Presentation of Male Characters

The film Clueless focuses on the trials and tribulations of the Beverly Hills high school student Cher Hororwitz. Indeed, most of the conflict in this ‘chick flick’ revolves around Cher and her two female friends, Dionne and Tai. The males in this film are definitely secondary characters; they are mostly one dimensional and represent typical high school/college stereotypes. Travis is the skateboard wielding stoner/slacker who is sweet but not entirely respectable. Elton is the entitled rich popular boy (“do you know who my father is?”) He is definitely superficial and self absorbed, not entirely unlike Cher. However, the audience feels unsympathetic towards Elton and in spite of her clueless behavior, sympathizes with the good hearted Cher. Murray, Dionne’s boyfriend is the faux-ghetto hipster. Lastly, Josh is the bleeding heart liberal college student. He cares about what is going on in the world and the environment. His drab clothes and existential choices in literature (Nietzsche) make him seem to be Cher’s polar opposite.
For the most part these men, as seen through the eyes of Cher, leave a lot to be desired. As Cher enumerates in her rant on high school boys they are immature, slobby, lazy, egotistical, and not worth her time. Although this observation may be correct, the truth is Clueless’s portrayal of high school (and college) men is not entirely unrealistic.

It is fitting that in such a romantic fantasy film such as Sleepless in Seattle, the male characters are equally fantastical and unrealistic. The premise of the film to begin with is the stuff of soap operas/ and or romance novels; a widowed man (with a charming young son!) and an engaged woman fall in love over the radio. The couple does not even meet until the final scene of the movie.
Although the male characters in this film are far from secondary (Sam Baldwin being one of the leads) they are for the most part utterly unlikely. Sam Baldwin, as played by Tom Hanks is a widowed father with a precocious young son. Sam is an honest, hard working, successful, and sensitive architect. His character is very endearing, at times almost shy. Sam wishes to pay for a woman on a date and doesn’t know what tiramisu is. What kind of smart, successful architect does not know what tiramisu is? The fact that his character is so naïve, and still single many years after his wife’s death is highly unrealistic. His character is completely fantasy driven; he is what more women wish men would be like. Thus, his character has no where to go. Walter, Annie’s fiancé is also unrealistic, but to a less extreme. Walter is smart, sensitive, eccentric, caring, a little bit neurotic, and naïve. In fact, he is easily duped by Annie. In the modern world in which Annie and Becky reside, Walter is unlike other typical males in that he is willing to commit. The fact that Walter’s character is a little more quirky and neurotic than Sam’s makes him slightly more believable and annoying. However, his actions are so seemingly ‘perfect’ by organizing a romantic NY Valentine’s Day getaway and picking out the ‘perfect’ ring, he becomes slightly unreal. Lastly, the fact that he and Annie have no intense physical attraction to each other signals to the audience that he is not ‘the one.’ In the end, Annie leaves Walter desiring a great deal more.