Assignment 2_ The Full Monty

Assignment 2: The Full Monty. Group 5


This essay will be looking at the movie The Full Monty, discussing firstly how gender order is dependent upon social constructions of masculinity and femininity, then moving on to examine what, according to the film, is dominant masculinity and dominant femininity and how these are portrayed. Thirdly this essay will consider what it means to be male, or female, and whose interests these constructions serve. Lastly looking at what the movie challenges, and what the movie reinforces when it comes to stereotypical gender roles.

In the movie The Full Monty the gender order is dependent on the construction of masculinity and femininity. The hegemonic masculinity of the society is one of the provider and of being muscular, beautiful, heterosexual and well-endowed. The protagonists of the movie do not all fit into this idea of masculinity and as such measure their position in society in opposition to the women that they interact with.

After the fall of the steel industry in Sheffield the men’s roles in the society were compromised, they were no longer able to be the bread winners of the household and as such the women became the providers and started impeding on the hegemonic masculinity of these men, but the men never attempted to fit into the roles of the “household wife”. As the men strived to achieve this masculinity the women also strived to fit back into the role of the subservient wife within the household, they would push their husband to get a job and ask constantly for maintenance for their children even though they seem to be semi-well off in the position that they are. This can be explained in Diane Elson’s Engendering African Social Sciences where she comments on the sexual division of labour, “it would be far from easy to transfer male labour from construction to the production of radios and garments, where the preference of employers is largely for female workers. A more likely outcome of a run-down in demand in construction and commerce and an increase in demand in radios and garments would be unemployment for men; and for women, factory jobs in addition to the unpaid work they do as daughters, wives and mothers.” (Elson 1997: 163)

The power intersections in this movie occur mainly between the men themselves and how they place themselves within the hegemonic masculinity in Sheffield. This can be seen in the scene where the men all take off their clothes and compare their bodies. They show their insecurities about their bodies and as such their masculinity. They rank themselves in opposition to the hegemonic masculinity, how women would not find them attractive as they compare themselves to the ‘Chippendales’. The only man in the group who fits this idea of masculinity is then discredited by being a homosexual and even made fun of by members within their group. In this way the power roles are shown within the group, “What these images do is place a value on male power and control that is used every day as a standard for evaluating men in almost every aspect of their lives. Men who live up to it are routinely rewarded with approval, while men who seem insufficiently decisive and manly are always vulnerable to ridicule and scorn, primarily from other men.” (Johnson 2001:100)

So even within the group of unemployed men who do not fit into the role of man as a provider there are ranks of how masculine they are. One is overweight, one black, one is a bad father (according to what roles a man has to play as a father within that society), two are homosexual and the other one has a certain power as a middle class citizen that is then challenged as he loses the luxuries this class has given him.


The film examines the representation of the working-class male body and its relationship to the gendered politics of an ideal body look. In the article, Masculinity, sport and war, Jansen (2002) makes reference to the term ‘gender order’ in which it is used to refer to a “historically constructed pattern of power relations between men and women and definitions of femininity and masculinity that emerge and are transformed within varying institutional contexts” (Jansen, 2002: 193). The prevailing definitions of masculinity are fundamentally ideological constructions that supply the material interests of dominant male groups.

According to the film, the dominant masculinity deals with being “white” and having a particular body shape that is ‘manly’. I use the term ‘manly’ to refer to a male body that is built with muscles. Dave’s, a character in the film, masculinity has been challenged by his weight by not been able to look like an ideal man. In addition, Dave feels offended when his friends start calling him “fat bastard”. It is almost inevitable for men to have a job. Not having a job or a successful career for that matter challenges the notion of masculinity.

Much research on masculinities gives us a window onto social constructions of femininity as well. Masculinity entails a “breadwinner” responsibility, that masculinity involves participation in all aspects of the family’s agricultural work as a priority, that masculinity means a responsibility for protecting the family, and the nation (men were vulnerable to militarization as part and parcel of their gendering). The life of a male, as mapped out by society, would include economic and political access to authority. With the impact of economic realities on masculinity, where political forces organize new economic opportunities for people, their relationship to labour shifts. This can have massive impact on processes of becoming gendered. Under coercive, and brutal, economic conditions (enslavement, forced migratory labour, indentured labour, unemployment), the meaning of masculinity will shift in complex ways. In the same way, access to wealth, wielding economic power over others, organizing resources under one’s own authority will also affect the shape of masculinity. This is clearly noticed in the film “The Full Monty”. A shift in the labour relations are seen in the film when the mother of boy has a stable job and is earning some sort of ‘legal’ income and can therefore support the child and thus sues for sole custody. Whereas the father of the child on the other hand does not have any job and turns to stripping, even though it was a one night production, and thus finds his masculinity being challenged. Another aspect concerning the economic realm of dominant masculinities is portrayed in the film by the ‘Older Man’ who was without a job for the past six months but was too afraid of telling his wife. He felt that he was going to be looked upon as a failure in his wife’s eyes.

Masculinities often are constructed against womanhood or femininities. Female strippers are considered the norm in societies, but this group of men went against the norm and performed a strip show. Thus, this film pulls apart this ideology of only female strippers. Another example can be illustrated by focusing on the scene captured in the men’s bathroom. One of a group of ladies who enter the males’ bathroom (not a norm in society) starts to urinate in the male urinal while in a standing position. She overcomes the dominant notion of femininity as portrayed in the film, society and the media by this act.


In the film Full Monty one can argue that females’ interests are served in the dominant construction of what it means to be male or female. This is shown through Gerald who had lost his job but did everything he could to make sure that everything remains the same, including sacrifice to join the strippers club which was not an easy job. Gerald’s wife was not aware of these changes, she continued doing shopping and the credit card was still in use. Through these it is evidenced that men are there to serve women interest hence Gerald was not willing to tell his wife that he had lost the job.

According to Jansen (2002) male dominance is associated with visible skills; aggression, violence and force. Males are commonly expected to be the bread winners, take care of their families and being the main providers. In the film Full Monty we see these through Gaz and the rest of the members of the group who try to make money through the most unconventional thing of being strippers. All these sacrifices are being done to serve the women in particular since it is their role to take care of the women and children.

Stripping is more associated with women than men. This job is done with women because it is not easy see naked men than women. The Full Monty' film indicates men's insecurities over nudity through Dave who almost quitted but was later encouraged by his wife to perform. The film goes against the social norms that the society has accepted and knows, for stripping is seen as a predominantly female related act.

One can see, due to what has been discussed above, that the film The Full Monty challenges many of what one would consider “societies norms”. Male household roles are generally seen as the protector, provider and earner. At the beginning of the film the city Sheffield is portrayed as one with a booming steel industry, and advertises itself as a city with many job availabilities suitable for men. However, the demand for steel decreases, and many men loose their jobs, therefore the women (wives, ex wives, girlfriends of the main characters) become the “bread winners” of the households. This is opening up the possibility of an inverse in gender roles. Supporting this possibility of an inverse in what one would call common gender roles, is the role played by Gaz’s ex wife, though she has a passive character, when it come to their son, his upbringing and custody, she has the power and makes all decisions concerning his schooling and demands child support. It must be noted, however, that she does receive support from her new boyfriend in terms of decision making.

Gender roles are also being challenged in this movie when the group of men becomes “strippers”. As discussed above, this is generally seen as a female role, to strip for men, for male enjoyment. This is being flipped as the male strippers are for female enjoyment. However, as male strippers they do not carry “labels” that female strippers would carry, such as being prostitutes, being seen as filthy or slutty.

It must also be taken into consideration that though the men are doing what would be considered “women’s work”, Gaz, and others had refused to work in what was considered “female” factory jobs for the individual fact that it was seen as female work. This breaks down the idea that males are willing to give up their idea’s of masculinity in order to earn. Jansen (2002) states that many men view masculinity as being associated with aggression, violence, and force, The Full Monty male cast (especially in the beginning of the movie) fit this role, as whenever their masculinity is questioned, they tend to attempt a physical fight to rectify the others questioning. Here we can see that although the gender roles have been turned in this movie, due to woman working and becoming the breadwinners of the households, the male characters ideas of what it is to be masculine has not really changed, for they strive to be the providers, and are not willing to be “house-husbands”.

This essay concludes that the movie, The Full Monty, shows that gender order is dependent on the social constructions of what it is to be female, and what it is to be male. Though the norms of female and male roles are challenged in this movie, it is clear that the characters in the movie view their masculinity as being the provider, the protector and associate manliness with aggression in cases where others have questioned their masculinity. This movie does, however, show a different side to what exactly masculinity is, and show the hardships that regular men have in trying to conform to this westernized idea of masculinity.



Reference:

Caltaneo, P. (1997) The Full Monty. Twentieth Century Fox


Elson, D. (1997) Gender Analysis and Economics in the Context of Africa's Development. in Imam, A. Mama, A. Sow, F. (eds) Engendering Africa's Social Sciences. Dakar. CODESRIA


Johnson, A.G. (2001) Privilege, Power and Difference. Boston. McGraw-Hill.

Jansen, S. C. (2002) Football is more than a game: Masculinity, sport and war. Critical Communication: Power, media, gender and technology. Oxford: Rowman and Littlefield.

Assignment 1

SOC 3026S: ASSIGNMENT 1

In first part of this essay we will be exploring the intersections of disability with sexuality, gender and class which are illustrated in the film ‘Children of a Lesser God.’ Lastly we will look at how society disables certain bodies and using examples of some social stereotypes on disability, we see in the film.


This film helps us understand disability and sexuality for the characters in the movie start a sexual relationship. In the reading by Sait et al (n.d) they discuss that there is a notion that people with disabilities cannot sustain sexual relationships, and can be described as asexual, also that they are viewed as childlike and are overly protected. The movie Children of a Lesser God goes against these idea’s for she was able to sustain a “normal” sexual relationship with James. It portrayed Sarah, with the disability of being deaf, the same as any other non-disabled person when it came to sexuality and relationships.

In the beginning of the movie, it was stated that Sarah had had many sexual partners when she was younger. It became clear that she had these sexual partners for she wanted to prove to others that she was no different from the other non-disabled girls when it came to sexuality, and being a woman. “In the case of a disabled person these feeling of inferiority are very often associated with notion of their value or lack of it as a sexual being” (Popplestone, n.d; 4). This was the case with Sarah; she felt inferior and was trying to prove otherwise. However, the boys whom she was having sexual relations with were evidently taking advantage of her, for she appeared to them as being “easy”.

When it comes to disability and gender, it is clear that there are inequalities amongst disabled men and women, as there are inequalities amongst non-disabled men and women. In the movie Sarah was an educated women, however, when she came back to the school where she had studied, she was given a job as a domestic worker. A man with the same education (he was also deaf) was given a post as a teacher, which is a more respected job, and one with higher pay. The World Bank stated that studies conducted since the early 1980’s have shown that disabled women and girls have been receiving fewer opportunities, in terms of healthcare, education and employment than disabled boys and men (World Bank, ). In Thompson (1997) it is said that both the female body, “and the disabled body are cast as deviant and inferior, both are excluded from full participation in public as well as economic life” (Thompson 1997, 19). Therefore, to be both female and disabled, one is viewed as “inferior”. Sarah, being both female and disabled, suffered from these hardships.

On the issue of disability and class, in the movie we see that Sarah is able to work but she is part of the lower class because she a cleaner at the school. Even though, we learn that Sarah is intelligent, because of her disability or rather inability to hear or speak, she gets employment as a low status, domestic cleaner.

It is evident from watching Children of a lesser god that the film deals with issues that face people with disabilities. Without delving into the plot of the movie it is important to outline the main character and the role she plays in depicting the struggles commonly faced by those with disabilities.
Sarah Norman is young girl who goes to work in the School of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. Sarah develops a keen relationship with a new staff member who encourages her to work on her speaking rather than carry on with the use of sign language. Sarah lives an isolated life. Her Father left her and her mother at very early stage. Naturally she took her disability to the reason for his departure. Her mother sent her off to this special school for those who are hard of hearing.
As we can see, the film illustrates the common “understanding/norm” in society that people of different natural abilities are sent to different schools and institutions were they are segregated from the rest of society. Although these institutions are established to help these people, they in turn ostracize them from the rest of society. Sarah’s mother is a typical example of how we ship these people off to be on their own amongst their “own” type.
Sarah accepts herself as deaf and so continues to engage in sign language as a means of communicating. The new teacher challenges her to learn to speak and to talk rather than use her hands. This is an example of the process of “normalizing” these people. We want them to be like the rest of us.
Upon doing my research on this topic, I learnt of an interesting suggestion. It said the quite a large number of people in the world all over suffered of hearing disabilities. It was suggested that sign language should be incorporated into the schooling system from an early age so as to find ourselves as society where we have to send these people who are as capable, if not more so, as you and me.

According to Thomson (1997: 46): “The limitations disabled people experience result more often from interaction with a social and physical environment designed to accommodate the normate body”. It is clear that we as people with certain bodies are disabled by society by being sent to different institutions and by treating them differently and by trying to normalize them to fit in with the status quo











Bibliography
1. Popplestone, R. (in Press) Are blind people better lovers? ] In Steyn, M. E. and Van Zyl, M. On/off the edge: Shaping sexualities Vol 2.

2. Sait, W., Lorenzo, T. Steyn, M. and Van Zyl, M. (in Press) [Mothering disabled children] In Steyn, M. E. and Van Zyl, M. On/off the edge: Shaping sexualities Vol 2.


3. Thomson, R. G. (1997). Extraordinary Bodies: Figuring Physical Disability in American Culture and Literature. New York: Columbia University Press. 19-51.

4. World Bank. Accessed online @ www.worldbank.org