ipl-logo

Tootsie Film Analysis

871 Words4 Pages

Tootsie, a critically acclaimed comedy has been a gut-splitting, yet touching film for decades. This work simultaneously delves into the critical idea of gender roles within media while maintaining the lighthearted feel of a love story. Viewers and critics around the globe even go as far as stating that such a piece is well on its way to becoming a cultural artifact. Dustin Dustin Hoffman stars in Tootsie as Michael Dorsey, an unapologetic actor in New York who is unemployable in the industry due to his temperamental past. Due to this, Michael makes the transition into a liberated and eccentric woman by the name of Dorothy in order to fill the role in a daytime Soap Opera. Being one of the first of its kind, Tootsie, strategically calls on …show more content…

To start, the down-on-his-luck actor Michael Dorsey is seen as a smooth talking, bright, and aggressive character, epitomizing a sense of masculinity from the start of the film. Some critics even goes as far as comparing Michael to Dustin Hoffman himself. This character is comprehensibly the easier of the two roles to act, but this doesn’t mean that there wasn’t an abundance of technique …show more content…

This in part, is due to Hoffman stylistically crafting Dorothy to have a straight posture, high and soft voice, and overall using fewer hand gestures and movements as compared to Michael. In the scene where Michael first transitions into Dorothy is a perfect snapshot to display Hoffman’s characterization of her. She is filmed strutting down a street, eyes set upon the camera with her posture held straight and tall. Specifically, by standing with her weight centered and her shoulders back as compared to Michael displays more of a feminine nature. In addition to just her posture, she appears to fill less space physically by limiting her hand gestures and head movements to convey a more rigid

Show More
Related

Film Analysis: The Stickup Kid

616 Words | 3 Pages

The Stickup Kid “Stickup Kid” is a FRONTLINE digital exclusive on PBS. This 28 minute video is a documentary film that tells Alonza Thomas’ stories of living in a California State Prison, and then follows his life once he’s released. The interesting thing about Alonza is that he was tried as an adult when he was only 15 years old. Alonza Thomas had run away from home, and lived with a man for a few days. When Alonza decided to go back to his own home, the man pulled a gun on him and said, “You think you’re just gonna eat my food for free?

Read More

Lone Star Film Analysis

678 Words | 3 Pages

Numerous screenwriters and directors have often dealt in their films with the theme of borders, whether literal and officially recognised, like military ranks or state frontiers, or abstract and metaphorical, like those of morality, justice, race, and gender, along with several others. As a consequence, as John Gibbs points out, one could assemble these movies, especially those taking place on the confines between Mexico and United States, under the label of ‘border films’ (2002: 27); thus contextualising them in a very specific tradition, which includes pictures such as Touch of Evil (Orson Welles 1958) or The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (Tommy Lee Jones 2005). Accordingly, another notable movie belonging to the ‘border film tradition’ is Lone Star: an acclaimed 1996 hybrid of western and mystery film conventions, directed and written by independent filmmaker John Sayles. The picture recounts the story of a murder investigation, which leads the main character, Sheriff Sam

Read More

The Castle Film Analysis

952 Words | 4 Pages

In 2010, a poll taken from over 1000 people named Darryl Kerrigan of The Castle as the favourite Australian movie character with 23% of the votes (Hayes, 2010). The accolades kept flowing for the 1997 film, with over a third of those interviewed thinking The Castle best represents the real Australian culture (Hayes, 2010). These results raise an interesting question. How does a film taken in 11 days with a budget of half a million dollars capture the hearts of more Australians than a Hollywood blockbuster? What is it about Darryl and his family, and the story of the Kerrigans that Australians can relate to?

Read More

Miracle Film Analysis

770 Words | 4 Pages

The film Miracle portrays one of the most significant moments in U.S Olympics history. The thought of a group of college hockey players beating the “lab-made” Russians was almost inconceivable at the time. Although this sporting achievement was immense, the political significance of the Americans beating the Russians was far more significant. Following World War II, Eastern and Western nations faced geopolitical tensions, and eventually, entered into the Cold War. While the U.S and Russia never fired a shot during the Cold War, the tension between the two nations was ever-present.

Read More

Frank Serpico Film Analysis

710 Words | 3 Pages

The third issue we found out from “Serpico” is corruption. In the movie, police officer Frank Serpico exposed corruption in the New York City police department. He was the first officer to testify against another officer. Corruption is the dishonest behavior and wrong doing on the part of an authority or powerful party through means that are illegitimate, immoral, and incompatible with ethical standards. Corruption are include giving or accepting bribes or inappropriate presents, double dealing, under-the-table transactions, manipulating elections, diverting funds, laundering money and defrauding investors.

Read More

Pinky Movie Analysis

722 Words | 3 Pages

The movie Pinky took place during the 1940s where black people were mistreated. The movie is about a young light skinned black woman who was from the south and moved up to the North to become a nurse. Back then black people were not allowed to go to school, but Pinky passed as a white girl. When she was in school in the north, she fell in love with a white doctor, Thomas Adams. Thomas knew nothing about Pinky’s background about being a light skinned black woman because he thought she was white.

Read More

Bamboozled Film Analysis

1101 Words | 5 Pages

Although race relations in the United States between whites and African Americans have significantly improved since the abolishment of Jim Crow laws, director Spike Lee’s socially conscious satire, Bamboozled shows that discrimination has only evolved. Released in 2000, the film sought to edify the African American population about the racist and stereotypical treatments blacks endured during the Jim Crow era when they were used to entertain the white masses. Moreover, it also shows how that culture is still propagated today, with African American film makers just as guilty. From the time the first African set foot in the North American colony of Jamestown, Virginia, in 1619, race relations have always been whites’ superiority over blacks.

Read More

The Movie Newsies Movie Analysis

1298 Words | 6 Pages

The late 19th century consisted of rigid work hours for children, the growth of strikes, and the use of yellow journalism. It was a challenging time for anyone below the upper class to live in. This is demonstrated throughout Newsies, a Broadway Musical displaying the challenges from this time period. Child labor, a major part of the movie, was the way of life and consisted of young children doing hard work as a vital part of the nation’s economy and income of families of the time. Another part of the movie, strikes, were the people’s way of refusing to work as a result of not getting their desires.

Read More

Film Analysis: O Brother Where Art Thou?

806 Words | 4 Pages

O Brother Where Art Thou? is a film that will take you on a perilous journey with Ulysses Everett McGill and his simpleminded cohorts. This film may be set amidst the early 1930’s Great Depression era, but it still has a Homer’s Odyssey feel to it. Down in the dusty and highly racial south, Everett recruits a couple of dimwitted convicts, Pete Hogwallop and Delmar O’Donnell, to help him retrieve his lost treasure and make it back home before his wife marries another suitor.

Read More

Paralanguage In The Office

868 Words | 4 Pages

As stated earlier, Michael is the perfect example of how NOT to act in American society. This scene shows a very clear transition between the Speech Acts we reviewed in class and what happens when these Acts go against the grain of society’s standards. It begins with Michael trying to make a statement by hugging Oscar. What Michael fails to do is properly request to hug Oscar in the form of a question, as most Americans do. Consequently, Oscar timidly and then very forcibly refuses his request.

Read More

The Incredibles Film Analysis

1304 Words | 6 Pages

Throughout life we are told to express our individuality and swim against the stream of the general population to put emphasis on the characteristics that make us, in short, individuals. Cherishing what makes an individual special and different is what establishes roots in creativity and self expression, however there is a forced false sense of comradery in today’s society that takes the form of involvement with the masses; peer pressure forces many people to fall into the mold of an average character. The Academy award winning film, “The Incredibles” displays the themes of expressing one’s true self and special qualities, and in contrast repression by society to fit a basic mold. These themes are elaborated on through the development of the main characters and expressed further through the supporting roles and their dialogue and endeavors.

Read More

Carrie Film Analysis

1019 Words | 5 Pages

Introduction The film Carrie (Brian De Palma, 1976) follows the protagonist Carrie White, Sissy Spacek, who is a shy high school student residing in a small town. After receiving her first period, she acquires telekinetic powers, which turns her world around; especially since she did not understand what the change meant for her as a new woman. Although Carrie is a horror film, the underlying meaning points to feminism as it embarks on the discovery of power, and threatening the patriarchal order. Carrie is a feminist film where fear comes not in blood or telekinesis, but the fears of a strong woman.

Read More

Cinematic Language In The Wizard Of Oz

1101 Words | 5 Pages

In The Wizard of Oz by Victor Fleming, 1939, specifically during the beginning scene, Dorothy was in sync with the setting. Dorothy was in the proper placement of the props around her, adding to the feelings of her reflecting the place she is in. The background eluded to the idea that she is far away from the golden spherical instrument that 's supposed to hold a globe, on the window sill in the background. There 's also an interesting painting below the window sill, it 's a golden band of boxes; this could be the representation of how Dorothy is gonna get to where she 's going, the yellow brick road. However, the crystal ball seems to be the most prominent part of the scene, the contrast of Dorothy 's position enhanced the feeling to the viewer that Dorothy is scared and alone.

Read More

Beetlejuice Film Analysis

688 Words | 3 Pages

Tim Burton contributes to the world of animation in the film industry and redefined stop motion . Lighting is an important cinematic technique directors can use to set the mood for a particular scene. For instance, high-key lighting is used to flood a scene with light, often making the set and characters appear happy and safe. In contrast, low-key lighting casts deep shadows across the set and characters creating a sense of danger. Burton makes good use of lighting techniques in many of his films.

Read More

Toy Story Analysis

1683 Words | 7 Pages

Toy story is the initially enlivened film by Pixar Directed by John Lasseter. Toy Story takes after a gathering of toys who put on a show to be dead at whatever point people are available. These toys are possessed by a kid named Andy. On His birthday he gets Buzz Light year who trusts himself as a genuine astronaut. Andy feels to supplant with his most loved toy Woody.

Read More

More about Tootsie Film Analysis

Related Topics

Open Document