Femininity and Gender Roles in Films The Graduate and The Last Picture Show

Society has set certain standards that women are supposed to follow. The most common image of women is that they are very passive and try to avoid conflict in any situation. More and more in society women are breaking down the social barriers that confine them to their specific roles. The movies The Graduate and The Last Picture Show reveal to viewers a side to females that is very nontraditional. These two movies help to show how women are rebelling against sexual social norms, and they are taking a more active and aggressive role when dealing with heterosexual relationships.

Women in today’s society seem to be having a very difficult time expressing themselves without dealing with lots of criticism. Common values are standing in the way of women’s drive toward molding themselves into whatever they desire. Our culture has made standards about how should women look, act, and conduct themselves that greatly limits what they can do, and still gain respect. Martin S. Fiebert and Mark W. Meyer state that, “[there are] more negative [gender] stereotypes for men than for women.” This idea doesn’t seem to have a great amount of validity in our present society. Society set certain standards that men are supposed to live up to such as strength and confidence, which are more behavioral characteristics. Women seem to be more trapped than men by societies standards because they are supposed to live up to standards dealing with beauty and size, which are more physical characteristics These specific guidelines have been set by society that are sometimes unattainable for a majority of women. The women that follow the specific criteria are greatly respected, and the ones that try and be innovative usually are criticized if not disliked.

The movie The Graduate depicts a story about an older woman named Mrs. Robinson who is tired with her marriage and sex life and decides to spice up her life a bit with a different man. She notices a youthful man named Benjamin Braddock who just graduated from college and is very inexperienced sexually. She decides to seduce the young man, and does it quite successfully even though she is a married woman with a daughter the same age as Benjamin. Most mothers would consider Mrs. Robinson’s situation as inappropriate because it does not send the traditional image to her daughter of what is right for women to do. While trying to seduce Benjamin, Mrs.