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This past weekend, my roommate and I rented "New in Town" for a light and funny evening. I had never actually heard of it- but it looked like your typical romantic comedy.
Not to spoil the movie for any of you, but the basic premise is that a young, single female business executive is shipped off by her company to a small town in Minnesota. There, she is expected to turn around the company's plant, and if she succeeds, she will be promoted to VP. While in MN, she begins dating the local union leader- just as she is called back to Miami for her promotion. So. she leaves MN and her relationship, and moves back to Miami.
Sounds innocent enough, right? Well... I don't know if it this class, or just my own personal bias, but two things immediately stuck out at me while watching.
1) At the beginning of the movie, as her company executives are trying to decide who to send to MN, "Lucy" is quickly offered up by her male co-workers. They state, "Lucy can go- she is single, and doesn't have a family!". While I feel like many people would find this inappropriate- I think that it is just a reality of the current workforce. Lucy, without a spouse or children is the obvious choice for this short term detail to MN. Moving an entire family is very expensive, and moving an employee away from their entire family is bound to make them unhappy, and less productive.
2) Spoiler Alert... At the end of the movie, Lucy gives up her post as a Vice President and her fabulous urban lifestyle to move back to MN. Why you ask? Primarily because of the man that she was dating. Without discussion or compromise, Lucy gave up everything, and returned to Minnesota. Now, I'm not sure what this says about me,but I find it highly unlikely that I would give up my entire career and life, to move back to a place I hated... All for a man I had just started dating. Now, perhaps I am being critical- but doesn't a portrayal like this move us backwards?
I don't know if anyone else has seen this- but if you have, please chime in! (Or, does anyone have another example of a movie that tackles this either well, or poorly?)
Monday, July 5, 2010
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3 comments:
I haven't seen the movie. But, I am going to comment based on Sabrina's description. Addressing each of her points in turn-
1- I don't see why this is necessarily a bad thing. It could be sexist, or it couldn't be. I think in the workforce, the question should always primarily be who is the best man/woman for the job? If that brings you to 2 or 3 people, why not consider additional factors like family, and cost? We must remember that business is business: as Sabrina pointed out, it is a lot cheaper to relocate one person than 4 people (even temporarily!). Why put kids, and a spouse through that stress unnecessarily? To be clear, I am not saying that a single female should automatically be sent first, but if she is equally qualified to go as others, why not? Opportunities like that, may lead to career advancement that wouldn't have happened otherwise; perhaps, for example, she will be seen as a good "team player", and get a promotion down the road because she took this less-than-plum assignment.
2- Again, I don't think this is a bad thing either. Not to sound like a cheese, but isn't love worth it? Isn't she better off having someone that she could end up with, in a place she may not love, than just a job and an "urban lifestyle"? The fact that she just started dating him may take some force away from this argument, but I think when you know you want to be with someone, you know. For example, my parents got engaged after knowing each other for 3 days (it wasn't an arranged marriage or anything like that). I know that is insane, but they have ben married for almost 35 years. I don't think when people look back at their life, too many say "I wish I spent more time at work." Instead they say, "I wish I spent more time with my family." Here is her opportunity to have that family, and I think if she felt strongly that he could be the one, then she made the right decision. After all, if it didn't work out, she could always move back. Perhaps her company wouldn't re-hire her, but if she was a successful VP, I'm sure she'd get hired elsewhere with relative ease. I actually have a lot of friends that have done this same exact thing. Sometimes it worked out, and sometimes it didn't, but they all said that if they didn't try, they would have regretted it, possibly forever.
I agree with Sabrina, though I have not seen the movie myself, I have seen countless movies, sitcoms, etc. that seem to perpetuates the stereotypical decisions and situations that women faced with. And always, how do they turn out... with the woman leaving her personal goals and ambitions to be with her "prince charming." Quite the fairytale I must say.
It reminds me of that movie, "The Proposal" with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. Though I really like this romcom... I can denote some major issues with how it portrays women and men. This story's plot focuses on the stereotype of women in powerful positions as "bitches." We have talked about this in class numerous times with Hillary’s perception in the media.
In this movie, Sandra (unmarried, cut-throat, workaholic) similar to “Lucy” falls in love and quits her successful career for the man she loves. Not to say that this is wrong, but I think it has become an all too common theme in the media of how women should behave.
To preface my post about “work-life-balance,” I think that women have been given a false notion that they can’t “have their cake and eat it too”… that women must choose between having a successful personal life or a successful professional life. AND the more I think about it the media is probably the main driver of this detrimental sexist message. My hope is that my generation of women will continue to break through these myths and create a mass that gives the media no choice but to accurately portray women as masters of their own being, not consumed by one or the other (personal / professional), but by their own balance of both. Now that is a movie premise that I would like to see!
I have actually seen the movie "New In Town" and while I did not think of these particular issues when I first saw the movie everyone's comments make sense.
First, I agree with Ilana that it is not necessarily a problem or sexist that they send Renee Zelleweger's character to MN just because she is a single female. Obviously, she is competent enough to even be in the meeting with all of the other men and to be up for the VP position. In fact, moving to MN and illustrating to her bosses that she is willing to make sacrifices for the company could make her an even more valuable employee and promote her even further in the long run.
In terms of her moving back to MN and giving up her job and life for a guy she just started dating leaves me torn. I agree with Ilana that love is worth it. However, part of me also wants to argue why did the guy not quit his job and movie to Miami? It could be assumed that she had the higher paying job and possibly more stability than he did. On the other hand, I know what it is like to pick up your life and follow the one you love. I left my life and job in NC to move to DC because my husband was accepted to medical school. So, I could go either way on this.
However, the one issue that drove me crazy in both "New In Town" and the "The Proposal" were Renee Zelleweger and Sandra Bullock's wardrobe. In "New In Town" Renee Zelleweger shows up to MN in the middle of winter with no winter clothes. Essentially she comes with just her Miami wardrobe (skimpy suits and stiletto heels). Sandra Bullock's character does something similar in "The Proposal". Now, you may have never been to MN or to Alaska but if these women were supposed to be competent enough to have the positions that they had at their companies don't you think they would know to pack winter clothes? So many scenes of Renee Zelleweger are of her absolutely freezing because she did not even bring a coat. To me, this is much more degrading to women than the other two issues. I am not really sure what point the screen writer's are trying to make by having these women struggle in the elements as they walk in their stiletto heels.
In the end, I enjoy a good romcom every once in a while but I certainly do not expect to find a female character that I want to have as a role model.
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