Gender Analysis in the movie The Intern

Alec Byrd
ENG4815-0001
Dr. Leigh Edwards
Fall 2015

In the movie The Intern many stereotypes and gender roles are
broken and are put to light through the characters actions and what
they do throughout the movie. This movie fits right into what Kimmel
says throughout the introduction of his book The Gendered Society in
which he talks about gender differentiation and division of labor.
Kimmel starts off by saying that gender roles differ in different
societies and in the U.S. I feel as if gender roles lean towards the man
being the bread winner of the house and the woman staying at home
doing domestic things and taking care of the children. These same
roles of bread winner and care taker are challenged in this movie and
shows the audience that men and women are no different and should
be treated the same without stereotyping.
The plot of the movie starts out with a retired gentleman Ben
Whittaker being bored in retirement so he applies for a senior
internship position at a new company named About the Fit. This
company is ran by a woman who started it from the ground up and
built a successful business within the time span of two years. This
womans name is Jules Austin and she is a hard working woman who
spends most of her time working and is constantly under pressure to
produce for her company. She invests so much time into this company
that she sometimes neglects the needs of her family, which include her
husband Matt and their young daughter Paige. Ever since About the
Fit took off, Matt sacrificed his lucrative career to take care of Paige

and be a stay at home dad so that Jules dream company could take
shape. This movie follows these characters and sheds light on gender
roles and stereotypes that we have in our society today.
One of the first stereotypes that this movie aims to squash is the
fact that men are becoming increasingly less mature and gentlemanly
in todays day and age. It does so by showing Ben doing everything a
gentleman is supposed to do such as dressing well, opening doors for
other people and making sure he is polite to everyone he comes in
contact with. This, however is a visible difference from the other men
shown in the movie that are younger and do not have the same
gentlemanly qualities that Ben has. I found that the typical young man
in the world today was exemplified through the actions of the other
three interns of the company named Jason, Davis, and Lewis. These
men would wear just simply a t-shirt and shorts to work with scraggly
beards that did not look professional, but this all changed when they
met Ben who taught them how to act polished and gentlemanly. The
pinnacle of how men have changed in todays society is shown when
Jason asks Ben for advice on how to handle a situation with a female
and Ben simply asks him if he talked to her. Jason responds by saying
that he left her an email with Im Sorry! written in bold letters with a
sad face emoji. Ben tells him that the situation will not improve at all
until he apologized in person and sure enough after making a big deal
about face-to-face interaction; the problem is resolved with a short

conversation. With the old school gentleman teaching these young

bucks in the movie how to be a gentleman, the movie intends to make
a point that men now days are losing qualities that women used to
admire and find attractive with them. This point is solidified when Jules
is at the bar and tells Ben that men now should be more like him and
compared him to Harrison Ford and Jack Nickelson while judging the
other young interns in comparison to Ben. I agree with the point that
the movie brings up that men need to go back to the way they used to
be in the old days acting gentlemanly and polished.
Even though this first issue that the movie brings up is valid and
important, the main argument it brings to light is that of gender roles.
In the movie, the common view of men and women in the work and
home setting is reversed in the characters of Jules and her husband
Matt. Jules is the big time CEO of a major company and Matt is the stay
at home dad that takes care of their beautiful daughter Paige. Matt
does every duty that society expects women to such as cook, clean,
and be the motherly figure to Paige. On the other hand, Jules is the
breadwinner of the family that works all the time and doesnt exactly
always have time for the family. The movie brings this to light because
of the idea that men and women have roles in society and men tend to
hold more important positions than women throughout the work world
even though in reality they should be equals without gender
stereotyping. The most important fact of their relationship is that Matt

had a successful job before About the Fit took off and he sacrificed
his lucrative career and macho position of family breadwinner so that
Jules dream company could take form. This sacrifice is a major theme
to the movie in my opinion because it shows that both men and
women can do the same thing for a career and be successful doing it
just like Matt is a great stay at home father and Jules is a good
businesswoman.
Even though they both assume switched gender roles and they
make it work best for their family, society tries to knock what they are
doing. The other moms at Paiges school judge Jules for never taking
Paige to school and for not being a traditional mother thats only duty
is to take care of their children. They shame Jules for not being able to
do domestic things such as bake for a school fundraiser when they
jokingly tell her that she can buy the cookies to sell instead of making
them herself. These same moms also make Matt feel like less of a man
for being the stay at home mom which causes him to lash out and
cheat on Jules because he felt that doing so would make him more
masculine. Jules and Matt work out their issues and the gender roles
are mentioned as a major part of their problems because of the way
society views them. The movie makes this argument perfectly to its
audience through the role reversal of Matt and Jules and how they
battle society to keep their lives together.

Lastly, the movie tries to emphasize the fact that a woman can
be a major CEO of a company when the board of investors wants there
to be a more experienced person to take over as company head. Jules
goes on the road to interview different candidates for the job and all of
them happen to be men. Jules never finds what she is looking for
because she is the only one that is the best for the CEO position of her
own company. The fact that she does not end up hiring a man to take
over as CEO of her company shows yet again that women are perfectly
capable of running their own company efficiently.
Overall, the movie brings up valid arguments for how society
views men and women in the workplace and how men are becoming
less gentlemanly. Through the strong character of Jules Ostin, these
stereotypes are crushed by her being the successful businesswoman in
the family. Overall I thought that this movie was a great way to
exemplify gender roles and stereotypes in our society.