Live Life Team
I recently watched Mike Nichol’s “The Birdcage”, a film that may be one of the funniest of the 1990s. And it occurred to me that there seems to be a dichotomy in films where at least one lead character cross-dresses: namely, that a male dressing as a female is hilarious while a female dressing as male is not.
Consider the American Film Institute’s list of top comedies of all time. Number two was “Tootsie”, in which Dustin Hoffman dressed as a woman to obtain a role in a daytime soap opera. Number one was “Some Like it Hot”, in which Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon pose as female musicians in hiding. Robin Williams also deserves a shout-out for his Golden-Globe winning performance in “Mrs. Doubtfire”.
The list of comedic male cross-dressing films goes on and on. Meanwhile female roles are almost always tragic dramas. Consider Hilary Swank in “Boys Don’t Cry”, for which she won an Oscar, and most recently Felicity Huffman in “Transamerica”, for which she received an Oscar nomination. Julie Andrews’s performance in “Victor/Victoria” is certainly a comedic one but it’s difficult to imagine the actress as anything but Mary Poppins, regardless of whether she’s wearing women or men’s clothing.
Ultimately, filmmakers make films with audiences in mind. So while the men wait in line for the next sequel to “Naked Gun”, the women are forced to drive to the indie theaters to catch the next well-written drama.
