One film in particular, "Erin Brockovich", very well describes the struggles of women in pop culture and how difficult it is for strong females to strive. The movie released in 2000 shows the struggles that women constantly face in that they are very underestimated and are seen by many men to not have the capabilities to be as powerful or intelligent as men in the business world. Erin Brockovich was single mother of 3 who was unemployed and had just lost a serious personal injury case. She then got a job from her lawyer during the case as a file clerk in his office. This woman had little to nothing going for her except for a low-paying job and the fact that she was quite attractive as she used to compete regularly in beauty pageants and at one point was a former Miss Wichita. Even in her tough postition Brockovich did not falter as she began snooping through documents on a gas and electric company case while working as a fileclerk. She was able to find out that the company had actually been lying about there pollution outputs and the company had actually been poisoning a small town in California. She eventually was able to uncover enough evidence and in the ensuing case, the gas and electric company was forced to pay $333 million dollars to over 160 plaintiffs who had been affected by the pollution and water poisoning.
Here's a trailer for those unfamiliar: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9TjEklyF7-E
This film goes against the old ways of thinking about women. For example, Brockovich goes against the old-fashioned cliche of a mother. A mother should be home at all times, tending to her home and children and raising the kids at home so that they will be well behaved for when their father returns home. She should be dressed well and already have a meal ready for her children and her husband when he comes back to work. Brockovich defies this dated stereotype of a mother as she is a single mother with three children. She struggles to maintain a steady balance between her kids and her job early in the film, but eventually she finds her happy medium as she is eventually able to find a happy medium between both. 20 or 30 years prior a single mother or a divorcee would be seen as a tramp or a worthless female, but Brockovich shows that this mindset is completely untrue and that woman can raise children and maintain a steady job regardless of how many children or how difficult a job may turn out to be.
Brockovich is also able show strong feminist values as she doesn't require a male presence in order to succeed in the business world. A single mother at a very low ranking job and three kids to feed and care for is in no way an easy feat. She is able to not only support those children, all of which are very young thus requiring a lot of extra attention and care, but she also manages to succeed in her job. Not only does she succeed, she figueres out a huge company is hurting thousands of people without and experience or a degree in the proper field she had been fighting for. All of this was done without a major male influence in her life. Erin became one of the most well known women in the country due to her strong, fiery passion and the fact she did all of this by herself, providing pride and honor to woman accross the country.
Even as Brockovich proves many stereotypes wrong about women, she is also able to use her looks and body as a tool. In one scene she shows her cleavage to s clerk at the company she is investigating in order for him to allow Brockovich to look through some files. This shows the idea of the idea that women understand what goes in many minds of men and that they should use their bodies and the fact that they are women to get ahead. This movie shows that women have understandings of themselves and dumb stereotypes, such as in the scene that man was easily manipulated by use of Erin's female body and the fact that she understood that the man probably thought Erin was harmless, being that she was a woman. This shows how women use not only their wit and intelligence but their wit in order to get ahead.
Erin Brockovich was a strong, feminist woman who proved that women are strong and underestimated and that all the objectification that goes on through modern media portraying women as nothing but sheer dolls or eye candy for men is completely incorrect and does nothing disregard the advancements of modern culture.
Citations:
Zeisler, Andi. Feminism and Pop Culture. California: Seal, 2008. Print.
Image 1:
http://blogs.amctv.com/movie-blog/2009/05/photos-movie-moms.php
Image 2:
http://holidays.slides.kaboose.com/143-top-ten-mother-s-day-movies/2
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