In the film, “The Monuments Men,” there is a scene in which James (Matt Damon), who is part of the Monuments Men, talks to a beautiful French woman named Claire Simone who is portrayed by Cate Blanchett. James talks to Claire about the portraits and paintings that were stolen by Nazi Germany. James is worried because he believes that the stolen arts will be lost forever and the history that the art provides for each country will disappear, and therefore he needs Claire assistance to retrieve the stolen arts.
The scene that will be focused on in this assignment is when James is kindly talking to Claire, but Claire answers James in an inappropriate manner by saying “would you stop speaking in French, whatever language you are speaking. ” James, however, answer to Claire in a professional way and did not become enraged or grabbed Claire out of anger. Would this scene be different if Claire Simone were a man? Would this scene still turn out the same? Typically, the stereotypical society view females as emotional and fragile.
When there is a disagreement between male and female, usually it is the male who tries not to harm women emotionally, so at least they try not to dominate the conversation. If Claire Simone were a man, James could have argued with her, and become enraged due to the disrespectful answer she gave to James. Because Claire Simone would be a man instead of a woman, James would try to act manly to show between them who is the alpha male, so he would respond “Don’t be disrespectful, or you will be in trouble. James will not stand for the impoliteness, because if he allows Claire to disrespect him, his identity as a man will be jeopardized and his manhood will vanish and fade. Taking this into account, James’s masculinity is not challenged by Claire Simone in the original scene because Claire is a female. However, if Claire’s gender is changed to male, James would act manly because his masculinity is being challenged by another male. Claire is the only female, so James would have never started an argument with her and fight her physically, because men believe they are stronger than females physically, emotionally and mentally.
There is no point for James to debate with Claire because his ideals and masculinity are not being undermined. James knows males are the dominant gender, so he will enjoy his benefits as the dominant gender and act according to his identity as a man. The new scene will be serious, which will emphasize the fact that Claire (as a man) and James will try to challenge each other, to see who can maintain their dominance as men and keep their manhood status. Basically, James would not act calm, but he will become aggressive and won’t express any type of fear or pain towards the male.
