There are many movies that are being made in today’s society that have a certain portrayal of how women and men should behave, and what roles are supposed to be filled in society. Typically, the male roles are seen as the protector of the woman and in control. Women are stereotyped as having to rely on the male and being the caregiver of the children. The movie “The Pacifier” challenges the social rank between men and women and what their ‘meant’ to do.
The Pacifier was produced by Walt Disney Pictures, and is marked towards the ages of ten and sixteen. The movie starts out with Vin Diesel, played Lieutenant Shane Wolfe, who is place on a mission to save Howard Plummer from Serbian rebels. They are after Plummer’s classified government documents. Wolfe failed his mission, resulting in him being hospitalized, and the death of Mr. Plummer.
Two months later, Wolfe is released from the hospital and appointed to protect the Plummer family while
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He is seen as the man who is attractive, fearless, and muscular. Wolfe also is seen as bending the political rules that society sets for men and women when he becomes a babysitter. Disregarding the fact that he’s in the US Navy, he’s required to take on the role as ‘mommy’, for these five children who just lost their father. In one scene, Wolfe has to take Lulu and her Girl Scout friends to sell their Girl Guide cookies. In the beginning, Wolfe practically refuses to do this, but things change when he sees all of the girls and their excitement to sell cookies. He tells them “.. here’s how it’s going to be, tonight I am you “den mother”, that means if you want to live to see tomorrow you do exactly as I say” (Shankman, 2005). Wolfe referring himself as “den mother”, accepts the role of mother while the children’s parents are away, and the protector of the family, while still taking on the masculine role of being in