Tootsie

Like so many movies, Tootsie is beloved by me mainly because the people I love really love it. Namely, my mom. My mom is the kind of person who knows exactly what she likes and her taste (in my eyes) has always been impeccable. She differentiates between "pretty," "cute," and "attractive," and her assessments are always spot-on. (For the record, "pretty" is best, and "attractive" can be just as appealing. The most-valued compliment from her is when she looks at my baby pictures and tells me I was not just a cute, but a pretty baby. I assure you that I was always aware that beauty is very much in the eye of the beholder. What I mean is that if my mother--who values pretty above all--wanted a "pretty" baby, she could pretty much convince herself of that, regardless of its objective truth.) My mom has a quick wit and a dry humor. Consequently, she knows what is funny and what is not. Most t.v. shows are not funny. Few movies are. Tootsie, by her analysis, is very funny. And, so, I could always completely embrace this movie with abandon. I could laugh. Out loud.

Tootsie was made the same year as Gandhi, and my entire life I heard about what a tragedy it was for Gandhi to win the Academy Award for Best Picture over Tootsie. So, when I saw the movie, Gandhi, as a teenager, I was really baffled at my own taste. I loved it and, as I grew older, loved everything about the actor, Ben Kingsley, and, of course, the importance of the real Gandhi. But, Gandhi (the movie) wasn't funny, and that must have been its fatal flaw, after all.

Dustin Hoffman plays the lead role in Tootsie. He is Michael Dorsey, a talented New York actor that can never get a part. He decides to dress in drag in order to get a soap opera gig. Of course, he gets it and becomes the raging feminist who is beloved by all contemporary women. Well, he's totally attractive to his male co-stars as well. I have a soft spot for late 1970s/early 1980s films set in New York City. The fashions are so dated and gritty. The actors actually look like real people and are not so airbrushed as is the case of recent movies. The way Tootsie plays with feminist stereotypes and women's bravado of forced assertion is interesting and provocative. Dorothy (Michael Dorsey's woman character) straddles the line between promoting her feminism and staying true to her/his self.

I realize I'm talking in the abstract about this movie, and I'm not making it seem very funny at all. It's just that the movie is filled with nuances and subtleties that are entrenched in the over-arching themes of feminism, self-exploration and self-realization. Michael Dorsey says that he thinks he was a better man as Dorothy as he ever was as himself as a man. That seems like a convoluted statement, and it sort of is. But, he is saying in a round-about way that when we allow all sides of ourselves to come out, we don't have to be boxed in. We can finally be free. And, that idea of "pretty" or "cute" or "ugly" or "funny" is no one's prerogative but each person's. So, laugh out loud. Or don't. It's your call. Yours alone.