ET17 Bring up Baby:The battle of the Sexes

Cary Grant was the lead actor playing David Huxley. Carry Grant portrayed Huxley as being a very soft man a total opposite from the majority of men which is usually aggressive at nature.  David Huxley was also portrayed as a man of principles and time. He was always very diligent at work, serious and in other words you could call him a workaholic.  David Huxley was also shown to be somewhat of a genius in his work.  Kathryn Hepburn was the lead actress playing Susan Vance. Susan Vance was portrayed as being a very cunning and mischievous individual. However she was made to look like a dumb blonde along her co-stars in the film, she actually is very alacritous and firm in whatever she does.  It’s either her way or the high way.  We as viewers come to this understanding when she lures David Huxley into coming to her home, when she fakes injury from the leopard.  Besides being shown as sly and mischievous; Susan was very carefree, wild and open to experience life to the fullest. We as viewers notice this traits when she drives recklessly leading to her accident with the truck or when she lies to the cop that wants to fine her car by stealing someone else’s car and running away.

This film reversed Gender stereotypes that the general public usually perceives. In this film the female is shown to be the dominant one while the male is shown to be the passive one. For example the scene where David Huxley was taking to his fiancée about honeymoon; she quickly disapproves of the idea and tells him that his work is more important, he then unwillingly has to agree. From this we know that females are in power in this movie. Susan Vance is also shown to be the one in power and control. She is also shown to be more brave then David Huxley and other men in the movie as she was not afraid with the leopard; in fact towards the end of the film she dragged in the wild untamed leopard by herself to the prison. David Huxley in this film has been totally emasculated; he is not in power of his own life, Susan is constantly creating havoc in his life. From taking away his car, his golf ball and making him miss his business meetings.  From here we as audiences understand that the usual male dominant society that usually controls females has undergone a reverse in roles.  To further emphasize on the reverse in roles David Huxley loses his dignity when all his clothes has been stripped away from him leaving him to wear a female robe. He even says in one scene “I’m Gay”.

There were various types of Comedy in this film that appealed to me and was very funny. This film portrayed sexual comedy when both Susan Vance and David Huxley attires tore and David had to cover Susan’s torn bottom by sticking close to her from the back depicting a sexual position. There was also surreal comedy when David Huxley was just still in daze and confusion when dealing with his unfortunate events.  The detective’s confusion is also another example when interrogating the entire actors of the film. Physical comedy was also present; this was when characters were running away from the leopard or when Susan and David fell or the time where they got into a car accident. Susan almost falling from the ladder and the crushed giant Dinosaur was also physical comedy which was extremely amusing.

Although laws on censorship were strict that time; this film depicted sex and romance in a more subtle yet effective way that appealed to its viewers. For example the scene where Susan’s attires bottom was torn and David Huxley had to protect her dignity by sticking on her back using his body depicted a sexual position.

I personally think this movie is very amusing. It had a good story line and the plot was brilliant in showing the reversal of gender roles, the actors played their roles with precision and perfection. Even the leopard played out its role with excellence. However I found the movie to be very dragging as more and more buildup of mishaps occurred which did not lead to a fantastic climax.