Prompt 1: The movie 13 Going On 30, stereotypical gender roles are perpetuated in the sense that the main female character is chasing after the love of her life. While one can look under the surface of the movie and find the empowerment that is given to the main female character, the movie’s main focus in the end is for her to marry her true love. The movie follows a 13 year old girl who makes a wish with magic dust that she wants to be 30 years old. Her wish comes true and she has to learn how to live her life as a 30 year old in the early 2000’s. While she was a 13 year old in the 80’s. There really isn’t really any issues among the female and female stereotypical fighting over a guy, which is really awesome. Throughout the movie the main female character grows by learning to change her image and be a nicer person in general. Overall great with image and relationships between character, not perpetuating the general stereotypes.
One example is the scene where Jenna meets the love of her life’s fiance. Instead of being the stereotypical bitch to the fiance, she is kind to her. She never once tries to fight the fiance like the stereotype in many movies.
Another scene is when she sees Matt before he gets marrying. She doesn't try to end the wedding. She is crying at the end of the scene because she is accepting of the fact that the love of her life is getting married. It isn't until the wind blows up some left over magic dust from when she was 13, that she is able to go back in time and change her future.
Prompt 2:
Relating this artifact to the 5 key questions:
1 Who created this message? - I guess one could argue to magical realism of the movie because obviously one can not travel in time from magic dust bought from a convenience store. Also we should notice the extreme whiteness of the movie. As much as the move fights the female stereotypes as much as it can, it lacks people of color.
2 What creative techniques are used to catch my attention? - The magic realism is definitely what catches my attention, the most. I can definitely saw this movie is my favorite movie and I watch it at least once a week. I think the main reason is my favorite is because she goes back and changes her fate and experiences her life the way she always wanted event though she lost one of her best friends. But being able to go back and fix that is definitely something I wish I could do sometimes.
3 How might different people understand this message differently from me? - Another possible reason for why I love this movie so much is because of when it was shown to me. So it came out when I was 12 and was on DVD when I was 13 and one vacation day my mom rented the movie for us to watch. I was 13 too and it just was a pivotal moment in my life that really impacted how I saw the world. I have always been the kind of person to have their head in the clouds and this movie really lets you continue to do that with the magical realism.
4 What lifestyles, values and points of view are represented in, or omitted from, this message? - This movie is extremely hetero-normative and white. Those are definitely problems because of it not be inclusive of all sexualities and color.
5 Why is this message being sent? - The white and hetero-normative message of the movie. If someone who looks at everything with a critical lens would catch this and not be happy with the constant message being portrayed in media.
Cultural diamond:
The object is the movie 13 Going On 30.
The receiver is anyone who is a fan of romantic comedies from the early 2000s.
The creator is white, heterosexual Hollywood.
The social world is the early 2000s culture in America.
You made some real great points Marina! I've watched this movie like twenty times and its one of my favorite movies as well. While watching it, I never really looked deep into the messages about gender roles or sexuality that this movie reveals. The messages shown in this movie can be seen in many different ways. Although it contradicts gender stereotypes, it can be seen as reinforcing them as well. The storyline about a girl wanting to get the man she "needs" in her life is one way it can be viewed, like you mentioned.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you. I like how you analyzed how the movie reinforces some stereotypes, but also challenges some. I love this movie and it is an interesting example because it can be seen as a powerful movie for women, but also can be seen other ways.
ReplyDeleteThe Thriller dance in that movie is Iconic! but anyways I really enjoyed reading this prompt it gave me a new way to look at a movie I already liked. Watching it for the first time at a young age it was somewhat confusing to me, but after watching it multiple times I finally understand why she was so accepting of the love of her life. In the movie the way she turned on her friend Matt when she was a teenager I think was the moment that changed her into this wicked women when she turns 30 and Matt just so happens to be the light that leads her to a better way of life. It did portray the vindictive stereotype of women when pompom decided to steal her ideas, but it also showed empowerment in women when she threw that sleepover where she tried to embrace her teenage self in her adult body. During Jennas presentation to Poise, it really showed what she deemed as beautiful that was against all the trends during that time period. You had really great points each and everyone of them.
ReplyDeleteHey Marina!
ReplyDeleteAlthough it's been a while since I've seen this film, I definitely think you did a good job of explaining scenes where the main character is stereotypical and ones where she is not. Our society often portrays the idea that while women can be friends, they are also not to be trusted. Jenna goes against this stereotype, like you said by being kind to the other females in her new life instead of being "bitchy" like society would expect. In a world where society's goal for you as a woman is to get married and have kids, society would expect some sort of catfight, especially since two different women love the same man. However, the women in this film are portrayed as respectful to one another which is not commonly portrayed in films and television. Overall though, this film doesn't do much to denounce the fairytale troupe, that all girls/women need and want to find their Prince Charming. While Jenna might still be a powerful woman, the movie still has an ultimate message of "every girl must find love" which I personally think is very stereotypical and a narrative that needs to be removed from our media sources. There is so much more to life than just finding love with Prince Charming and having kids.
Sarah Cohn