Some Like It Hot Analysis

"Well, nobody's perfect" the famous last line from the movie Some Like It Hot by director Billy Wilder, almost did not make it into the film. The line was only a temporary fill-in, until Wilder could come up with a better line. Fortunately, the line made it into the film, and became the most famous and iconic line of the entire film. The story is about two men, trying to escape from a criminal gang by dressing up as woman, and fleeing to Florida with an all-woman jazz band. The film thus stands central in the discussion about gender and heteronormativity in society, and proves a valuable insight into these subjects. Terrell Carver, a professor of political theory, argued that Some Like It Hot draws attention to Judith Butler’s theories of gender, such as …show more content…
According to Carver, by drawing attention to performativity, the film subverts heteronormativity (Carver). Butler, however, argues that the film is not subverting, but rather reinforcing heteronormativity and merely policing the boundaries of our society by portraying the main characters as an imitation of stereotypical heterosexual woman (Butler). In this essay I will argue that Wilder’s film Some Like It Hot, both reinforces and subverts heteronormativity, but most significantly provides a realization of heterosexual norms in our society and their importance. The film Some Like It Hot came to theaters in 1959, a period in which civil rights movements and feminist movements were extremely active in trying to break boundaries in race and gender. In the film, two men dress up as woman to escape from their problems, this dressing up as the other sex was of course controversial at that time. Multiple actors who were asked to play the parts of Joe and Jerry, needing to dress up as woman, refused the roles,