Movie Analysis: Bridesmaids

With a heterosexual marriage ceremony being the driving element of the plot, the movie "Bridesmaids" provides a useful example of the ways heterosexual relationships are portrayed in modern media, especially those messages and lessons about monogamy and women's sex lives. In this movie, we see the protagonist, Annie, go through a series of failures including everything from the financial crisis that affects her daily life to her sad, sometimes shameful, romantic life. While all of this is happening, her best friend Lillian becomes engaged and asks Annie to become her maid of honor. Annie accepts but by doing so she inadvertently agrees to the chaotic responsibilities of putting up with the other bridesmaids throughout the pre-nuptial traditions. Although the movie centers on bridesmaid related conflicts, the movie also lets the audience witness the sex lives of a few of the women, which are what really carry messages and lessons about what women and men can expect in their sex lives. While some aspects of the movie reinforce traditional ideas of women as submissive agents in their sexual and romantic lives, other aspects of the movie frame a less traditional role for men, one that displays men as willing and interested in the emotional benefits of a relationship. This analysis is derived from three separate scenes: 1) a scene where the protagonist and her sexual partner discuss the nature and expectations of their relationship 2) a scene where we see two of the bridesmaids reflect on the expectations of their monogamous marriages and lastly 3) a scene where the protagonist's other sexual partner reproaches her about how their relationship ended.

Scene 1: The Fuckbuddy

In this first scene, we find Annie and her sex partner, Ted, in bed together having very fast paced sex upon the request of the male. The scene shifts from this to where we see that Annie has slept over, something they apparently both previously agreed to not do. This sparks a conversation between them about where they are in their relationship and Ted makes it very clear that he is not interested in a relationship with her. To this, Annie responds with the reassurance that this is not what she wants either. Unless, of course, he would ever to suggest changing his mind, in which case she might consider it.

In this scene, we see two instances where this female character is shown to be placed in submissive position. The first was when the sex was fast paced because Ted likes it fast, even after Annie asks to please slow down. The second was the instance where she assures that she is open to Ted setting the pace of the relationship. If he wants a casual relationship, she's down with it. If he would want a more serious relationship, she'd be down with it. Both of these instances, however, work together in the scene to establish the same point about the power relations of the couple and where Annie falls in that power relation. Using Holz and Ivory's framework of research and study, we know that "dominant acts tend to be related to the concept of agency, or the male gender role, whereas submissive acts tend to be related to communion, or the female gender role" (Holz & Ivory, 2009). As we see here, Annie embodies this tendency to submit to the needs and wants of her male counterpart. In the context of Holz & Ivory's research, Ted could be coded as exhibiting more of the dominant traits including gives orders and sexually dominant (tells Annie to go faster during sex), initiates sexual activity (he is the one who calls Annie over for sex),  and shows low commitment to relationship (explicitly rejects idea of a relationship with Annie). Meanwhile, I would argue that Annie's actions could be coded as submits to sexual advance (comes over when he calls), exhibits indecisiveness (is flip-floppy about what she wants out of the relationship), follows order (has more fast, aggressive sex upon Ted's request). So, too, does Janna Kim's research play into this scene because from what we know in her work, there tends to be a masculine commitment script where men are shown to avoid commitment and monogamy (Kim, 2007), something that would definitely relate to what we see in Ted's actions.

The portrayal of their relationship in this media sets up the different expectations of women and men. While Annie should expect to wait idly by while Ted decides what the nature of the relationship will be, Ted can expect to keep calling Annie at late hours of the night and know that she will submit to his sexual impulses. Although it could be argued that Annie still would have a sense of agency demonstrated by her decision to go to him and engage sexually with him, it is a casual relationship that she does not seem to control herself. Her decisions in this media are portrayed as being a function of what Ted decides.

Scene 2: Married Sex Sucks

The following scene is similar to the last in that it is a portrayal that places heterosexual women in a submissive role during sex. Here, we see two of the bridesmaids on a plane ride to Las Vegas for the bachelorette party sharing intimate details of their sexual lives. Rita, married mother of three, sets up expectations of married for Becca, a newlywed who has only had one sex partner: her husband. Rita tells her that there is constant sex which she is expected to simply comply with as she lays there and takes it but that there is no romance involved and her life partner. He doesn't even exhibit any real sense of love for her or sign that he genuinely loves her company for something other than sex. To this, Becca responds that she too has sexual frustrations stemming from the fact that her husband has very specific rituals before sex which she has to comply with while none of her needs are ever met.

As previously mentioned, we see in media research and literature that there are instances where women are seen in a submissive position through heterosexual scripts and hegemonic gender roles. Often times their needs come second to their male partner's. This would definitely be seen here as not one but both of the women are compliant with their partner's demands of sex during encounters where neither of the women end up satisfied but partake in anyway. Although this is not a scene where these women are interacting directly with their partners, their anecdotes are telling of what scenes with their husbands could potentially be coded as. Using Holtz & Ivory's coding framework, we would probably see that their actions could reflect such codes as showing high commitment to the relationship, following orders, and submitting to sexual advances, all of which are submissive acts, according to the researchers. Along the same lines, Kim mentions in her own work that there are codes for male commitment which involve men not taking part in relationship maintenance which could definitely seen here as Rita shares that there it is almost all sex but no romance, implying that there is a lack of effort to spark that in the relationship.

Scene 3: Indignant Cop Lover

While the past two scenes exhibit more traditional or stereotypical gender roles for the individuals involved, the following scene challenges conventional notions of what men want out of relationships. Here, instead of a man wanting no-strings-attached sex with Annie, we see a frustrated Officer Rhodes who actually hoped a relationship stemmed from their sexual encounter. The scene begins with Annie having car troubles and Officer Rhodes tending to the matter as is required of his job. However, after the two bicker about the car the true reason for his indignation is revealed--Annie hurt him. Earlier in the movie, Annie "hits it and quits it," if you will, but she explains that this was a defensive act because she did not expect him to actually take her seriously.

Unlike the other men in this movie, Rhodes shows true sadness and frustration over the emotional turmoil that Annie has put him through. With this, we see that he challenges the heterosexual scripts where he would be dominant and avoiding commitment. Instead, we see Rhodes in a vulnerable position where he exclaims to Annie: "You made me feel like you really liked me, which was really unfair!" Instead of acting in line with the masculine commitment script that we see in Kim's findings, he expresses a true interest in commitment by the sadness he shows when Annie rejects him. He saw beyond their casual night of sex and hoped for a deeper connection to stem from it. This would be inconsistent with what both of the Kim and Holtz & Ivory articles hypothesize to be the actions of men. Thus, it shows a representation of an alternative expectation for men in relationships--one that does in fact prioritize a romantic relationship over one that is strictly about sex.

Conclusion
From Ward's literature on media exposure's effects on sexual attitudes, we can extract that women have shown to sometimes align their expectations and desires with what is viewed in media, among many other findings that suggest that women and men accept stereotypical attitudes about their roles with greater exposure to media(Ward, 2003). Sometimes women may actually believe that what they want is what they see on screen, potentially without reflecting on what they want to gain from their sexual experiences.  For this reason, seeing that there is an expectation for you, as a woman, to comply with and submit fully into the sexual wishes of men could be problematic for those who view these messages again and again. While there was the example of Officer Rhodes challenging conventional notions of his role as a man in the relationship, overall, the women in the movie remained in their romantic relationships despite their doubts and complaints. Overall, there is an implicit message of conforming to monogamy as is seen with the movie ending in the marriage ceremony (despite the bride's cold feet). Thus, even though there was a slight challenge to the heterosexual scripts we see in media, the overall theme was to settle for what monogamy has in store from you, for better or for worse.

References

Holz, A., Gibson, R., & Ivory, J.D. (2009). Gendered relationships on television: Portrayals of same-sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication & Society, 12 (2), 170-192.

Kim, J. L., Sorsoli, C. L., Collins, K., Zylbergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2), 145‐157.

Ward, L.M. (2003). Understanding the role of entertainment media in the sexual socialization of American youth: A review of empirical research. Developmental Review, 23 (3), 347-388