Movie Review

I've actually watched quite a few movies lately, seeing as how I work at Hasting's it is easy to get my hands on a movie or two haha. Currently I am in the middle of watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (again) so I'll review and read gender in this movie.

In the Harry Potter movies, Harry is the hero. Typical gender stereotypes, other than this one, include: Snape (male) as the "maybe bad guy," Hermione as the "damsel in distress (at times) and the brainy one," Ron as the bumbling sidekick, Hagrid as the burly gamekeeper, Voldermort as the ulitimate bad guy, Umbridge as the evil woman seeking power and disregarding rules for her own agenda, and many many others. I never really noticed how gender was displayed in this movie until now. The advertisments portrayed these very roles, and if I remember correctly, at least one of the trailers shows Harry saving Hermione. I find it funny that in none of the Harry Potter movies Hermione is given as much credit as Harry and Ron for saving the day. She's the one who usually figures out the mystery, but that is all she really does. In this film, she fights the death eaters along side her male counterparts but isn't given as much film time in the scene. She also has to have help. There really aren't any characters who aren't straight. However, fans learned in the last year or so that Dumbledore is supposed to be gay, but his character seems to have no sexuality period to viewers. Only in the final book can anything be questioned and it is still very open to interpretation. This movie is definitely one that you shouldn't try to use this movie as one to show how gender is really represented in everyday life, just enjoy it for the imagination and creavitity in it.

Readings:
In chapter 7 of F-Word, it covers many aspects of marriage. Two things really caught my attention: an assumption that heterosexual marrriage may begin to resemble homosexual couples and the divorce rate lowering in the recent years.
I was somewhat confused when the said assumption came up. When looking at male couples, the one who makes less in the workforce is usually the one who stays home. In heterosexual couples, if one stays home, it is the one who would make less. In history and currently that is more often than not the female. Pay disparity is still a problem in our society. I see it more as homosexual couples taking on the roles in heterosexual couples, not the other way around. It doesn't make sense to me to say that if less successful person stays home it is not at all from the old gender roles. I see it as if one of the males stays home, he isn't successful and should do the housework like a woman.
The divorce statistics were somewhat mindblowing. We are told that we have more of a chance of getting a divorce than those before us, however, as evidence in this reading suggests that isn't completely true. Couples married in the 1980s have more of a chance of getting a divorce than we do. Its somewhat ironic to me. We realize that divorces are becoming more common, so we wait until we are sure we have found the one we are meant to be with so as to lessen the chances of divorce. Smart kids haha.