Tootsie Essay

Words: 1575
Pages: 7

“Tootsie” (1982) – Directed by Sydney Pollack
Introduction
The drama “Tootsie” is about an unemployed actor – Michael Dorsey who wants to raise fund for his friend’s drama and therefore he decides to work for money. However, as he is serious in acting, directors find him difficult to get along with; therefore, Michael can only cross-dressed to be Dorothy Michaels in order to get a job. In my opinion, the drama presents the idea of gender stereotypes, which shows the idea of biased view on different gender. For instance, in the 1980s, there are raising concerns on striving equal status between two genders, however, there are still prejudice in people’s mind, such as female cannot be the leaders since they are rather emotional.

In the

After the shooting, Julie and Dorothy praise each other while Ron says “so much for the elaboration.” This line expresses his anger and jealousy towards Dorothy as he expects Julie should thank him rather than Dorothy. And therefore, this jealousy generates him to stop the conversation and asks other crew to continue their work. Moreover, he asks Dorothy to take a break by saying “Tootsie, take 10.” From the previous part of the drama, we know that Michael dislikes Ron calls everyone “Honey” “Dear”, etc, and therefore it drives her to expresses his view on these nicknames. When Dorothy says “Ron, my name is Dorothy, not… just Dorothy” Ron did not expect Dorothy will have this kind of reaction which creates a conflict from his wants. Dorothy continues to emphasize the male crews have their own name and she should have her own name also, nevertheless, she spells “D-O-R-O-T-H-Y” to Ron in order to emphasize her anger. During the scene, the name- Dorothy appears repeatedly and it causes audience to think about the meaning behind, it stresses women want respect from others, not only male.

We can see that the scene is not taking place in the private condition, but a work place, which emphasizes that woman is no more powerless in work place, they can also express their own opinion. Furthermore, Dorothy and Ron are both standing up, shooting at the same angle, it signifies the equal status between them. And the interesting part is that, Dorothy