Stereotypes In A Few Good Men
Hildy was a reporter for a newspaper that her ex-husband, Walter, is the editor of. The movie starts out with her visiting him in his office to tell him that she is leaving the newspaper and is engaged to another man. She has known that her ex-husband is a snake and will do everything he can to stay in control of her life. This was very common at the time. Women did not have a lot of power and then men they were married too made every decision about their life. Hildy tells Walter about how poorly he treated her and why he was not a good husband. She mentions that she is leaving the newspaper and wants to have a family and be a woman. Walter continues to tell her that she can never truly leave the newspaper because he has built her into a great journalist. He takes credit for everything she had accomplished throughout her career. She has made great accomplishments at this newspaper and is respected by her fellow reporters as well as the other men in the office. She is treated like “one of the guys” at the office. This was not that common. Women rarely had the opportunity to be at the
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top of the totem pole. Even if women were great workers and had success within their careers, men hardly respected them. Not only do men not respect women, but they do not recognize women as having skills and talents. Men believed that women were put in this world to take care of the house, have children, and look pretty doing it. Walter talked more about Hildy’s appearance than her journalism skills. He knows that she is a good writer but refuses to give her any recognition for it.
As Walter starts to realize that he is losing the best reporter that he has at the paper, he decided he had to do something to peak her interest in order to keep her there. He removes a reporter from the hottest story of the paper hoping to catch Hildy’s eye. Bruce, Hildy’s fiancé, does not see the evil side of Walter and thinks she should stay around for this story and then they can continue with their plans to move to Albany. Hildy’s decided to stick around for the story in order to help save an innocent man’s life. Believing Earl Williams is innocent, Hildy is able to get an interview with the “cop killer.” She then returns to the press room and meet Molly Malone, who is the only person to ever be nice to Earl. Soon after this she gets a call from Bruce stating that he is in jail for stealing a watch. Hildy is fully aware that Walter is behind this and drives to bail her fiancé out of jail. She then phone’s Walter and aggressively tells him that she is resigning and rips up the report she had typed up on the Earl Williams case.
While saying her goodbyes to her fellow reporters, she is interrupted by gunshots outside of the building. As all the reporters head out for the scoop, Hildy tackles Warden Cooley and pays him off. Earl Williams had escaped from the jail and is now on the loose. We later find out that the doctor and sheriff wanted a replay of the night he killed the cop. They gave him a gun and he was able to shoot the doctor and escape. Joe Pettibone walks in on the mayor and sheriff discussing the situation and hand them a reprieve for Earl Williams. These two try to bribe Pettibone into forgetting that he delivered this paper just so they can guarantee a win in the upcoming election. In order to win the vote, they need to hang Williams to get the “black” vote because the cop he supposedly killed was black. Hildy is back in the press room on the phone with Bruce, who has been arrested again because of Walter’s doing, when Earl Williams climbs in the window and states that he is innocent. Hildy does he best to hid him from the rest of the reporters and cops, but Earl is eventually discovered, but not before the true story is uncovered. The sheriff accidently gave up his story just as Pittibone walks in stating that he cannot be bribed. They mayor and the sheriff are discovered to be in the wrong. They were doing what they could to win the election, and by doing this, they were going to hang a man who was reprieved. Hildy decided that the life she wanted with Bruce is not what she truly wants. She wants to be a reporter and she is still in love with her ex-husband. The movie ends with Walter and Hildy leaving the press room heading back to their old lives together.
Reflection
As this movie went on, I became more skeptical of it. From all the readings and videos we have watched, this was not the office environment I expected for women at this time. I expected her to be treated as property and not as a hard working women. I could see that she was very good at her job and she deserved the respect she got from her coworkers. Due to the information we have learned in this class, I did not think the movie was realistic about some things. I never thought that a man would give his respect to a women, let alone one who is the best writer out of all of them. The story they told throughout the movie was interesting, and I was able to learn about how the newspaper worked. I could see at the beginning that her ex-husband did not show her the respect that the other men in the movie did. I understand that he was the boss and he did have “control” of her career. This is what I expected from the entire movie, but this was not the case. This women was very strong and independent. Because of this she was able to get the most out of her career. I felt that the men she worked with, apart from her ex-husband, treated her life she was one of them and not a women working in a male dominated job. I was impressed with how she handled herself and how much she cared for her profession. You could see that this woman was extremely good at what she did and she had worked so hard that even men began to trust and respect her. At this time, I cannot imagine what it was like to have the respect of the men you worked with. She fought for what she believed in, and she would not take no for an answer, no matter who was telling it to her. This impacted me because I want to have this drive and respect for myself as I enter the workforce. I want to be able to believe in myself and trust that I can do something without someone else’s okay. Walter treated Hildy like property that he was the owner of. This is the kind of relationship I expected from a husband and wife at this time. I did not expect Hildy to push back as much as she did, but I could tell who was in control of their relationship. This part of the movie impacted me the most because I was able to see the truth behind working women as well as working wives. I would like to say that I would have reacted similar to Hildy in this movie, but I am not sure that is true. I would have been the woman who did not want to draw attention to herself so I would have done what I was told. I am greatly for the women that fought like Hildy did because it allowed the working women today to have better rights and more equal treatment.
Analysis
When thinking about the readings and videos we have watched throughout the semester, I was confused on what to think of this movie.
I was able to learn more about gender expectations in the workforce. What I picked up on was that all the women did as they were told, when they were told to do it. Hildy was the exception. She did push back when she believed it was the right thing to do, but for the most part she did as she was told. Women at this time were not thought to be fighters. They were there to work and get paid to make some extra money. Many women did not have respect and most were not in positions of authority at this time. Because of this, they were taking orders from men in higher up positions and many did not think twice when told to do something. Women were expected to be caring, empathetic, and respectful. They were not there to fight for equal rights or fight
authority.
At this time, a woman’s word did not mean much. The movie portrayed this best in the conversation Molly had with the men reporters. She was yelling and screaming about how they did not listen to her or tell the truth about her story. These men reporters did not care about what she really had to say. They only cared about writing a story interesting enough to be able to sell more papers. Molly just wanted them to take the time to listen to what she had to say and tell the true story instead of something they made up to sell papers. The reporters did not hear anything she was saying. Instead, they kept playing cards in the press room as she was speaking her mind. This was a common expectation for women. If they had a problem, they were to keep it to themselves because the men truly did not care about what they had to say.
I believe in the world we live in today, many women have just as much authority as the men they work with. Women are much more respected today than they were at the time of this movie. Today, when a woman says something, people listen. I understand that women still do not have equal rights compared to the men they work with, but we are much better off now than we were at the time of this movie. There are more women in positions of authority today than there has ever been. Because of this, women are more respected and their word truly means something. Women are continuing to grow and develop throughout the years. They continue to push for rights they deserve. Women have grown significantly since this movie was made, and the women fighting today will help to make more changes to equality in the workforce.
top of the totem pole. Even if women were great workers and had success within their careers, men hardly respected them. Not only do men not respect women, but they do not recognize women as having skills and talents. Men believed that women were put in this world to take care of the house, have children, and look pretty doing it. Walter talked more about Hildy’s appearance than her journalism skills. He knows that she is a good writer but refuses to give her any recognition for it.
As Walter starts to realize that he is losing the best reporter that he has at the paper, he decided he had to do something to peak her interest in order to keep her there. He removes a reporter from the hottest story of the paper hoping to catch Hildy’s eye. Bruce, Hildy’s fiancé, does not see the evil side of Walter and thinks she should stay around for this story and then they can continue with their plans to move to Albany. Hildy’s decided to stick around for the story in order to help save an innocent man’s life. Believing Earl Williams is innocent, Hildy is able to get an interview with the “cop killer.” She then returns to the press room and meet Molly Malone, who is the only person to ever be nice to Earl. Soon after this she gets a call from Bruce stating that he is in jail for stealing a watch. Hildy is fully aware that Walter is behind this and drives to bail her fiancé out of jail. She then phone’s Walter and aggressively tells him that she is resigning and rips up the report she had typed up on the Earl Williams case.
While saying her goodbyes to her fellow reporters, she is interrupted by gunshots outside of the building. As all the reporters head out for the scoop, Hildy tackles Warden Cooley and pays him off. Earl Williams had escaped from the jail and is now on the loose. We later find out that the doctor and sheriff wanted a replay of the night he killed the cop. They gave him a gun and he was able to shoot the doctor and escape. Joe Pettibone walks in on the mayor and sheriff discussing the situation and hand them a reprieve for Earl Williams. These two try to bribe Pettibone into forgetting that he delivered this paper just so they can guarantee a win in the upcoming election. In order to win the vote, they need to hang Williams to get the “black” vote because the cop he supposedly killed was black. Hildy is back in the press room on the phone with Bruce, who has been arrested again because of Walter’s doing, when Earl Williams climbs in the window and states that he is innocent. Hildy does he best to hid him from the rest of the reporters and cops, but Earl is eventually discovered, but not before the true story is uncovered. The sheriff accidently gave up his story just as Pittibone walks in stating that he cannot be bribed. They mayor and the sheriff are discovered to be in the wrong. They were doing what they could to win the election, and by doing this, they were going to hang a man who was reprieved. Hildy decided that the life she wanted with Bruce is not what she truly wants. She wants to be a reporter and she is still in love with her ex-husband. The movie ends with Walter and Hildy leaving the press room heading back to their old lives together.
Reflection
As this movie went on, I became more skeptical of it. From all the readings and videos we have watched, this was not the office environment I expected for women at this time. I expected her to be treated as property and not as a hard working women. I could see that she was very good at her job and she deserved the respect she got from her coworkers. Due to the information we have learned in this class, I did not think the movie was realistic about some things. I never thought that a man would give his respect to a women, let alone one who is the best writer out of all of them. The story they told throughout the movie was interesting, and I was able to learn about how the newspaper worked. I could see at the beginning that her ex-husband did not show her the respect that the other men in the movie did. I understand that he was the boss and he did have “control” of her career. This is what I expected from the entire movie, but this was not the case. This women was very strong and independent. Because of this she was able to get the most out of her career. I felt that the men she worked with, apart from her ex-husband, treated her life she was one of them and not a women working in a male dominated job. I was impressed with how she handled herself and how much she cared for her profession. You could see that this woman was extremely good at what she did and she had worked so hard that even men began to trust and respect her. At this time, I cannot imagine what it was like to have the respect of the men you worked with. She fought for what she believed in, and she would not take no for an answer, no matter who was telling it to her. This impacted me because I want to have this drive and respect for myself as I enter the workforce. I want to be able to believe in myself and trust that I can do something without someone else’s okay. Walter treated Hildy like property that he was the owner of. This is the kind of relationship I expected from a husband and wife at this time. I did not expect Hildy to push back as much as she did, but I could tell who was in control of their relationship. This part of the movie impacted me the most because I was able to see the truth behind working women as well as working wives. I would like to say that I would have reacted similar to Hildy in this movie, but I am not sure that is true. I would have been the woman who did not want to draw attention to herself so I would have done what I was told. I am greatly for the women that fought like Hildy did because it allowed the working women today to have better rights and more equal treatment.
Analysis
When thinking about the readings and videos we have watched throughout the semester, I was confused on what to think of this movie.
I was able to learn more about gender expectations in the workforce. What I picked up on was that all the women did as they were told, when they were told to do it. Hildy was the exception. She did push back when she believed it was the right thing to do, but for the most part she did as she was told. Women at this time were not thought to be fighters. They were there to work and get paid to make some extra money. Many women did not have respect and most were not in positions of authority at this time. Because of this, they were taking orders from men in higher up positions and many did not think twice when told to do something. Women were expected to be caring, empathetic, and respectful. They were not there to fight for equal rights or fight
authority.
At this time, a woman’s word did not mean much. The movie portrayed this best in the conversation Molly had with the men reporters. She was yelling and screaming about how they did not listen to her or tell the truth about her story. These men reporters did not care about what she really had to say. They only cared about writing a story interesting enough to be able to sell more papers. Molly just wanted them to take the time to listen to what she had to say and tell the true story instead of something they made up to sell papers. The reporters did not hear anything she was saying. Instead, they kept playing cards in the press room as she was speaking her mind. This was a common expectation for women. If they had a problem, they were to keep it to themselves because the men truly did not care about what they had to say.
I believe in the world we live in today, many women have just as much authority as the men they work with. Women are much more respected today than they were at the time of this movie. Today, when a woman says something, people listen. I understand that women still do not have equal rights compared to the men they work with, but we are much better off now than we were at the time of this movie. There are more women in positions of authority today than there has ever been. Because of this, women are more respected and their word truly means something. Women are continuing to grow and develop throughout the years. They continue to push for rights they deserve. Women have grown significantly since this movie was made, and the women fighting today will help to make more changes to equality in the workforce.