FEMINITY
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Jadezuki — 18 years ago(March 22, 2008 09:15 AM)
I grew up watching this movie, and I never once took this song literally. Can people not take a joke? Sure, the 60's might have been worse for women than it is today, but they were clearly poking fun at the way things WERE, in the early part of the century. Think about how wild Hayley was in some of her other movies - Disney was NOT trying to send a message of a stifled woman, at least by 1960's standards.
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CaraMSchec — 18 years ago(March 26, 2008 10:45 PM)
I liked this song. It fits the image the movie is trying to portray, in my opinion in any case. I never thought it was shocking, or sarcastic. This movie takes place in the 1920's, and the song "Feminity" really does describe how a young lady was expected to act at a formal function. You might want to remember that the advice was to someone who knew the boy she was "after" pretty well by that point. And as to the fact that the other girls don't follow their own advice is because the advice is just the first step in "catching a bue" just like flirting is today. I mean really, do you think all women really show their true selves when they're flirting at a dance or whatever? The song doesn't mention anything about never showing the real you, just about how to get they guys attention.
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rebekahrox — 16 years ago(September 02, 2009 08:10 AM)
Not half as bothered by this as by Rodgers and Hammerstein's "I Enjoy being a Girl". That song give's me the Willies because it is meant to be taken dead seriously. "Femininity" is meant to be tongue-in-cheek,and lightheartedly ironic. Thus, it is very funny and succeeds wonderfully.
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LindaY — 15 years ago(April 12, 2010 12:40 PM)
Not only was the movie made in the 60s, but it takes place in the 1910s. Back then women were supposed to be decorative and mind only the house, and hang on a man's every word. Men were "in charge." But the song is funny because it shows the girls knew how to play the game in an era when they were the losers: you basically coaxed the guy along by making him think he was the greatest thing ever. Once he was hooked into the relationship, the woman's strong personality could shine through. Look at the Pophams' marriage! I'm sure Mariah buttered up Osh until the day they were married; then the tables were turned.
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SCsurfguy — 15 years ago(July 09, 2010 11:26 PM)
This movie was simply meant to represent a certain time period in American history. Things were different then in the way men and women interacted.
As for today, I don't think women have to worry too much about what men expect, or don't expect in women.
I used to work at a major amusement park in Orange County, CA and saw a lot of couples in my ten years at the park. I assure you that men are not nearly as picky as women think they are, and they don't have nearly the expectations of women that so many women think they do either. Of all the couples I saw, there were a lot more couples where the man was very good-looking and the woman quite average.
That kind of made me think that men are not nearly into looks as much as women think they are. In fact, I think it's women who put more pressure on women when it comes to looks. Not the men. -
Indie_Mod — 15 years ago(July 26, 2010 11:06 AM)
I'm more attracted to girls who are more feminin, and my fiancee is definitely thatbut here's the thing, I thought the line in the song "hide your true self" was a bit much. I think that might be going a bit too far.
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KittMc — 14 years ago(December 13, 2011 09:27 AM)
I was a huge Hayley Mills fan as a kid and I enjoyed this movie. This song was my favorite part of the film it was cute and light-hearted. The expectations of women were different in both the 1910's and the 1960's and women did the best they could with the opportunities they had. Judging women's behavior back then by the standards of today is no more fair than judging today's women by the standards they had back then. Today's women would not fare well by those standards.
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pinbackwiggly — 13 years ago(August 07, 2012 05:14 PM)
I grew up in the 80s seeing the movie occasionally, so I cannot vouch for what someone thought of it in the 60s. However, whether it was the haircuts, cars, dresses, church, or music, I always took it to be a time piece. Whether it is a movie like this or Road to Avonlea, I watched these shows because they gave me a little window into the way things were (or at least the way we want to think they were).
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gjw — 12 years ago(December 20, 2013 10:31 PM)
Do bear in mind that this 1963 movie takes place back at the Turn of the Century, the early 1900's, when primitive automobiles were just beginning to replace the horse-drawn carriage.
At the time, women weren't even allowed to vote, virtually none of them worked outside the home, and the birth control pill was another 50 years away. At the time, a woman's entire future depended on landing a good man and keeping him. So back then, that was probably very practical advice.