Taking Joy in Work: A Critical Analysis of Gendered and Racial Stereotypes in Joy
The new blockbuster film, Joy, showed a lot of promise. It was billed as a woman persevering and marketing her new invention: the self-wringing mop. Presuming it would be a refreshing and feminist portrayal of women in the workplace was ultimately disappointing, though. While the film did have one or two poignant moments, the bad outweighed the good. The movie was based on a true story, so I fear audiences will let the sexism in the film slide because it’s just how it happened in reality. I acknowledge this, but moviemakers are in complete control of what their movie says to an audience. A movie can be “spun” to say an infinite number of things about even true …show more content…
Joy herself was endowed with stereotypically feminine traits; she was empathic, kind, passive, submissive, giving, and quiet. As such, she was portrayed as a poor businesswoman. From the dialogue, it seemed like she understood the need for assertion in business but was unable to put it into her practice. She also bent to almost everyone’s will throughout the film. In their business meetings, her ex-husband and father mainly handle the affairs, both of them arguing on Joy’s behalf as she sits uncomfortably between them. The film ends with her discovering and embracing her masculine side and walking off with her new, drastically shorter haircut, as a successful businesswoman. Her “journey” felt sexist: it celebrated a female but not her feminine characteristics. The movie told audiences that women could be successful if they have the superior masculine …show more content…
At first, she simply seems like a reasonably successful manager of an auto shop, which was almost enough to redeem the entire film. Unfortunately, the moment she started speaking, the image was shattered. Peggy had feminine characteristics, yes, but she seemed to have only the bad ones. The movie utterly demonizes her: I don’t think there’s a single line she says that isn’t mean and incendiary towards Joy. She’s catty, jealous, and painfully selfish. At one point, she goes to a meeting on joy’s behalf (unbeknownst to Joy and at her father’s behest) , and instead of actually advocating for her sister’s burgeoning business like she promised she would, she overhauls the meeting to pitch her own business ideas, and she ends up almost ruining Joy’s business in the process. Her role is as the rival, despite the fact that her success and her sister’s needn’t be at odds. Her own feminine characteristics are seen as detrimental and toxic to everyone around her, showing that the only active business women with feminine traits is also utterly monstrous.
At the end of the day, Joy goes into the pile of films that simply reaffirm preconceived stereotypes about gender, race, and work. Its characters lacked the depth needed to make them real humans, and as such they became tropic depictions of what a patriarchal world already thinks of women and minorities in the workplace. Despite its single positive critique
The new blockbuster film, Joy, showed a lot of promise. It was billed as a woman persevering and marketing her new invention: the self-wringing mop. Presuming it would be a refreshing and feminist portrayal of women in the workplace was ultimately disappointing, though. While the film did have one or two poignant moments, the bad outweighed the good. The movie was based on a true story, so I fear audiences will let the sexism in the film slide because it’s just how it happened in reality. I acknowledge this, but moviemakers are in complete control of what their movie says to an audience. A movie can be “spun” to say an infinite number of things about even true …show more content…
Joy herself was endowed with stereotypically feminine traits; she was empathic, kind, passive, submissive, giving, and quiet. As such, she was portrayed as a poor businesswoman. From the dialogue, it seemed like she understood the need for assertion in business but was unable to put it into her practice. She also bent to almost everyone’s will throughout the film. In their business meetings, her ex-husband and father mainly handle the affairs, both of them arguing on Joy’s behalf as she sits uncomfortably between them. The film ends with her discovering and embracing her masculine side and walking off with her new, drastically shorter haircut, as a successful businesswoman. Her “journey” felt sexist: it celebrated a female but not her feminine characteristics. The movie told audiences that women could be successful if they have the superior masculine …show more content…
At first, she simply seems like a reasonably successful manager of an auto shop, which was almost enough to redeem the entire film. Unfortunately, the moment she started speaking, the image was shattered. Peggy had feminine characteristics, yes, but she seemed to have only the bad ones. The movie utterly demonizes her: I don’t think there’s a single line she says that isn’t mean and incendiary towards Joy. She’s catty, jealous, and painfully selfish. At one point, she goes to a meeting on joy’s behalf (unbeknownst to Joy and at her father’s behest) , and instead of actually advocating for her sister’s burgeoning business like she promised she would, she overhauls the meeting to pitch her own business ideas, and she ends up almost ruining Joy’s business in the process. Her role is as the rival, despite the fact that her success and her sister’s needn’t be at odds. Her own feminine characteristics are seen as detrimental and toxic to everyone around her, showing that the only active business women with feminine traits is also utterly monstrous.
At the end of the day, Joy goes into the pile of films that simply reaffirm preconceived stereotypes about gender, race, and work. Its characters lacked the depth needed to make them real humans, and as such they became tropic depictions of what a patriarchal world already thinks of women and minorities in the workplace. Despite its single positive critique