The world we live in is mainly controlled by men. Women who can step up
and be better than the men around them are usually blocked out and not given a
chance. This whole process can be seen in the movie I’m going to relate my
portable concept to. “She’s the man” is a movie that talks about a girl named
Viola Hastings, who loves to play soccer, and wishes to pursue her dream of
being a recognized player. However, things turn out wrong when the girls’
soccer team shuts down, and the boys’ coach refuses to let them tryout to join
their team. Viola, who has a brother named Sebastian, grabs the opportunity of
fulfilling her dream after realizing her brother is going to skip school for 3
weeks, and comes up with the idea of dressing up like him and being in his
place. After a few days in school as Sebastian, she makes the boys soccer team!
After this movie came to my mind, I connected it with the ideas of two
of the authors we’ve read in class so far. One is Erving Goffman and the
second; Deborah Tannen.
Goffman, in his book “Presentation of Self” discusses how people tend to
act like people they really aren’t in order to get where they want and fulfill
their needs. According to him, humans are active and knowledgeable, who devise
their own conduct, guide and control how others see them and are different in
social settings than alone (Marshall,
2013). In other
words, humans are “actors.”
When
we relate this idea to what Viola has done in the above mentioned movie, we
realize that she actually disguised herself as someone else, which in this case
is her older brother, in Goffman’s words, she “put on a mask” to get to her dream!
First, to be able to play soccer and
second, to be able to show everyone, especially her school coach and soccer
players that she is good enough to play on the men’s team. Having done all this,
she’s in fact controlling how others are seeing her. She’s acting like a boy
around people, and getting back to who she really is; a girl, when she’s alone.
This implies that she’s acting differently in social settings than when she’s
all alone.
Deborah Tannen, in her book “The Power of Talk”, has discussed that boys
are rewarded to talk up achievement, whereas, girls are rewarded if they play
down their achievements. (Tannen,
1995) This means,
women are considered women if they don’t step up and try to be better than men.
However, men are considered men if they step up and be better than women.
Viola, having been put down, and rejected in the men’s soccer team, because
of being a female, shows us exactly what Tannen has written. I actually remember a quote from the movie,
in which the coach of the boys’ soccer team tells Viola and her fellow
teammates that girls aren’t as fast, strong and athletic enough as boys, and
that “Girl’s can’t beat boys. It’s as simple as that” ("She's the man," 2010). This scene
proves us that the point Tannen is trying to show us is true, and we may not
realize it until we seriously think about it.
Having made the relevant connections, I conclude that we’re not who we
really are in social settings, due to the fact that people won’t accept others
if they show their true identity. This point is true especially in women’s
case, because as we see above, the female sex is always put down while trying
to show a point and be better or equal to men/boys.
References
·
Tannen, D. (1995). The
power of talk.
·
Goffman, E. presentation
of self.
·
Marshall, D. (2013). Goffman and the interaction order [Web]. Retrieved from
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSgYjyfF19w
·
Baehr, T. (n.d.). She's
the man. Retrieved from http://www.cbn.com/entertainment/screen/movieguide_ShesTheMan.aspx
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