Billy Wilder’s Some Like It Hot, is one of the more popular comedic works of its time. The movie showcases genres of romance, crime and comedy while creating an obvious juxtaposition of male and female characters. The movie highlights central themes regarding gender and sexuality. Marilyn Monroe’s character represents the quintessential cinematic female fantasy, as she represents the seemingly all too innocent, naive, sensual and sexual female representation that she has been largely popularized by. In spite of the movies light comedic angle it showcases some relevant beliefs on the pervasive attitudes around female relationships, sexuality, gender norms roles and values. Consequently, the film is one that largely deals with the roles and relationships
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It is important to understand however that Wilder’s use of language may not cause the average cinema goer to assess the binary languages that exists between male and female roles and relationships as “The figure of woman has long served as a powerful and ambivalent patriarchal symbol, heavily overdetermined as the expression of the male psyche. Yet it has also been a site of gendered discourse” (Mokhtar-Ritchie). Some Like It Hot clearly reflects its time which is the 1950s and the characters were formulated and written for such a time even though the film clearly highlighted some formidable thematic issues that went against the grain of the stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity it still broadly reflected its time. The representation of women clearly was done by the dominant interpretation and control of men. In the 1950s women just left the factory’s and the duty’s that were predominantly dominated by men in the second World War. Instead of working alongside men when they returned from war; women naturally assumed the duties that they were used to which was that of a homemaker; “The role of women in the 1950 was repressive and …show more content…
Marilyn’s infamous portrayal of female sexuality, packaged in a subtle, thoughtless and innocent packaged, was represented well throughout the film. In many ways Wilder’s movie is important because of the strong debate around sexuality and gender discourse it evokes; “Some Like It Hot stands out from other cross-dressing comedies, attested to by the academic attention it continues to receive in a variety of film discourses and its undiminished popular appeal” (Anglean). In a way the film subtly challenges the largely mainstreamed discourse on gender by going against the dominant cultural conforms around femininity and masculinity. The movie was able to portray the forbade portrayals of gender due to its comedic field; “introducing ambiguity, reveling in the interstitial spaces that they create, and highlighting the permeability of constructed and constricting gender conventions’’ (Anglean). In spite of the largely popular discourse around gender and sexuality the movie is able to attract; it is still a movie that has a universal narrative structure; one in which Marilyn’s character Sugar Kane is adamant at acquiring her dreams, and Joe and Jerry, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon’s character seeks survival and refuge after witnessing a
It is important to understand however that Wilder’s use of language may not cause the average cinema goer to assess the binary languages that exists between male and female roles and relationships as “The figure of woman has long served as a powerful and ambivalent patriarchal symbol, heavily overdetermined as the expression of the male psyche. Yet it has also been a site of gendered discourse” (Mokhtar-Ritchie). Some Like It Hot clearly reflects its time which is the 1950s and the characters were formulated and written for such a time even though the film clearly highlighted some formidable thematic issues that went against the grain of the stereotypical notions of masculinity and femininity it still broadly reflected its time. The representation of women clearly was done by the dominant interpretation and control of men. In the 1950s women just left the factory’s and the duty’s that were predominantly dominated by men in the second World War. Instead of working alongside men when they returned from war; women naturally assumed the duties that they were used to which was that of a homemaker; “The role of women in the 1950 was repressive and …show more content…
Marilyn’s infamous portrayal of female sexuality, packaged in a subtle, thoughtless and innocent packaged, was represented well throughout the film. In many ways Wilder’s movie is important because of the strong debate around sexuality and gender discourse it evokes; “Some Like It Hot stands out from other cross-dressing comedies, attested to by the academic attention it continues to receive in a variety of film discourses and its undiminished popular appeal” (Anglean). In a way the film subtly challenges the largely mainstreamed discourse on gender by going against the dominant cultural conforms around femininity and masculinity. The movie was able to portray the forbade portrayals of gender due to its comedic field; “introducing ambiguity, reveling in the interstitial spaces that they create, and highlighting the permeability of constructed and constricting gender conventions’’ (Anglean). In spite of the largely popular discourse around gender and sexuality the movie is able to attract; it is still a movie that has a universal narrative structure; one in which Marilyn’s character Sugar Kane is adamant at acquiring her dreams, and Joe and Jerry, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon’s character seeks survival and refuge after witnessing a