Its a trap

Data

Thesis: The original parent trap holds a lot of socitital standards that are placed on women to be the mother of the household, the biggest change present in the remake of the original movie is the more feministic outlook on the new version. The 1998 version of the parent trap pushes and redefines the standards of the role women hold in society. 

The Parent Trap will forever be a top-rated movie on my rewatch list. For me the movie is highly relatable, I also find it extremely amusing to imagine the life and the adventures that the characters in both the original (1961) version of The Parent Trap, as well as the more recent (1998) version, had. My personal favorite is the 1998 version, but that’s what I grew up watching so I have a bias outlook on the remake. I chose to talk about the scenes where the ex-husband realizes he wants to be the wife again. 

Adaptation: Being original is hard but the 1961 version of The Parent Trap killed it (in some aspects). This was one of the first teen movies that battled a lot of major topics, although I think that one of the main differences is the way the ex-wife is portrayed in the movie. This tells us a lot about the differences in time and how societies view on women and their roll in life has changed. The adaptation didn’t necessarily change from movie to move, as one would expect. Although the story did have a couple of new ideas and minor tweaks. The ex-husband realizes he’s still in love with the ex-wife when she’s cooking and taking out dishes for dinner. Soon after he sees her doing the ideals that society has made for women he rushes upstairs and gets all dressed up as well as shaves. It’s almost as if a switch was flipped when he realized she was being a “Mother”. Unlike in the remake, he realizes he wants to be with her simply from a rekindling of a long-lost love. Simply just seeing her and talking to her rekindled the love they once had, as well as a little help from the daughters. 

Ideology: In 1961 people wanted transportation and housing to be free of charge as well as public catering and collective upbringing of children. The ideas of communism were soon on the rise. Many people seemed scared about possibly having equal wages, this could be the reason that the movie came out loaded with scenes that made women seem unpowerful. Or like she needed the man’s approval. It’s hard to say that this is all the 1961 version had because it also was held some scenes where women were in charge. Aka. When the ex-wife socked her ex-husband. So, you could say that the idea of communism was present by giving the women characters some power.  In the remake the parent’s roles seem to be more equal she’s not chasing after the husband the entire movie. 

Genre: The 1961 film fits into many genres, comedy, family film, romantic comedy, and romantic film. I have to scratch my head at some of those categories considering the film is about a separated family. Although it falls into those categories because of small scenes that have a big impact due to content. The 1998 version falls under more categories, comedy, family film, Romance film, Adventure film, and drama. I would say the categories of genres changed pretty drastically over a span of 37 years. I believe this is because of the different outlook on what women’s gender roles are supposed to be. 

Social History: Other than communism is on the rise there was a lot of women’s suffrage and women’s rights movements happing around the time of the original movie. 

·     1955-The Daughters of Bilitis (DOB), the first lesbian organization in the United States, is founded. Although DOB originated as a social group, it later developed into a political organization to win basic acceptance for lesbians in the United States.

·     1960-The Food and Drug Administration approves birth control pills. (still an ongoing battle) 

·     1961-President John Kennedy establishes the President's Commission on the Status of Women and appoints Eleanor Roosevelt as chairwoman. The report issued by the Commission in 1963 documents substantial discrimination against women in the workplace and makes specific recommendations for improvement, including fair hiring practices, paid maternity leave, and affordable childcare.

·       1963-Betty Friedan publishes her highly influential book The Feminine Mystique, which describes the dissatisfaction felt by middle-class American housewives with the narrow role imposed on them by society. The book becomes a best-seller and galvanizes the modern women's rights movement.

June 10

Congress passes the Equal Pay Act, making it illegal for employers to pay a woman less than what a man would receive for the same job.

·     1964-Title VII of the Civil Rights Act bars discrimination in employment on the basis of race and sex. At the same time it establishes the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) to investigate complaints and impose penalties.

·     1965-In Griswold v. Connecticut, the Supreme Court strikes down the one remaining state law prohibiting the use of contraceptives by married couples.

·     1966-The National Organization for Women (NOW) is founded by a group of feminists including Betty Friedan. The largest women's rights group in the U.S., NOW seeks to end sexual discrimination, especially in the workplace, by means of legislative lobbying, litigation, and public demonstrations.

·     1970-In Schultz v. Wheaton Glass Co., a U.S. Court of Appeals rules that jobs held by men and women need to be "substantially equal" but not "identical" to fall under the protection of the Equal Pay Act. An employer cannot, for example, change the job titles of women workers in order to pay them less than men.

·     1971-Ms. Magazine is first published as a sample insert in New York magazine; 300,000 copies are sold out in 8 days. The first regular issue is published in July 1972. The magazine becomes the major forum for feminist voices, and cofounder and editor Gloria Steinem is launched as an icon of the modern feminist movement.

·       1972-

Mar. 22

The Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) is passed by Congress and sent to the states for ratification. Originally drafted by Alice Paul in 1923, the amendment reads: "Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex." The amendment died in 1982 when it failed to achieve ratification by a minimum of 38 states.

In Eisenstadt v. Baird the Supreme Court rules that the right to privacy includes an unmarried person's right to use contraceptives.

June 23

Title IX of the Education Amendments bans sex discrimination in schools. It states: "No person in the United States shall, on the basis of sex, be excluded from participation in, be denied the benefits of, or be subjected to discrimination under any educational program or activity receiving federal financial assistance." As a result of Title IX, the enrollment of women in athletics programs and professional schools increases dramatically.

·     1984-EMILY's List (Early Money Is Like Yeast) is established as a financial network for pro-choice Democratic women running for national political office. The organization makes a significant impact on the increasing numbers of women elected to Congress.

·     1992-In Planned Parenthood v. Casey, the Supreme Court reaffirms the validity of a woman's right to abortion under Roe v. Wade. The case successfully challenges Pennsylvania's 1989 Abortion Control Act, which sought to reinstate restrictions previously ruled unconstitutional.

·     1994-The Violence Against Women Act tightens federal penalties for sex offenders, funds services for victims of rape and domestic violence, and provides for special training of police officers.

·     1996-In United States v. Virginia, the Supreme Court rules that the all-male Virginia Military School has to admit women in order to continue to receive public funding. It holds that creating a separate, all-female school will not suffice.

·     1999-The Supreme Court rules in Kolstad v. American Dental Association that a woman can sue for punitive damages for sex discrimination if the anti-discrimination law was violated with malice or indifference to the law, even if that conduct was not especially severe.

Works cited:

Imbornoni, Ann-Marie. “Women's Rights Movement in the U.S.” Infoplease, Infoplease, www.infoplease.com/spot/womens-rights-movement-us-1.

Semiotics: The movies differences are mainly based off of the way societies views changed over time and how those changes are represented through pop culture. 

 Signifier/signified:

1961-How women are portrayed

·     The help 

·     Motherly figures

·     Objects

·     Subjective to men

·     Less than

1998-How women are portrayed

·     Individuals

·     More equal to men

·     Powerful

What do these signs mean? The signifiers are an accurate representation of the way that societies generations challenge the status quote on the views of women. Although everyone can interpret signs differently there is no getting around the women’s suffrage and women’s empowerment movements. Signs can be represented in the first movie by the way the man reacts to the women cooking and cleaning. Compared to the ex-wife ever cooking or cleaning for the ex-husband.

Syntagmatic and Anchorage: As for both the original and the remake you can infer that the parents will end up together. For one, the title infers that the parents will end up together. There are other symbols throughout the movie. Like the children realizing they are twins and then coming up with a plan to meet the other parent as well as reunite the parents. There is symbolism in the way that the parents interact with each other after finally meeting for the first time in years. Finally, there is symbolism that is given to our subconscious mind from society and the ideals of how every other movie you watch ends. There is anchorage in relation to the way women were viewed in 1961 vs. who those views depicted the way that the women were portrayed within the film. 

Paradigmatic and Articulation:  Society helps us infer in the original movie that the ideals for women in 1961 are different than in 1998 or even present day. Society helps us understand the struggle that the twins were going through when they had to discover they have a sister and their other parent is alive. Society gives us the context that they are going to want to meet their other parent and continue to grow together as a family. Society also give the ideals on what is to be expected when they meet, how each member of the family will react and even shape the way we think that the ending to the movie will be.  Pop culture likes to have a happy ending it makes the viewer feel comfortable. 

Outline

Shianne Bean

The Parent Trap

     I.        Intro

A.  Pres. Trap

    II.        Thesis

B.   Redefine standards 

 III.        Adaptation

C.   Apparatus-no change

D.  Feminist outlook

 IV.        Genres

E.   Addition of genres 

   V.        Social History

F.   Rise of communism 

Women in workplace-1961 (Imbornoni, 2009)

G.  The in between (Imbornoni, 2009)

H.  Women’s rights movement anniversary-1998 (Imbornoni, 2009)

 VI.        Semiotics

I.     Signifier- How women are portrayed 

J.    Signified- What it means 

VII.        Syntagmatic and Anchorage 

K.  Infer they will be together 

1.    Title

2.    Parents conversations 

3.    Society’s norms of movies

L.   Sisters/twins

1.    Same camp

2.    Looking alike 

3.    Missing parents

VIII.        Paradigmatic and Articulation

M.  Invert women and man

 IX.        Conclusion 

N.  Societies ideals and pop culture

Organizer slide