to an extent, the ever changing nature of tradition does not allow this alone to classify these films as a break from tradition. Thus while some of these films do break from the traditional narrative to some extent, none of them are very radical in their approach, other than the documentary Pumping Iron II.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Laura Sockol
Username: lsockol@brynmawr.edu
Title: Compelling Films
Date: 2004-12-08 19:47:17
Message Id: 11915
Paper Text:
StudentPapers
On Serendip
I felt that A League of Their Own was less about baseball than the relationship between Kit and Dottie. Had the movie been about baseball, Dottie would have been the protagonist — she was the star player; the movie would have had to focus on her. Instead, the movie is about the changes Kit goes through to get out from under her sister's shadow. This is most clear at the end of the film, when we see how they have ended up forty years later. Dottie is not the strong woman we saw her as; she has retreated to her room following the death of her husband. Kit, however, is surrounded by a large family. We know she has become adventurous because Dottie thinks she will be away traveling when the museum opens the AAPBL wing. Kit goes from being second to her sister in everything to surpassing her. The baseball field is the arena on which she does this, but she does not do it by becoming a better baseball player. She does it by becoming a stronger woman — we see this progress as she becomes closer to the girls and gets more involved in the off-field activities of the league. Dottie avoids having close relationships with the other girls. She does not change, she simply waits for her husband to come home. The image of Kit knocking the ball out of Dottie's hand is emblematic of Kit's triumph over Dottie in a larger sense. Dottie, following the game, will go back to her farm life. Kit, though, will stay in the league, travel, and do greater things. Kit triumphs over her sister and becomes her own person. The movie examines this sibling relationship in the context of baseball, and as central as baseball is to the plot, it is not a movie about baseball. It is a movie about two sisters who play baseball and the struggle as they attempt to differentiate themselves from one another.
Girlfight, similarly, uses boxing as a lens through which to look at poor, urban society and the way in which it treats women. Diana's problem was not that she wasn't a good boxer. Diana's problem was that she had attitude as a result of living in a society that devalues and is violent towards women. The relationship Diana had with her father shows how subordinate women were expected to be. It was Diana's job to make dinner and clean up; her father sent her on errands without thanks. Many of the images and sounds in the movie contributed to this idea of violence against women. The shows Diana flipped through on the TV all supported the idea of a submissive, vulnerable woman — there was a news report about a woman being killed by her husband, and a soap-opera on which a woman pleaded for a man's love. Diana's friends are also typical women. They are overly concerned with their physical appearance and the way in which they are perceived by men. There was no discussion of schoolwork in the school scenes. The other women had accepted society's label of them to the point that they did not even try to gain acceptance through any other means than to be validated by a man.
Diana's triumph was over this patriarchal society. The true turning point in the movie is when she beats her father in the kitchen. Diana shows that the strength she has developed through her training sessions can be used against this society. She completely surprises her father, who obviously has no idea that women are even capable of such physical power. She brings up the similarity between what she has done to her father and what he did to her mother in the past. This is a reversal of her cultural norms and shows that she has broken out of the restrictive path that her society expects her to follow. When she ultimately triumphs over (her boyfriend?), but he accepts her for it, they fully differentiate themselves from the culture that discriminates against women and forces them to be weak and submissive. Diana is able to be a strong woman and be accepted by the man who loves her. As in A League of Their Own, her victory in the match has less to do with her boxing ability than her struggle against culture.
Bend It Like Beckham also used sports as a lens through which to look at an individual's struggle: in this case, Jess' conflict between her individual desires and what was expected of her by her family's culture. Football was not the only conflict between Jess and her parents — they were concerned with her femininity, but as it was expressed in multiple arenas: her dress and appearance, her sexuality, and her ability to cook, for example. Jess' sport was emblematic of the difference between what she wanted to do with her life and what she was expected to do. The fact that she won a scholarship to play at an American college shows that it is not only the sport that is important: Jess will also be getting a different education and experiencing a completely different culture. It is more daring for Jess to date her coach than for her to play football. The object of the movie was not for Jess' team to win the championship, or even for Jess to get to play professionally. The conflict between Jess and her family simply happened to occur in the context of her identity as an athlete.
I feel that these films were the most successful because they used sports to look at women's social issues, not because they addressed the idea of women in sports. Though women have not achieved equality in sports, many advances have been made — in America today, it is not revolutionary for a woman to be an athlete. These films normalized the woman athlete and instead used sports as a means to identify other issues women face in society, be they cultural expectations, poverty, or the normal conflicts women experience in their daily lives. I think something similar was accomplished in Rocky, although it looked at a man's life. Rocky did not win the boxing match at the end, however, he triumphed over his previous life. This is the ultimate message of these films: sports can be the way in which you learn to respect yourself and overcome obstacles.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Marisha Banerji
Username: mbanerji@brynmawr.edu
Title: image of women in sport
Date: 2004-12-09 14:36:50
Message Id: 11919
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
Women, Sport and Film-2004
Marisha Banerji
The movie making tradition is an important one in many ways. It is a means of entertainment, functioning in that category as a principle source of entertainment to the general public, and one that has been steadily growing in importance with it's inception at the dawn of the twentieth century, having grown at the threshold of the twenty-first century, less than a hundred years since it's debut into the public arena with such films as Hearts of the World, etc into a multi-billion dollar industry that more and more people look to as a source of entertainment. Movies such as "The Titanic" and "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy have in recent years, broken multiple records in their box-office takings. Why is this relevant, one might ask? Only in that these are movies every one has seen, and their names have become household words, and their stars as well to the extent that the cult of celebrity that has grown around them has led to their appearance, habits, preferences and lifestyles being of endless interest to the public, serving as a kind of replacement for the heroes of old like knights and nobles, and thus movies have grown to be a very influential medium indeed.
Movies thus have become a cultural medium of no mean importance. Thus, the tales told through movies, and the images promoted through them have a lot of influence on the way these things are seen in real life, and conversely are an interesting barometer of social opinion on a wide range of matters.
The image of women in Sport is one of these. Sports movies are a popular genre of movies. Although not usually responsible for the greatest films in the history of cinematography, movies made about sport have always proved to be very popular with the public. We have not far to look for the underlying reason for this. These films appeal to a certain need in all of us to be cheered and uplifted. Sports movies all generally take the same tack; a down an outer, or a social outcast finds in themselves a certain knack for sport and go on to succeed in doing something and fulfill themselves, and ultimately satisfy us. There is always a lot of struggle and hardship, but our persevering sportsperson wins out in the end, to everybody's satisfaction.
In the vast majority of such storylines, however, the struggler is male This has been true of most of cinematographic history, from the 1920's to the year 2000. It is always a man, or a group of men, in the role (s) of leading protagonists. In the early days it was such movies as "Take Me out to the Ballgame", through such cinematic greats as "Rocky", and even today, when there are such celebrities as Venus Williams and Martina Navratilova, movies such as "Remember the Titans", "The Return of Bagger Vance". Etc, continue the trend. The leading roles, the sports- people, are always male. This reflects the continuing social trend to see sport as a male arena. One need only reflect on the incident at an exclusive golf club in Atlanta, where women are still barred, to realize the truth of this. Needless to say, the women's roles in these films have mainly been in the capacity of devoted wives, mothers, and girlfriends. A prime example would be Adrianne in "Rocky".
One of the early films to have a woman play an athlete was "Pat and Mike" starring Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn. Hepburn's role was that of a talented and athletic woman, while this idea was not a first for society, (as the Gibson girls had been an American ideal at the turn of
the century) Pat shows strength of mind in leaving her distracting boyfriend and miserable job behind in order to pursue sport on the professional circuit, which certainly was a revolutionary idea at the time, and getting support unconditionally from her agent Mike. The narrative has a key moment in which athletic Pat subdues a gangster who threatens Mike, and Mike is humiliated at the idea of having had to be defended by one of the weaker sex. This is an interesting moment, as it shows us the image of women, even athletes, was that of a weaker sex in many ways, but most emphatically physically in those days. The movie challenges this by having Pat outfight and outsmart a couple of toughs and earn their fear and respect. This is surely a seminal moment in the movie. In the end, she is a successful athlete, playing with the devoted Mike by her side in an unusually submissive role.
The movie "Rocky" on the other hand, has no female athlete making so much as a token appearance, with the lead female role going to Rocky's girlfriend Adrianne who while an interesting character in her own right is not an athlete and seems to promote the image that, in this movie that is a classic and a cornerstone in sports movies, the role of women is to stand on the sidelines until the match is over, instead of competing in the arena, to which she has as much right as a man. This does the struggling female athlete craving as much recognition as her brother no favors.
In recent years, movies like "Girlfight" and "Bend It like Beckham" present a much improved image. The character of Diana in the first movie is depicted as a worthy athlete and a worthy person in spite of her frailties and problems and her success is very much a triumph over other people's opinions of her ability and qualifications to box. By proving her case,she has made a similar case for women everywhere. "Bend It like Beckham" reinforces this message in a multicultural context.
We have thus come a long way for the image of women in film.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Katie Hall
Username: khall@brynmawr.edu
Title: The Traditional Hollywood Narrative and Its Role in Women's Sports Films
Date: 2004-12-09 14:48:27
Message Id: 11920
Paper Text:
StudentPapers
On Serendip
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Beatrice Lucaciu
Username: blucaciu@brynmawr.edu
Title: Social Issues for Women in Sports
Date: 2004-12-09 22:51:49
Message Id: 11925
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
The films that I found to be most compelling are A League of Their Own, Pumping Iron II, and Girl Fight. Incidentally, these are also the films that I believe examine the range of social issues of women in sport. In each film, women encounter challenges due to others' expectations and assumptions.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: sung samea lim
Username: slim@brynmawr.edu
Title: Breaking the Mold
Date: 2004-12-10 03:11:40
Message Id: 11929
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
It is often difficult to create a film which can break barriers and still bring in a positive response from an audience that is already accustomed to a certain trend within media. As a result, there are probably very few films out there that dare to challenge the typical Hollywood film narrative. However, once in a while a motion picture will come along that attempts to shatter all previous expectations by expanding beyond what has been acceptable and characteristic of Hollywood narratives. One very popular and recent film that has defeated such previously crafted restrictions is Penny Marshall's A League of Their Own.
The first very obvious element that A League of Their Own does not include is the typical male protagonist role. Instead, there are dozens of females representing their own specific realm of femininity. Whether the beauty queen, the housewife, the tomboy, the athlete, the sexual seductress, the Brooklyn badmouth, or the plain Jane – they were all a part of the film in attempting to make it beyond societal limitations. Then came the obvious critical main protagonist – Dottie Hanson – the babydoll of women's baseball. Although there are these diverse faces of baseball shown throughout this movie, the most important aspect is that they are feminine faces above all else. Although other films include female protagonists, this film allowed the female to remain in her own gender role and still be the protagonist.
There were other films such as Pumping Iron II, and Girl Fight where females are the prominent protagonist of the movie. However, it is difficult to accept them as such when the females must adapt masculine gender characteristics in order to invoke attention from others. The quality that set apart A League of Their Own was that they allowed these women to remain women and still be just as successful. They did not need to become masculine individuals in order to gain respect; however, they were able to wear their skirts and do the typical female things that they enjoyed and still gain the favor of the crowd. Then again, although they were sent to charm school and wore skirts while playing baseball, they never compromised their integrity as strong female characters and still did what they wanted to do – whether that meant sneaking out to go party, or not so daintily eating behind their manner teacher's back. Regardless of all the social pressures they brought baseball into their world and did not conform to the typical world of baseball while still maintaining a balance between a man's world and the "role model" woman of the 1940s.
Then again, the ideal "role model" within the movie was none other than Dottie Hanson. There were many other women throughout the film that demanded the attention of the audience, yet the main protagonist was Dottie. Therefore, according to the typical Hollywood narrative, Dottie was expected to continue on with a successful career in Women's Baseball until the end of the era upon which she would then be inducted into some sort of commemorative hall of fame for being the greatest female baseball player to have graced the game. Again, this was not the case. A League of Their Own challenged the Hollywood film narrative by giving it an ending that was not "perfect." Dottie winds up leaving the game for the love of her husband and losing the Women's Baseball World Series by dropping the ball when her younger sister Kit pummels into her. Dottie should have won according to the typical narrative; but, she did not. Instead, she sacrificed it all for the sake of her sister. In a way, it may have been a personal victory for her while watching her sister triumphantly celebrate her victory, yet, it is still not typical. The victory should be more than personal, it should be one that would allow the audiences to be tear – jerkingly proud of the victory of the Peaches as all – star Dottie Hanson brings home the final and most important win.
Needless to say, as the story goes, Women's baseball is not continued on as a sport today. However, thanks to films such as A League of Their Own, Women's baseball is brought out of the cinematic perfection and brought into everyday life. Finally, a film that challenges the typical Hollywood film narrative and still brings about a feeling of perfection and admiration within it's audience. A League of Their Own does not perform conventionally in regards to it's role as a film in today's Hollywood genre; nevertheless, it is this distinction that allows it to be set apart and celebrated both today and for years to come.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: sung samea lim
Username: slim@brynmawr.edu
Title: Reformed Societal Issues in Film Today
Date: 2004-12-10 03:12:27
Message Id: 11930
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
A League of Their Own dares to be different in re-creating a man's sphere and transforming it into a woman's world. It is a man's sport and a man's league originally; however, once women take it over, it seems to be just as successful and A League of Their Own portrays that continued success. As a result, it challenges social issues in terms of gender roles. The 1940's were a time when a woman's place was actually in the kitchen and nowhere else. A League of Their Own portrayed the challenging of that idea and it's success made it timeless.
Granted, there is a time given for the movie; yet, because the social norm that was challenged in the movie is one that is still faced today, it is still so pertinent in today's society. Gender still plays an extremely important role in society and gender roles are still something that continues to be challenged. In addition, it is something that is continuously portrayed, especially in different realms.
Pumping Iron II takes the gender role challenge of A League of Their Own and gives it a completely different spin. The difference between the two is that Pumping Iron II actually is supposed to be a woman within a woman's world. Nonetheless, even more ironically, the woman – Bev Francis – is a bodybuilder in an all – woman's body building competition. Therefore, it is expected that she would be more accepted for being a woman.
Ironically enough, Bev Francis receives opposition from her fellow bodybuilders for not being the more accepted build of a female today. Because she is more brawny and more muscular, her femininity is challenged. As a result, her drive to achieve ultimate physical prowess costs her the female body building competition because she did not fit the mold of what was "feminine." I believe in bringing issues such as gender acceptability, Pumping Iron II became a more society – friendly film. In addition, it brought to light many issues of not necessarily sex, but gender, that has created some controversy. Both sex and gender are two very prominent issues of society that are constantly being addressed by media. Moreover, one more issue that is addressed in films today is ethnicity and social boundaries found within one's race.
Bend it Like Beckham is a film of today's time that speaks to the issue of cultural groups within certain sports. Jess Bhamra is an Indian girl dying to play professional soccer. More than her gender/sex keeping her from being able to make it in the pros, there is a great deal of pressure from her family and her culture that holds her back. Her mother believes that an Indian girl's place is not on the soccer field running around in "revealing" clothing. Rather, she belongs at home taking care of her family and living life the way she has been told to live. Therefore, in that way, her cultural norms challenge her and address a social issue of Jess in being able to play soccer. Then there comes the pressure of her father.
Her father does not necessarily say no to Jess because he does not believe that as a girl she should be playing a sport. Rather, he refuses her the right to play because he wants to protect her from the societal frustrations and difficulties she will face as an Indian. Along the same lines, it is not until he opens his eyes to American culture that he will allow American culture to have their eyes opened to his family. Jess breaks these barriers of ethnicity and culture and in doing so is able to achieve her dream of going to the pros in America where women's soccer is a more prestigious and respectable league for women. However, it is not to say that these three movies are the only movies that address these issues.
Rocky, Girl Fight, and Pat and Mike were three other films reviewed that did not challenge societal issues and norms as much as the prior three. Granted, all three films incorporated the theme of women in sports; however, they did not seem to challenge the idea of women within sports as much. Rocky did not include a female in the sports arena. Girl Fight seemed to portray a woman in a man's world; but, she was only able to succeed through what seemed like an adaptation of masculine qualities and without keeping her femininity about her. Finally Pat and Mike seemed to be expressing the reliance of a female role on a masculine character. These three movies still challenged certain aspects of societal ideals, nevertheless, there were just others that made the greater leap against what was acceptable that allowed them to become that much more welcome in the changes of today.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Devon Montgomery
Username: dmontgom@brynmawr.edu
Title: What do you remember? A look into Themes and Images of Sports Films
Date: 2004-12-10 10:34:03
Message Id: 11934
Paper Text:
When looking at these films, we were supposed to be looking at them in a certain light. What was the movie about? How does it relate to women's and sports? Does it question the 'traditional film narrative'? While trying to answer these questions I found that I was also looking at these movies as something else, as movies. I think that the actual cinematography and themes of these six films helped to give a better understanding of the message that the movie was trying to portray.
Pat and Mike, a story of an amazing woman athlete in a time of male dominance of sports, and her manager who realizes her worth as a person and not as a money machine. I think the theme of Pat and Mike was to begin to challenge the role of women in sports and present the idea that a woman can be great without having to belong to a man. I think one of the most useful images in this film was Pat standing up to her boyfriend and jumping off the back of a moving train to prove to him that she was going to be more then her little women. She didn't know how she was going to prove it but she knew that hearing him call her that made her feel uneasy. I think the image of doing anything to prove your self worth is a powerful image that challenged traditional Hollywood. While she does end up with Mike at the end, I think this film does a good job of trying to make it clear to women that they no longer have to stay in the home and in the kitchens but can be great, and can achieve great things in fields traditionally dominated by men.
A League of their Own also tries to question the same theme of women in a men's world, this one just using baseball and the absence of the male players. Each one of the characters in this film played a part in its theme, which was trying to do more then what was expected. I think that this movie was also trying to question the traditional gender roles of the time, with women playing baseball, and does doing so make them less feminine? I think there were girls in the film that definitely tried to prove that they could baseball and still remain feminine, like Ellen Sue (the former Ms. Georgia), and May who played baseball and retained a heighten sense of her won sexuality. Particular images that I remember from this movie are the girl modeling their baseball uniforms, the guy getting hit with the baseball for mocking the girls, and Dottie dropping the ball. I think these images were used to help forward the theme of the strength of women even when they aren't in the home. I think the model was portraying the leagues attempt to keep the girls looking like girls by making them wear skirts, adding a particularly feminine aspect to the sport. I think the guy getting hit with the baseball proved the strength of the girls and their resolve to get people to take them seriously. Finally I think dropping the ball was a cinematic choice that left us question whether she dropped it on purpose, and how much the game meant to Dottie (who had a husband and wanted a life at home) versus how much it meant to Kit (who only had greatness through baseball).
As far as greatness goes, I think Rocky displays the most greatness in this film. I may be slightly biased but I think this movie does a great job of showing true greatness of mind, body, and heart. I think that the theme of this movie was 'going the distance'. I don't think that that necessarily meant winning to Rocky, I think it meant proving to the world to Philadelphia, and to Adrienne that he wasn't just another bum from South Philly, but that he was a man who worked hard for what he wanted and that he was going to go the distance to get there. There were a lot of images that stuck in my mind in this movie, Rocky on the stairs, Adrienne running to Rocky as he called her name, and talking to closed doors. I think that Rocky on the stairs the first time was setting us up. He was trying so hard to get up those stairs, like getting up those stairs meant that he had gone that distance and he couldn't do it in the beginning. I think the famous scene of him finally getting all the way up the stairs showed to us that he thought of himself as being ready, as having gone that distance, of having achieved that goal. At the end of the fight, Adrienne running towards Rocky as he called her name was I think Rocky just wanting it to be over and wanting to hold Adrienne because her just proved to her that he wasn't a bum anymore but that he was somebody, and that he wanted to be somebody for her. I think the talking to closed doors were the only parts in the movie where people true feelings came out because while they were talking to someone through a door they were also admitting things to themselves. I think these very personal images gave the movie it's greatness, because it was more then just a movie about an underdog, it was about personal growth, and going that distance for yourself and proving self worth.
I think Girl Fight was a movie along the same lines. That is was more then a girl trying to box because she has a lot of anger but that she needed to prove to somebody that she was more then just a girl from the projects who wasn't going anywhere. I think that the images that stuck out in this movie are the ones in the beginning of Diane against the lockers, her beating the crap out of her dad, and her hugging her boyfriend at the end of the movie. I think that these images help also to out line the plot of the story, her against the lockers in the beginning showed Diana as she was, always on the defensive, always with her guard up. It showed a girl who didn't want to let anyone in. I think the first really change was when she was beating up her dad, it was the first time she showed her strength to the one person who didn't believe that she had any. She was on the offensive and making sure her dad knew that she was more then just a girl that he could push around like her used around her mother. I think the scene at the end is the culmination of these two scenes. Its was the one scene where Diana let her guard down and finally come to some sense of peace with herself. I think this movie let Diana prove her strength and then let it go too.
Pumping Iron II I think was also about proving strength, almost literally. I think the theme of this moving was to question the female form, and what was beautiful in women body builders. I think the images that stick in my mind were Bev acting girly and making fun of the more feminine candidates, Rachel always worried about her hair, and Laurie's dancing boyfriend. I think that Bev and Rachel were the completely opposites in terms of their bodies and attitudes towards that sport. Bev actually wanted to build her body to the best of her ability, while Rachel was more worried with not build too much in order to look at pretty as possible as evident by their attitudes in the competition. Laurie's boyfriend was I think in the movie for shock value, because I know I was not ready to see his naked butt, and it gave another level to Laurie's wanting to do well.
Bend it like Beckham had a lot of images that I think related to the theme. I think the use of Indian culture added another layer to the narrative of women, sport, and film. While there were many images that stuck in my head, like airplanes, soccer in the park, and their god's picture. However, I think the most useful image in this movie was at the end when Jess was trying to shoot the goal, and in order to get goal she had to shoot over the heads of her family and her culture. I think that this image directly tells that theme of the movie, striving for your goals even if it means having to go against family dictates and traditions etc.
As for images in all the movies, I found that one particularly stuck in my mind. In most of the movies there was a stereotypical role of a woman that was painted negatively. The opposing tennis star in pat and Mike is her designer whit silk tennis dress, the model in A League of their Own, the other girlfriend in Girl Fight, Rachel in Pumping Iron II, and the girlfriends in Bend it Like Beckham. I think this image is one that was used to paint the stark difference between girls who wanted more then the stereotype and those who were happy with the status quo. I think out of all the images that that one was the most useful in seeing the difference between the girls. I also think is meant the most, not necessarily that the girls who were happy with the status quo were bad but that wanting something different doesn't have to be bad either.
Full Name: Catherine Eichhorn
Username: ceichhor@brynmawr.edu
Title: Female Athletes in Society
Date: 2004-12-10 12:29:59
Message Id: 11944
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
Girlfight was very compelling because although it challenged the traditional narrative it still had a nonabrasive plotline and was enjoyable to watch. The story of Diana was told in such a way that anyone watching could put themselves in her place. This film portrays more realistically than most the harsh realities of life and the challenges most people face regarding poverty. Diana faces many problems in her home life and as a result is angry and violent. She goes to the boxing club where her brother has lessons and realizes that boxing is something she could focus her anger on and use it as a productive outlet of frustration. Although her life is surrounded by men who see women in a negative light, especially her father, Diana does not succumb to the wishes of others – she fights (literally) to follow her dreams no matter what the cost. Her relationship with Adrian is an example of this. He dumps Diana when he finds out he will have to box with her because he does not want to fight her, but she still wants to fight him. He thinks of Diana as the typical woman in his life, like his girlfriend earlier in the film, who needs to be protected and who cannot stand up for herself. He is probably also scared of losing to a girl and fears a loss of masculinity. However, Diana does not back down – she is willing to lose someone she cares about because she has a plan for herself and believes in herself, and her attitude is "if you have a problem with it that is too bad." Diana learns focus and control from boxing which helps her in her relationship with others. She subtly changes from a violent, uncaring teen into someone likeable.
Bend It like Beckham is a film that I have seen many times yet never thought of in the context of the societal pressures that continue to control the future of women today. Jess has more of a problem culturally playing sports – her parents would probably have as much of a problem of her playing soccer professionally if she were a man. Jess does not have the same problem that Diana has in Girlfight where she has only her trainer as an example of a man who supports her. Jess's friend Tony and Jess's father to an extent support her soccer playing. Jules has more of a societal problem because her mother does not approve of her playing sports. Jules' mother wants Jules to wear a padded bra and go out with boys and to parties. However, Jules is more interested in playing sports, which her father supports. This film is compelling because although it touches on major issues such as the retention of femininity in sports, cultural and social barriers to women in sports, and homosexuality, it is still a very commercial and superficial film designed for the big screen and not to make a major statement like Girlfight was designed to do. One point that is interesting is that although both the main female characters have very feminine names (Jesminda and Juliette) they go by somewhat masculine nicknames: Jess and Jules. Whether this is to attempt to make these characters more masculine to make a greater impact that being masculine is all right for women, or to show both character's parental designs for them since birth in unclear. This film is compelling because it presents multiple facets to the issue of women in sports.
A League of Their Own is compelling because each of the women had their own inspirational stories to tell and each character could be related to. It is also compelling because it questions the values of the times by contrasting Kit's desires with those of Dotty. Dotty is an amazing baseball player but decides to act the part of the traditional woman of the time and return home to have children and be a housewife after her husband returns from World War III. She probably wants to do this, and I do not think she regrets her decision at the end – she simply has different goals than the other women who take baseball more seriously. Kit, on the other hand, loves baseball and wants to follow that path to whatever end it will take her to. She is constantly competing with her sister and is the underdog for much of the movie. Kit and Dotty are both portrayed positively and negatively – their characters are filled out fairly well, and I think that the directors portrayed Dotty in a positive light for much of the movie because they do not want the audience to dislike her because she has different values from the rest of the team. This film too explores the social issues of women in sport during the 1940's in America, and to an extent portrays the social issues that women continue to face. The women's league wasn't taken seriously until the women playing decided to turn the league from a form of entertainment for others into a serious sport that was competitive and challenging. Even today some women's sports are not taken seriously and are viewed as jokes. One example is women's wrestling, women's bodybuilding, and women's rugby. The women portrayed in A League of Their Own turned something that was designed to belittle women into something that women could be proud of.
The other three films (Rocky, Pumping Iron II, and Pat & Mike) were also important and engaging but I felt left something to be desired to the social issues of women playing sports. If I were the director of Rocky, I would have made Adrienne a stronger character. She exists solely to support Rocky. True, he only begins to succeed after he starts to date her and he does find inspiration from having someone who believes in him, but if she were a stronger character then women in general would have more of a positive role in this traditionally "macho man" film. If I were the director of Pumping Iron II, I would have tried to focus more on the attitudes of the audience or the general attitude of the city where the championship took place. What were the average people who watched these women think? Did they think these women weren't feminine? Did they view Bev in a supportive or negative way? The only points of view we have of societal issues are the extremely aged men – few age groups are shown. Perhaps younger people would have been more supportive of Bev, which would have changed this film from other's negative attitude towards bodybuilding into more of a neutral attitude that reflects the changing of the times. Bodybuilding has changed radically in the past twenty years since that film was made – women who are built like Bev now win bodybuilding competitions. If I were the director of Pat & Mike, I would have made Pat work harder to play sports, I would have given her more of a passion for either golf or tennis, and I would have taken away her inability to play whenever her fiancé is present. These characteristics she has really weaken the character, and she would have been a stronger, better character if she had the drive to succeed instead of being excellent at something she was passably interested in. Her playing ability whenever her fiancé was near was demeaning and suggested that women are incapable of performing athletically when they are in love. Pat can play when Mike is near after they become involved, but their relationship is really more of a partnership that is agreed upon rather than a love match.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Elisha Colter
Username: ecolter@brynmawr.edu
Title: Clothing as an Image in Athletic Films
Date: 2004-12-10 15:41:31
Message Id: 11949
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
Pat and Mike (1952), a film about a female athlete in the 1950s, uses costuming to develop the character of the protagonist, played by Katherine Hepburn. Pat is a non-traditional woman for the period. Pat mentions several times throughout the film that she is more comfortable wearing pants than she is in a skirt. The fact that she wears slacks in an era in which skirts were the norm physically distinguishes her from the more traditional women around her. When her fiancé makes her change out of her pants to wear a skirt, it is clear that he is trying to change her personality, namely her strong sense of independence, as well. Her clothing is a visible sign of this independence and her desire to be seen as a serious athlete rather than as just a woman.
A League of Their Own (1992) continues the trend of conflict between feminine clothing and athletic clothing. When the women in the film are first accepted into the women's baseball league, they are shown their new uniforms, which consist of short skirts. These ultra-feminine outfits are, as many characters note, hardly suitable to play baseball in. The men in charge of the league, however, seem to feel that not only would it be inappropriate for the women to wear pants to play ball, but also that the short skirts could help attract male fans. The women play in these uniforms despite their impracticality, earning a significant number of catcalls and bruises in the process. The conflict between femininity and sport is address, in part, through the clothing the characters are forced to wear.
Being about a male athlete, Rocky (1976) would appear to be a departure from these two films. The use of costumes says just as much about the characters and their sports, however. During his fight with Apollo Creed, Rocky wears relatively nondescript clothing, typical boxing shorts. Creed is dressed much more elaborately, though. He enters in an extravagant Uncle Sam outfit, revealing red, white, and blue shorts beneath. These costumes add to what the viewer already knows about the two characters. Rocky is a working-class underdog, and is thus dressed simply. Apollo Creed is a champion boxer, and is thus much more showy and richly dressed. The costumes reinforce the viewer's ideas about these two character's lives and personalities.
Another film about boxing, Girlfight (2000) continues the theme of costuming in films as indicative of the character. In this film, Diana Guzman is a young women beginning to box. Throughout the film, she dresses in nondescript, somewhat masculine clothing. She contrasts the more "girly" girls in her school who are constantly worried about their clothes and makeup. She is seen, by many people, as being not wholly feminine. There is a different contrast in the ring, however. While she wears the same style shorts as most of the boxers around her, she also wears a sports bra. Although it is fully functional, it also serves as a visual reminder that, unlike the other fighters, she is a woman. In addition, she often wears pink during fights, but very rarely outside of them. Although she is in a masculine sport and is seen as a somewhat masculine character by those around her, the clothing she wears in the ring makes the point that she is still a young woman.
Pumping Iron II: The Women (1985) differs from the other films in that it is a documentary rather than a work of fiction. The bodybuilders in this documentary wear very specific costumes, however. During competition, the women wear bikinis to show off their bodies and muscles. The bikini of one competitor comes into question, however. Rachel McLish, who is simultaneously the most traditionally feminine and the most well-known woman in the field, is ruled against twice concerning her costume. The rules of the competition state that the bikinis must be one solid color. The first Rachel presents, however, is deemed to break this rule. Rachel fights the ruling, but is told that she cannot wear the suit. During competition, she does get another bikini, but this one, too, is brought into question for being padded. Again, Rachel argues with the contest officials and again her appeal is denied. In a film in which Rachel is depicted as a ruthless, albeit beautiful, competitor and a self-described "really strong powder puff," this detail of her costuming problems adds to the character from a real-life individual. The viewer is given the impression that the problem with her bikini is not a simply mistake, but a calculated plan to increase her odds of winning. The idea of Rachel as manipulative and ruthless is reinforced through the inclusion of this detail.
Gurinder Chadha's Bend It Like Beckham (2002) uses clothing in a very direct way to illustrate the conflicts faced by the characters. Jess's track pants and soccer uniform are contrasted by the traditional Indian clothing she and her family wear for her sister's wedding. The differences in culture are a major theme in this film. Jess is caught between the two cultures, as is illustrated in the post-game scene in which her teammates try to help her put her sari back on to return to the wedding. Throughout the film, Jess is reluctant to fully take part in or give up either culture; Jess doesn't seem to care about the sari that is so important to her mother, but is also self-conscious about wearing shorts as part of her uniform. Jess's costumes in Bend It Like Beckham are used to illustrate the difficult position she is in as the child of immigrants trying to fit into two very different cultures.
In the six films discussed, costumes provide a visual commentary on the characters and their role in sports. From Pat's reluctance to wear a skirt to Jess's change from a jersey to a sari, the costumes used in these films give the viewer an image to reinforce what the narrative itself has to say.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Tegan Georges
Username: ageorges@brynmawr.edu
Title: Challenging versus Overcoming: Women's Sports Films and the Traditional Hollywood Narrative
Date: 2004-12-10 16:01:07
Message Id: 11950
Paper Text:
StudentPapers
On Serendip
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Jessica Leger
Username: jleger@brynmawr.edu
Title: "A League of Their Own" "Pumping Iron II" "Bend It Like Beckham", Women in Sport, Challenging Views
Date: 2004-12-10 16:18:45
Message Id: 11951
Paper Text:
The six films of the course were all quite compelling and thought-provoking. "Pat and Mike" was an interesting early film, which showed a woman completely able and yet completely unable in the presence of her fiancé. "A League of Their Own" was a modern film with a historical perspective which showed a variety of women with different life circumstances, all living with baseball as central in their lives. "Rocky" was a film about a male boxer and his will to overcome the circumstances of his life. "Girlfight" looked at a girl in a man's sport, boxing, who succeeds and directs herself towards something positive. "Pumping Iron II" looked at reality and women in another traditionally man's sport, bodybuilding and weightlifting. "Bend It Like Beckham," last but not least, looked at a woman who loves soccer, and overcomes obstacles of family and tradition in order to succeed.
Full Name: Catherine Barie
Username: cbarie@brynmawr.edu
Title: Challenging the "typical Hollywood" Film Narrative: Pat and Mike and Bend It Like Beckham
Date: 2004-12-10 16:21:04
Message Id: 11952
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
Film, in many ways, is a window to society in that the narrative reflects societal trends and thoughts present at any given time. Film narrative evolves just as beliefs and preconceptions evolve within society; as time passes, so do the definitions of what is or is not acceptable. The portrayal of women, in particular, is continually changing as society grapples with the transformation of female identity from that of a narrow definition of femininity to one that is broader and less restrictive. Sports are one particular arena in which women have become involved relatively recently. (Previously, female involvement in athletic activities was greatly restricted.) As time progresses, however, more and more opportunities arise for women to become involved in sports. As female participation in sports becomes more and more common, so does the appearance of female protagonists in sports films. As a genre, women's sports films challenge the "typical Hollywood" film narrative because they feature female protagonists who decide to participate in sports despite the resistance they face. Yet, as female protagonists appear in sports films with increasing frequency, the definition of "typical Hollywood narrative" evolves to incorporate the female athlete. Thus, a film that challenged the "typical Hollywood narrative" in the 1960s may now be considered trite and "typical Hollywood." Two films that challenge the "typical Hollywood narrative" (or at least did at the time) are Pat and Mike and Bend It Like Beckham.
The film Pat and Mike, set in the 1950s, chronicles the exploits of Pat, a determined female athlete who decides to play tennis professionally; she is undoubtedly incredible athlete, however, whenever her fiancé is around, she becomes flustered and unable to play well. As a character, Pat is an independent and determined woman who decides to play tennis despite the disapproval of her fiancé. This film (at the time) challenged the "typical Hollywood narrative" because it features a female athlete as the protagonist, which at the time was very rare. She also is highly motivated and independent; not only does she decide for herself that she is going to play sports professionally, but she also seeks out a coach to help her make this transition. Furthermore, Pat is an atypical Hollywood heroine because she is resourceful and can basically take care of herself. This is especially apparent when she helps her coach to "deal" with the loan sharks who came to beat him up at the restaurant; not only did she rescue her coach, but she also outwits and beats up the loan sharks (who are strong, large men). Thus, the film Pat and Mike challenged the typical film narrative (at the time) because it featured a strong, independent, and determined female athlete as the protagonist. Yet, this film today appears to be rather trite and typical; Pat, despite her independence, is very emotional and relies heavily on her coach. She also seems, at times, to be very weak and dependent on her coach, especially in the scene where she is awakened and startled by her fiancé and screams to her coach for help. In the end, Pat also "ends up with the man," as is incredibly common for female characters in films; not only must they overcome whatever challenge they face, but they also have to have some sort of romantic conclusion. However, the fact that this film doesn't really appear to challenge the "typical Hollywood narrative" demonstrates an evolution of female identity with relation to sports.
Another film that challenges the "typical Hollywood narrative" is Bend It Like Beckham. This film follows the life of Jess, a young woman who wants to play soccer but whose family vehemently opposes such an endeavor because they feel she should be more of a traditional Indian girl. Jess is torn between the sport she loves and her family, and spends much of the movie attempting to balance these two facets of her life. This film challenges the "typical Hollywood narrative" because it suggests that it is no longer unusual for women to play sports. The emphasis of this film is cultural identity, and being able to preserve family traditions while at the same time playing sports (something which is very non-traditional for Indian women). Since the emphasis is on cultural identity and not so much on female identity, it is clear that the idea of a female athlete is no longer considered "abnormal" or rare. Jess' challenge is to be accepted as an athlete by her family, not by society. In this way, the film is rather atypical.
In conclusion, two films that challenge the "typical Hollywood narrative" (or at least did at the time) are Pat and Mike and Bend It Like Beckham; they challenge the "typical Hollywood narrative" because they feature female athletes determined to play sports despite the resistance they face. Since the portrayal of women is continually changing as society grapples with the transformation of female identity, film narrative also changes to reflect societal perceptions during the time. As female protagonists appear in sports films more and more often, the "typical Hollywood narrative" changes to incorporate the female athlete, just as beliefs and preconceptions are evolving within society. Thus, films that challenge this "typical Hollywood narrative" now may not challenge it in the future. For this reason, films are windows to society; what is seen through the window today may be totally different from what is seen tomorrow.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Lauren Doughty
Username: ldoughty@brynmawr.edu
Title: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Rocky: Non-Traditional Vs. Traditional Sports Films
Date: 2004-12-10 16:34:57
Message Id: 11953
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: christy
Username: ccox@brynmawr.edu
Title: Did any of the films successfully challenge the traditional narrative?
Date: 2004-12-10 16:40:12
Message Id: 11954
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
Rocky is clearly not trying to offer any feminist critique of the traditional Hollywood narrative. However, it is interesting as the "standard bearer" of sports films in general. Rocky's problem is that he is a boxer who's poor, getting older, and doesn't have other skills. He has never fulfilled his boxing potential. When the famous boxer Apollo Creed chooses Rocky as the lucky underdog who gets to compete with him and be famous, Rocky chooses to believe in himself against all odds, shocking everyone with his stamina and will-power. He barely loses to a split-decision, but has won a personal victory for himself.
In the end, it turns out the judging is a sham. Carla wins, which is fine because you were rooting for her too. What is not fine is that Bev was not valued by the judges. This movie gives a lot of attention to the personal training of the girls and to their physical competition. However, because the competition is fairly sexualized and completely focused on appearance, the movie doesn't truly present a feminist narrative.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Jane Dechert
Username: jdechert@brynmawr.edu
Title: Three Significant Movies
Date: 2004-12-10 16:41:29
Message Id: 11955
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
women, sport and film. The three that I preferred were Girl Fight, Bend it Like
Beckham, and Rocky. They might not all have been devoted to women, such as Rocky,
but that doesn't mean there isn't something to be learned from the movie. Rocky
provided the other side to the question of what makes women's sports films different
from men's. The other two movies demonstrate more modern ways that sports are played
out in films. They both have strong main female characters that achieve a lot of personal
growth and change a good deal throughout the process of the movie.
Girl Fight holds a strong place among these movies because it uses sports to play
out a personal story of growth and development. The main character is seen transforming
from a girl, incapable of dealing with emotions and her life, to a strong individual who is
ready to take whatever will come and is enjoying herself. One key element to the movie
is how much she really enjoys the sport, and the fact that it is her outlet of many other
things that she herself doesn't understand. Although the character does not open herself
up to many other characters, her weakness can be seen by the viewer and bring depth to
her character and the film. This is an important film to understanding the relationship
between women sport and film because it shows a very common story line that is taken to
the next level with a female athlete.
I think Rocky was one of the essential films because of the fact that it had what
would be considered a traditional narrative in many ways. However, it also had much
more depth because of the characters and some of the metaphors they created. The
character of Rocky showed a duality in his character. On the one side he was very
simple, child-like and loving, but on the other hand he was powerful and capitalizing on
this in order to beat them in boxing, a very physical sport. The sport was not about a
woman, but it did prove a much needed base line to compare the other movies. It brought
up some interesting weaknesses about sports characters in general that sometimes carried
over into the female characters and sometimes not, such as his need for Adriane. Rocky
was able to fill a void that is needed in a women, sport and film class, just so the viewers
can understand what is unique and special about the women seen in the other films.
Bend it Like Beckham brought the most to the course because it showed what
films are capable of. This movie was considered a "soccer movie" yet the real story was
about her family life, how that effected her, and how she responded to it. The fact that
she played a sport wasn't enough to sustain the entire story line. It shows that women
have come a long way and are not seen as unusual to be playing a sport or to want to play
a sport. This actually did more for the dialogue of women's sports films than a movie
where sport was the main problem because it made female involvement a norm of British
culture that she was trying to join.
I enjoyed Pat and Mike, but I didn't like some of the aspects of Pat's character. I
thought it was an entertaining movie to watch and had some good scenes in it. However,
I think that the way Pat was suddenly unable to play sports whenever her fiancée was
around was over-done. The director could have made this problem into something more
realistic. There needed to be some strong basis for the way she changed when he was
around, and I don't think this was explained fully by the movie. I would understand the
inability to play if it wasn't so drastic from her normal talent. It would also fit in the
story better if there was more interaction between her and fiancée to show the root of the
problem. The cause was explained on some level, but there is more that could be done
with this part of the story that would make it much stronger. I did get something out of
this movie, but not as much as I could have if some of the characters had differed
slightly.
A League of Their Own was a classic movie about women, however I do not
think it brought a new dimension to women in sports. The movie spoke much more
about women in general and their roles and interactions and triumphs. Part of the
problem might be that I have seen it too many times and am therefore not as compelled
by it as I might have been the first time I saw it. One thing I noticed is that in some
respects Dottie does not seem very believable as a ball player. Dottie is the common
sense type of girl that would stick with a real consistent job rather than traveling around
in such a way. In many ways she just seemed to lady-like in her airs and attitudes to be
playing baseball. She didn't seem like she enjoyed a night out on the town with the girls
as much as she would enjoy a good book by the fire.
Another problem I had was that Dottie does not have many faults. I wish there
was some significant flaw that was brought up and questioned in the movie. Instead her
only flaw was having a sister that had problems. The sister is the one that pointed out the
minor problems that Dottie did have, which was essential because without it there would
be almost no depth to the story at all. Dottie was not only good at many things and
pretty, but she was humble. She was difficult not to like, but on the other hand she was
hard to relate too. Therefore I was not as attached to this movie as some of the other
films that had characters who are very exposed to the viewer.
Overall I thought that all the films were interesting, but the three that really made
an impression on me were Girl Fight, Rocky, and Bend it Like Beckham. They were all
movies that had many layers to them and the characters had a depth you might not have
expected in such people. For this, and other reasons, I followed along these movies more
closely and found them more appealing.
Jane Dechert
Women, Sport & Film- Campbell
12/10/04
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT
Full Name: Mo-Gyung Rhim
Username: mrhim@brynmawr.edu
Title: Challenging the typical Hollywood narrative
Date: 2004-12-13 12:20:08
Message Id: 11962
Paper Text:
Women, Sport, and Film - Fall 2004
StudentPapers
On Serendip
Though Hollywood as a powerful force in this culture certainly affects and helps shape the societal values, norms and stereotypes to some extent, it is mostly in response to the changes and demands that it perceives is coming from the public. So, the 'typical Hollywood narrative' can be understood as much of as a product and reflection of societal pressures, stereotypes and pressures as a product of Hollywood or the entertainment industry. The typical Hollywood narrative shows females as passive and at times submissive. In many of the films we viewed for class, the women were challenging the traditional narrative by taking the lead role and being an athlete. Many of the women were strong and independent in many aspects of the films. However, by the end of some of the films, it was apparent that the film as a whole did not stray from the typical Hollywood narrative. The leading female protagonist is still dependent upon men in several of the films. Even though the female may be strong, forceful, independent in almost every other way, her one weakness is inevitably love and emotion. Basically, though the films may try to challenge the typical narrative, they still fit the mold in the end when the guy gets the girl. The ending of any typical Hollywood narrative, no matter how much it may stray from the Hollywood norm in other aspects, must include the comfortable romantic relationship.
In Rocky Adrienne did not strike me as a particularly strong character who challenges the typical female role. She was strong for Rocky and was a support system for him, and though there are moments where she challenges the men in the movie like Paulie, for the most part she is still the supporting female in a romantic relationship with Rocky, the real hero.
In Bend It Like Beckham, Jess remains a challenge to the typical female role though the movie may not be a challenge to the typical Hollywood narrative. The film still has to place Jess in a romantic relationship I think in order to basically add more pull into the movie as a 'fun' movie. The relationship with Joe is used in order to add some plot twists and character development but ultimately it does play into the typical Hollywood ending of boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, boy and girl overcome challenge and eventually end up together. However, throughout the film, though it is obvious that Jess likes Joe, she never throws herself at him and does not seem to pursue him as if he were her first priority or even really a priority at all. She does not seem to be pining after Joe and even when everything was cleared up and she could have easily just kissed him and created that nice typical moment on the field, she pulls back and is active and in control of the situation. Even though they end up together, he is the one coming to her and she seems to accept because she wants to but not because she is at all dependent upon him.
| Course Home Page | Center for Science In Society | Serendip Home |
© by Serendip 1994-2004 - Last Modified:
Thursday, 28-Oct-2004 12:52:48 EDT