Going Hollywood: Questions about Female Domination and Pop Culture

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A. The director of "What Women Want" is Nancy Meyers and she just directed and helped write ''Something's Gotta Give" starring Diane Keaton and Jack Nicholson. She also did "The Father of the Bride" movies as well as the recent remake of "The Parent Trap". Nancy Meyers has strong women in her movies that portray a feminist and dominant persona. In "Something's Gotta Give" the fifty-five year old female character played by Diane Keaton dates a thirty-six year old handsome doctor. Nancy Meyers regularly turns the table on society by showing that women can be the dominant gender. In "Something's Gotta Give", the Jack Nicholson character represents the old guard of an aging bachelor who only dates young women. Diane Keaton represents the new guard as she is pursued by a younger man. The theme here is that a women in her fifties is still sexual and desirable plus she is wise and dominant. Ultimately the Jack Nicholson character realizes this as well.

"What Women Want" was a clever movie in that it used a comedy to teach men what women are truly seeking in a man as the Mel Gibson character is able to hear the thoughts of women. His macho persona and masculine ways were transformed into a more submissive顺从 — willing to obey and sensitive male from his experience and education into the mind of the female.