Social Norms In The Twelfth Night And She's The Man

Both the Shakespeare play The Twelfth Night (1601–02) and the movie She’s The Man (released 2006) show women breaking social norms and ending up in difficult situations involving love triangles. In She’s The Man, a girl by the name of Viola takes on the persona of her brother Sebastian to prove she is good enough for the boys soccer team. In The Twelfth Night, a young aristocratic woman named Viola is involved in a shipwreck, resulting in the death of her brother. She was left alone on an unknown island and found work at the house of the Duke Orsino, but disguised herself as a man with the name Cesario in order to do that. In both of these stories, feelings emerge between characters and confusing relationships arise due to the fact that the

In the movie She’s The Man, Viola and her teammates learn that their soccer team has been cut so they go to talk to the boys coach to ask him if they can try out for the boys team. While the girls are talking to the coach and the boys team, the coach says, “but girls aren 't as fast as boys….Or as strong. Or as athletic. This is not me talking. It’s a scientific fact. Girls can’t beat boys. It’s as simple as that.” (Fickman, Andy, 2006). This shows the women are not being accepted because they did not even have the chance to try out for the boys team, the coach didn’t even offer them a shot. Furthermore, in the movie, Viola was talking to her brother Sebastian about his band and her soccer and he said, “You know the percentage of bands that make it to the big time, probably the same as female soccer players” (Fickman, Andy, 2006). Instead of lifting his sister up after learning about her soccer team being cut, he negatively talked about females and their success in sports. This is degrading because he is shutting down Viola and her dreams. To continue, in the play The Twelfth Night, Duke Orsino speaks to Viola, who he believes to be Cesario, and says, “There is no woman’s