Essay On Masculinity In She's The Man

The notion of gender is embedded into our minds to the point that it appears to us to be completely natural that we often take it for granted, we think it is true and real. In fact, gender is constructed and it is “not something we were born with, not something we have, but something we do – something we perform” (Turner). Thus, this essay will explore on how the movie She’s the Man challenges the ideals of masculinity and femininity in the society in relation to gender stereotype and gender performativity. She’s the Man is an American romantic comedy film which is inspired by William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night. It tells a story of a teenager, Viola Hastings. As her football team is dropped out from school’s athletic programme, she goes to her brother’s school, disguises as him and pretends to be

Firstly, the film still celebrates hegemonic masculinity and in this case, sport is used as a way to promote it. This is evident by the fact that Duke is presented as an extremely talented football player, hence “connecting of masculinity to toughness” (Connell 94), it honors way of being a man and help strengthens male masculine imagery. Also, it indicates that football, this professional sport is dominated by men, which may be the reason why the women’s football team is eliminated at the beginning of the movie. Furthermore, the character of the protagonist meets some of the features of hegemonic masculinity in American culture. For instance, physical force and control, a presentation of Duke’s muscular build highlights a manly character, a development physical fitness (Turner). Another feature is heterosexuality; Duke is interested in Viola and they end up together at the end. Thus, the movie shows that hegemonic masculinity is “widely accepted in a culture and…that acceptance reinforces the dominant gender ideology of culture.”