Gender Rules

The Full Monty was a surprisingly funny British comedy set in the city Sheffield. Gaz is the main character who is on the verge of losing his only son. This is because Gaz cannot pay custody for his wife. One day he sees the women queuing up to see a performance by the Chippendales. These male strippers persuade him to try it out. He comes up with the idea of raising money by stripping. He riles up some of his buddies and they undertake the training they think a stripper must adhere to. The plot of this story is absolutely hilarious. I could easily write a few blogs concerning the comedy in this story, but I have chosen to pay tribute to the gender roles that this movie batters.
The Full Monty attacks the changing gender roles in today’s society. In the movie and in every day life, male stripping is a rarity. That doesn’t stop these unfit, out-of-shape men to pursue their dreams. It is interesting to see that the economy in which the movie is set is so deprived of work that men have to resort to an occupation such as stripping. It can be generally concluded that young boys and girls don’t usually have high aspirations of becoming a stripper when they are young. It is an occupation typically attracted to the under-educated and unemployed. But women still do it. In my mind, stripping is a degrading vocation for women. On the contrary, stripping in the movie empowers these men. It makes them seem superior and the fact that a woman will pay to see a man nude sanctions the degradation. In the end of the movie, all six men managed to take all of their clothes and become “Full Monty”. They regain masculinity and self-esteem that has been taken from them through the loss of their jobs.
Another gender misconception is that only women care about their appearance. It is evident by the magazine reflections scene that men worry about their body as well as women do. Dave has a strong complex about being chubby and worries that women, including his wife, do not want to see him. In hopes of enhancing his appearance, Horse buys some crooked tool to make his manhood bigger. All of the men in the film are very self-conscious of taking all their clothes off and scared of being a laughing stock. Thus male insecurity and vulnerability are well depicted throughout the film.