Feminist Criticism Of Bridesmaids

Presenting literature to the public that is meant to be a commentary on social or political issues, masked under the guise of entertaining and fictional, is a tool implemented by authors and activists for centuries. While not all satire is as overt as Jonathan Swift’s suggestion that we eat the babies, it does not diminish the eyebrow raising suggestions that are conveyed once the meaning has been discovered. In Aphra Behn’s The History of the Nun and Eliza Haywood’s Fantomina, the established expectations of the female role within society are brought into question then directly rejected. These expectations establish that women should be deferential to men, morally unblemished, and virtuous at all times. Men, however, are not held to these expectations in the same way. The masculine roles assumed by Isabella and Fantomina demonstrate a private rebellion against the established patriarchal society as it warns against the under-estimation of women and proves that women exist independently.

“You’re your problem Annie, and you’re also your solution,” is something surprisingly deep from the R-rated Comedy Bridesmaids (1:37:13). This movie is about a girl, Annie, who along with falling on hard times has to plan her best friend, Lillian’s wedding while dealing with a crazy group of bridesmaids: Helen, the rich perfectionist, Rita, the mother who hates her three boys, Becca, the newly wed, and Megan, the overtalkative nutcase. Bridesmaids has a lot of truths about money, success, and overall happiness. The main themes of the movie are that money will not always make someone happy and that money does not make anyone better than anyone else. With those themes there are also a lot of comparisons that could be made with the movie including how Helen, the very rich, and Annie, the very poor, constantly struggle to prove who would be a better maid of honor, and how Annie could be an embodiment of the struggles millennials faced during and after the stock market collapse.

In the 2005 film The Wedding Crashers directed David Dobkin show many normal gender stereotypes and gender inequalities that are still present in today’s society. The film mainly focuses on two divorce mediators Jeremy and John who enjoy sneaking into wedding parties in order to get drunk off free booze and seduce bridesmaids. Certainly, the film exposes the bromance relationship that Jeremy and John have, which opposes the hegemonic masculinity that society renders on. Their attendance to Secretary Williams’s party exhibits the patriarchy of a white, rich, and powerful man. And lastly the way the guys view women as part of objectification and women displaying sexual agency towards these two gentlemen has been able to change overtime in society where both concepts have become a norm.

In the novel “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” by Juniot Diaz you start to notice a cultural gender role and how there is certain expectations of them. The novel is based on a young boy named Oscar Wao and the hardships that one event has caused to an entire family. Even though the novel is focused on Oscar the author always went back to his sister and his mother. The author described the women as “real, strong women, even though they were being filtered through a somewhat distorted male point of view” (Stevenson 1). These two women play an important roll in this novel, they ultimately don't show the cultural gender role and what is expected from them. All the important female rolls in Oscars life are independent and strong women but they all have one thing in common, being mistreated by men.

In the first scene of the film he shows the bouquet being thrown in the air and all the women fighting to catch it. The bouquet is a symbol for good luck and who will be married next, this shows that weddings were considered a symbol of beauty and success. Through Bill Heslop’s character it’s evident that he feels like he is the only important one in his family since he earning lots of money, has a good wife, being abusive, unfaithful and the dominant one in the household. “You’re bloody useless, you’re all useless”. Muriel, who was the opposite of the stereotypical fragile and submissive woman in the film, finds it very difficult to be accepted for who she is.

Gender equality is one of the main focuses in the Shakespearean play Twelfth Night. The movie “She’s the Man” is inspired by this play. The movie “She's the Man” challenges traditional views of males and females in society. In the movie, Amanda Bynes’s coach informs her soccer team that there will no longer be a girl’s team throughout the rest of the year. Unhappy about her coach’s statement, Amanda suggests that the girls should collaborate with the boys and play together on one team. The boys and coach find the idea to be laughable and disagree. When Amanda’s star athlete older brother runs off to travel the country to go on tour with his band, he convinces Amanda to disguise herself as him until his return. She pretends to be him for two

Renowned feminist film theorist, Laura Mulvey, explores how classic Hollywood cinema is shown through a masculine perspective that fetishisizes women as objects of desire. This perspective is also known as the “male gaze”, which creates a voyeuristic and scopophilic layer to the viewing of film. According to Mulvey, “in their traditional exhibitionist role women are simultaneously looked at and displayed, with their appearance coded for strong visual and erotic impact so that they can be said to connote to-be-looked-at-ness.” One of the staples of classic Hollywood cinema is women consistently being put or made into a visually erotic role for both the male characters on screen, and the audience. This staple is of course found in the

From the early 1960s through the late 1970s, the feminist movement in the United States had sought to transform the way society regarded women. At the height of the feminist movement in 1972, Judy Brady’s essay “I Want a Wife” was published in the premiere issue of the feminist Ms. magazine. Written in a satirical style, Brady intends to convince her audience to take the position of a man and the expectations he places on a wife. She effectively does this by disclosing to the audience her experience as a wife, as well as her vast background knowledge on the topic. Moreover, Brady appeals to the emotions of her audience by exaggerating the responsibilities a man expects of his wife and taking the perspective of a husband. Finally, the author uses repetition of key phrases to emphasize her idea of how men take advantage of their wives. Thus, Brady’s clever use of her own personal experience, emotions, and repetition of key phrases makes her essay strong and convincing to her audience.

For my entire life, I have been raised to be very accepting of others. A group of people in particular that I have been raised to support is the LGBTQ community. This is especially because of my uncle and his partner. Sadly, they passed away a few years before I was born. However, that does not stop me from feeling a connection to them or continuing to support them and others like them. Furthermore, I have other family members and friends that are part of the LGBTQ community as well. Thus, adding more dogs to the fight.

Also, Hawley discusses how the Bride was not in the film for long showing how the film was sexist by having most of the screen time be men only. Even though she was only in the film for a short period, the Bride was the main focus of the film. The whole movie was about her creation and centered on her;

This shows the author’s opposing feelings towards the idea of women playing a specific role in

Bridesmaids portrays sex and sexuality as a good and bad thing. This is not your typical love story, but more of a pathetic one. It shows both sides (healthy and unhealthy) exceptionally well. It all depends on whether you are ready for a healthy relationship or not. In Annie’s case, it took her a while to realize she was holding herself back. Her unhealthy relationship at the beginning

In the opening scene of “Muriel’s Wedding”, directed by P.J. Hogan, ideas of searching for self-worth and one’s identity are explored through the setting, Tania’s wedding. This is symbolic of new beginnings, which is what drives the plot and the character, Muriel, who is seeing herself and a new identity through engagement and marriage.

“Aragay and Lopez find the late-twentieth-century cultural context, in which (they assert) female spectators no longer believe in romance yet need to do so, embedded in the Bridget Jones books and films. I take this to be a reference to the post-feminist world view, in which women's apparent freedom of choice implies that feminism is now redundant, but feminists argue that the position of women in this world is still "limited and unfair" and that this very freedom is complicit in constraining women to traditional roles and creating anxiety about achieving success in those roles” (Raitt).

“Sure,” I said grabbing the popcorn bowl. Taylor and I were having a sleepover due to my parents being out of town. Right now we're watching Bridesmaids, one of my all time favorite movies. It was about 3 in the morning, but i was wide awake. BOOM! “Oh my goodness what was that,” I said shaking.