The first movie that came to my mind that presents wild real men is Mr. Mom. Although this film is a lot less violent and a lot less about sexuality than the films mentioned in the reading I believe these films shows males and females going outside the realm of what is considered normal for them. The film is about a man played by Michael Keaton who works at a car manufacture. He and his wife have several kids, whom his wife stays at home with. Eventually he is laid off. His wife finds a job before him, because she found a job first he has to stay home and take care of the kids. The movies goes with Beedles explanation of what society does and that is assign gender roles Beedles says “ biological functions of men and women have been the source of many behavioral characteristics that we ascribe to the gender.(Beedles pg 203) The movie has Michael Keaton’s character in some more feminist situations. He is seen wearing an apron cooking for his kids, something that is mostly associated with women. He also does things such as gossip with the other neighborhood moms, and doing workouts on the television. Also you could make an argument that the wife is an example of real wild women. She is a woman who was able to become the breadwinner of her family after her husband was laid off, something that is done in real life more than people realize.
Although this is forced on Michael Keaton, and it’s hard to call it an example of wild real men at first, he soon grows into the role of being a stay at home dad. This movie was made in the 80’s so possibly it was made easier as Beadles says “the quaint and antiquated notion that women are generally passive and dependent- have been challenged by women( and some men) in the past thirty years or so.” (Beedles pg 203) If this movie was made in the fifty’s or sixty’s I think it would have been seen as a lot less realistic, it may not have been possible for this movie to have been made during those times for the reason it really only has been a few decades since it has become less taboo, like the article says. While Michael Keaton is doing something that he grows into and has the right to do, it is still seen by most of the world today as funny, as he is doing what is traditional seen as something a women should be doing. He is able to keep his masculinity as even though his doing what seen as abnormal for a straight man, he does things such as threatening to punch his former boss after his former boss talks down to his son. This comes up later as the boss does it again at the end of the film and promptly punched by Michael Keaton. This was after his boss offers him his job back, which he accepted. The film really tried to hint that Michael Keatons masculinity helped him get out of the slump he was in.
The character of the wife is good example of wild real women, as I said before because she able to take the role of breadwinner after her husband is laid off. The job she takes is a high one in a well known company. She is able to make a presentation for a commercial that is so welled received from her bosses they want her to help direct the commercial. During the time she is helping with her commercial, one of her bosses makes advances on her. She does not respond well to this and eventually punches her boss in the nose and quits. This is example of a woman going against the idea of them being “passive and dependent”. (Beedles pg 203)
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