ljr-34319
In the world today, women in the athletic profession are still fighting for equality. An example is US National Women's Soccer team. Even though they are winning more games than the US Men's team, they receive pay significantly below the men's salary. A stereotype that has been around for generations is that boys are better than girls, especially in sports. But, there is an eye-opening movie that tries to level the playing field for men and women, which is called, "She's the Man". It is sport and romance film produced by Lauren Shuler Donner and Ewan Leslie that conveys a need for equality. The main character, Viola Hastings, played by Amanda Bynes, uses her funny, but determined personality, to prove that she plays well enough to compete on the boy's soccer team. "She's the Man" is a must-watch for everyone all ages because not only does it relate to the topic of gender equality and empowers women, but also has a comedic twist that entertains a large audience."She's the Man" can empower everyone, not only women, because of the upbeat music and driven character, Viola. The beginning of the movie starts off with an energetic song and colorful graphics that are integrated into a beach soccer scene; it will catch the audience's attention. The song played during the beach scene is "No Sleep Tonight," by the Faders, a rock band consisting of three women. Their powerful voices emphasize the lyrics, "I can't stop this feeling," while Viola is slide tackling and kicking the ball. Another example that can empower women is during the carnival scene, Justin, her ex boyfriend, told her to "be a girl for five seconds," when she was only focused on her soccer situation and not their relationship. Instead of being submissive, she insists that it's not a "stupid soccer issue", and calls him a "jerk" right before she slaps him in the face. Her actions encourage women to stand up for themselves and their opinions. A main theme of "She's the Man" is gender quality. After the opening scene, Viola and her teammates find out that the girls soccer team is cut at Cornwall. Angry, they decide to try-out for the boys soccer team. But, the ignorant head coach of the boy's soccer team and close-minded male players, including Viola's boyfriend—ex boyfriend— don't think that the women can compare or play alongside them. When the girls said that they wanted to tryout for his team, the coach said, "Girls aren't as fast as boys. It's not me talking, it's a scientific fact. Girls can't beat boys. It's as simple as that." But, instead of keeping her down, this remark sparks a fire in Viola that pushes her to impersonate her brother, Sebastian, and try out for Illyria's boys soccer team. Her determination shows that she wants to be treated as an equal. The creators of the movie cleverly portrayed inequality again when they compared Viola and her brother. When she asked him, "Do you know the percentage of bands that actually make it to the big time?", he replied with, "Probably the same as female soccer players", which puts being a female athlete into perspective. In the end, the Illyria coach saw her potential and dedication and decided to move her from second to first string. It was inspiring to watch the coach judge her based on skill level, not because of her gender. Even after he found out she was a girl, he still let her play because unlike Cornwall, he doesn't "discriminate based on gender". Another example of inequality is shown in her dream, she is wearing a big fluffy pink dress, while everyone else on the field is wearing normal soccer clothes. In a way, the clothing symbolizes that girls are viewed as princesses or aren't able to play a sport. The underlying meaning shows inequality in the treatment of female athletes. A positive about the dream is that the coach from Illyria is yelling at her to be on the field and has the same expectation of her in a pink dress as he does for the boys in soccer gear. A comedic twist that the producers put in the movie was a scene where they are playing Rondo, a game where they have to keep the ball away from one person in the middle, and Viola, who is pretending to be Sebastian, gets "hit in the balls", and she dramatically pretended that it hurt. All throughout the movie, Amanda Bynes's goofy facial expressions kept me laughing and on the edge of my seat. Another comedic moment in the movie was when she told the coach that she couldn't be a "skin" because she was "allergic to the sun". Her quirky comments and awkward personality kept the movie upbeat while simultaneously breaking the gender normal. In the final game against Illyria, Viola proves that she is good enough to play with the boys team by helping them win by scoring the winning goal of the game. Watching this movie can inspire girls over the nation to realize that they can do anything they set their mind to, even if it is supposed to be a "boy thing". She proves that she can compete against boys through her hard work and dedication toward extra hours of practice, even if it meant dressing up as a man. If that was the only way that she could have been treated with severity, we clearly need to reevaluate society.
oOoBarracuda
Bringing all of the gender confusion and love triangulating of William Shakespeare's Twelfth Night to a high school setting was a wonderful way to bring the bard's work to a younger generation. Andy Fickman's 2006 film She's the Man starring Amanda Bynes and Channing Tatum remained faithful to the 1601 work of Shakespeare with perfectly modern twists to engage a brand new audience. Much like Twelfth Night (1996), She;s the Man stayed true to Shakespeare's theme of gender confusion, She's the Man also brings secrecy and betrayal to the forefront more so than the bard himself. Even with gender roles reversed and interchangeable, the overarching message in She's the Man is what it means to confide in someone and how damaging it can be when trust is broken.High school student Viola Hastings (Amanda Bynes) is a star soccer player on her girl's soccer team. For Viola, soccer is life, which is why she feels as though her life is over when her school's girl's soccer team is cut. Viola and some of the girls go to the boy's soccer team and ask if they can join. Viola is sure that they will comply as her boyfriend is the goalie of the boy's team and has expressed to Viola that her talent exceeds half of the members of his team. When the boys scoff at the idea of having girls on their team and refuse the girls, Viola seeks revenge. Viola then learns that her twin brother Sebastian (James Kirk), newly enrolled at a new high school, is fleeing with his band for London and will miss his first two weeks of school. Viola decides to go to the new high school in her brother's place, make the soccer team, and beat her own high school's boys soccer team exacting revenge on her school and ex-boyfriend. Viola didn't expect to fall in love with her roommate Duke (Channing Tatum) who is trying to seduce the popular Olivia (Laura Ramsey). Olivia connects with Sebastian/Viola and eventually falls in love with her, not knowing, of course, that Sebastian is Viola in disguise. Calamity ensues when the real Sebastian returns from London early, unaware that he has been replaced at his school by his sister. The connections all throughout She's the Man to Twelfth Night were a pure joy for this literature buff. The artful ways in which they brought pieces of Shakespeare's tale of the modern day were wonderful. I especially appreciated naming the rival school that Viola attends in Sebastian's place that of the town Viola washed upon after the shipwreck in Twelfth Night. I also enjoyed the naming of the spider in She's the Man to bring about the source inspiration, as well. I especially enjoy a reimagined film that pays proper tribute to the version it is reimagining. The acting is nothing to write home about. It is a teen comedy with younger actors playing teenagers, nothing extraordinary, but all parts were played adequately. The music was the real clincher for She's the Man. The upbeat fun music really made the transformation for the bard's work of aristocracy to the high school halls in a great way.As mentioned before, and fleshed out in another review, Twelfth Night deals heavily with the theme of gender confusion, likewise, She's the Man does the same with the main character Viola dressing as her brother. What She's the Man does that Twelfth Night didn't do is focus primarily on secrets and betrayal. Much more emphasis was placed upon the secret Viola was keeping from her roommate in She's the Man than Viola's secret she was keeping from the Count in Twelfth Night. It was interesting to see that turn and the prominence placed on secret keeping in the reimagined work. Even the film's tagline begins with "Everybody has a secret...". The emphasis on this film certainly lies within all of the mini betrayals between the gender confusion, and all others involved with it. The shift from the curse of love to trust and secrets was an interesting choice and made for a slightly more engaging film. There's something in this film for everyone, and even if you ignore the bard's inspiration in the film, you will still come away enjoying it.
Python Hyena
She's the Man (2006): Dir: Andy Fickson / Cast: Amanda Bynes, Channing Tatum, Laura Ramsey, Vinnie Jones, James Kirk: Tired misfire about gender identities. When the female soccer team is cut, star player Amanda Bynes disguises herself as her twin brother who is off to London for a music presentation. As predicted, she struggles to adapt to her male teammates and we can sense the ending an hour before it has arrived. Director Andy Fickson pulls off fine soccer action but the screenplay offers nothing new and feels content on presenting elements that have been done to death. Bynes is pleasant but she deserves better material to exercise her comic talent. The fact that she looks no more like a male than Barbra Streisand in Yentl also doesn't help. Channing Tatum is featured as the standard love interest football player. It will shock no one that he and Bynes hook up. Other roles are flat including Laura Ramsey who crushes on Bynes's male side, as if that was a surprise. Vinnie Jones plays the standard bad ass coach who feels the need to be loud and forceful. James Kirk plays the twin brother of Bynes and one could say that he was switching places so that he could flee the set. Bynes may be the man here but she wasn't backed by one who could write a decent screenplay or present an idea worth writing about. Instead, this film should be kicked harder than the soccer ball. Score: 2 / 10
SnoopyStyle
Based loosely on Shakespeare's "Twelfth Night or What You Will", this is teen farce. Viola (Amanda Bynes) is a good soccer player, but her team gets cut. Her brother Sebastian is running away to London with his band for two weeks. So she decides to impersonate him to join the boy's team at Sebastian's new school.The convoluted Shakespearian love triangle has a bit of fun. Amanda Bynes was still funny back then. She has the mannerisms and comic timing. Amanda definitely needs a shorter haircut to play the boy part. That wig looks really bad. It has Channing Tatum as the hunky soccer player, but he overplays the bumbling part. He looks stupid doing it. It's the lightest of farce. It's all very silly. Reason be damn. It does have a good jokes every once in awhile. This is not going to win any awards, but maybe it'll win a few smiles.
