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Cake Review

Sana Hasan
Sana Hasan

The document discusses gender stereotypes portrayed in the 2017 Pakistani film "Cake". It analyzes how two main female characters, Zareen and Zara, fit stereotypes of "Mammy" and "Matriarch" as described by Patricia Hill Collins. Zareen takes on domestic and family caretaking roles for her parents, fitting the stereotype. Zara pursues a career abroad and hides her relationship status, also fitting a controlling stereotype. The film challenges some stereotypes by showing male characters caring for family and a wife directing her husband. Overall, the document examines gender roles and stereotypes in the film through the lens of sociological literature.

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Discuss gender stereotypes in a particular 2017 or 2018 Pakistani film or drama, using Patricia Hill Collins Mammies, matriarchs and other controlling images and other relevant literature. Gender stereotypes arise because the psychological characteristics corresponding to behaviors are generalized to the sex typically performing them, and these characteristics are viewed as stable, intrinsic attributes of each sex. Specifically, to the extent that women are concentrated in domestic work and communally demanding employment, people believe that they are warm, caring, and socially skilled (Williams & Best, 1990). To the extent that men are concentrated in strength- intensive roles and in high-status roles, people believe that they are assertive, forceful, and dominant (Ridgeway, 2011; Williams & Best, 1990). The film Cake is set in present-day Karachi where the film rotates around a dysfunctional family of five; Zareen (Aamina Sheik), the middle child who has left her dreams to deal with her folks, their farmlands and essentially everything else around the house, Zara (Sanam Saeed), the youngest one who has been living in UK for a long time and the oldest, Zain (Faris Khalid), who lives in New York with his significant other, a child and their folks (Mohammad Ahmed and Beo Rana Zafar). The family reunites after the parents' wellbeing begins weakening. Following their get-together, circumstances emerge where the family is constrained to go up against each other and manage their grievances, laments, feelings of resentment, insider facts, bliss and everything else in the middle. The film has recently the appropriate measure of mind and amusingness, adjusted by the perfect measure of disaster. At its center, "Cake" is a film about the progression of time seen through the eyes of one family and offers a sincere take a gander at the substances of life, of at various times, of decisions and results. In Patricia Collins(1999) book Black Feminist thought she talks about the Mammy image which typically portrayed Black women as obedient, faithful domestic servants basically saying that they were only good for house work and taking care of children. With this picture Black women keep on enduring this since society still observe's the lady as somebody will's identity dedicated and would just think about the family unit and kids. The following controlling image that was clarified was the Matriarch image as the Black woman playing the man's part inside the family unit instead of being a nurturing lady that she should be. This identifies with intersectional types of abuse that Black women keep on enduring in light of the fact that Black women today need to play both mother and father to their youngsters since most fathers are truant in their kids' lives, and Black women will probably be the ones with fruitful vocations that will enable them to be the principle
supplier for the family rather than the Black man. In regard to the film Zareen, the eldest daughter is both the Mammy and the Matriarch since she takes care of her parents and their house domestically, as well as looking after their lands from where they earn their living. Zareen has both roles as a son and and daughter and as a caretaker of the home and their work. As for Zara she is portrayed as the Black lady as explained by Patricia Collins is the educated Black woman who has given up family life in exchange for a career. Zara lives in the UK and works spending rarely less time in Pakistan with her family. Little is known about her love life but she lies to her parents about it, she tells them she is still living with her supposedly partner but there is none. Both Zara and Zareen are created as controlling images so they audience would know how to view or treat them as. They would treat Zara as a workaholic not knowing how to live in relationships thus men should stay away from her. While Zareen being the Matriarch and Mammy has an emasculate personality where she goes to their lands to work and has a fatherly role as well as domestic role where she takes care of her parents. In one scene where Zara takes Zareen to a New Years party, Zareen feels uncomfortable and wanted to go home even thou she was with her peers, because she wanted to be at home with her parents. Which shows she was so used to being domesticized that she didnt want to do anything with that party but fulfill her role as a Mammy. Traditionally it is believed that men and women have different sets of gender roles (Giddens, 2006; Schaefer, 2010; Miaji 2010; Spencer, 1997; Rao, 2007). Parsons and Bales, two Functionalist theorists, say (in Schaefer, 2010), women should concentrate on domestic life and become anchored in the family as wives, mothers and household managers; on the other hand, men are supposed to focus on livelihood and become anchored in the occupational world outside the home. Women are only responsible for doing household chores, cooking, washing and rearing children (Sultana, 2011; Balk, 1996). On top of that it is believed that women are not supposed to go outside for professional jobs (Balk, 1996). These gender stereotypes impede the development of a society as these destroy individual talents to some extent (Schaefer, 2010). Cake had broken these stereotypes in a way that Zareen would work in her fathers Sindhi lands while Zara was away from home in the UK independent and would work. People with firm gender role views are more likely to have traditional traits than people who are more adaptable to these gender roles. The gender roles consist of women being the Caretakers while the men are the Breadwinners because of entity scholars' more prominent dependence on generalizations to sort and decipher social information. (Kray, Howland, Russel 2017). Cake broke this stereotype of a man being a bread winner by having Romeo a male character taking care of Zara and Zareens parents and doing household chores, while Zara and Zareen worked thus breaking the gender role of a woman. Zara and Zareens brother Zain is married to a woman named Sana, unlike male gender stereotype he listens to his wife and adheres to her wishes. This may be the cause of emotional vulnerability may be particularly important within the context of romantic relationships because people want to maintain the relationship, have their needs met, and avoid being hurt by their partners (e.g., Huston & Ashmore, 1986; Peplau & Gordon, 1985; Thompson & Walker, 1989; Vogel & Tucker, et al., 1999).
Gender roles arise from expectations of the society and their preconceived notions, where a male is dominant and orders around his female counterpart and is in control of her, while the female is submissive and takes care of the children and household. In the case of Cake Zain does not order around his female counterpart instead his counterpart does that to him. While Romeo is also more domesticized the opposite of the male patriarchal values since he takes care of the parents, cooks, cleans and basically is around the house, more so his personality is more humble , meek and down to earth opposite to a stereotypes arrogant dominant man. References:
Collins, Patricia Hill. (1948). Black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment Giddens, A. (2006). Sociology. (5th ed.). Malden: Policy Press Schaefer, R. T. (2010). Sociology. (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Miaji, A. B. (2010). Rural Women in Bangladesh. Lund: Media Tryck. Spencer, M. (1997).Gender: Foundations of Modern sociology. (7th ed., pp. 193-220). Ontario: Prentice- Hall Canada. Rao, C. N. S. (2007). Women in Society: Sociology. (6th ed., pp. 813-857). New Delhi: S. Chand & Company Limited. Sultana, A. M. (2010). Factors Effect on Women Autonomy and Decision-Making Power within the Household in Rural Communities. Journal of Social Sciences. 7(1): 18- 22. Balk, D. (1996). Defying Gender Norms in Rural Bangladesh: A Social Demographic Analysis. Honolulu: East west Center. Nur Ul Haq, A.R.(2009). Stereotyping of women as a domestic being in Bangladeshi television commercials: A critical study of discourse Kray,L.J. Howland,Laura. Russel,A.G. (2017). The Effects of Implicit Gender Role Theories on Gender System Justification: Fixed Beliefs Strengthen Masculinity to Preserve the Status Quo Thompson, L., & Walker, A. (1989). Gender in families: Women and men in marriage, work, and parenthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 51, 845-871. Peplau, L. A., & Gordon, S. (1985). Women and men in love: Gender differences in close heterosexual relationships. In V. E. O'Leary, R. K. Unger, & S. B. Wallston (Eds.), Women, gender, and social psychology (pp. 257-291). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Huston, T. L., & Ashmore, R. (1986). Women and men in personal relationships. In R. D. Ashmore & F. K. Del Boca (Eds.), The social psychology of female-male relations: A critical analysis of central topics (pp. 167-210). New York: Academic Press. Vogel, D. L., Wester, S. R., & Heesacker, M. (1999). Dating relationships and the demand/withdraw pattern of communication. Sex Roles, 41, 297-306. Confirming Gender Stereotypes: A Social Role Perspective David L. Vogel,1,4 Stephen R. Wester,2 Martin Heesacker,3 and Stephanie Madon1
Williams, J. E., & Best, D. L. (1990). Measuring sex stereotypes: A multination study. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Ridgeway, C. L. (2011). Framed by gender. How gender inequality persists in the modern world. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.

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Cake Review

  • 1. Discuss gender stereotypes in a particular 2017 or 2018 Pakistani film or drama, using Patricia Hill Collins Mammies, matriarchs and other controlling images and other relevant literature. Gender stereotypes arise because the psychological characteristics corresponding to behaviors are generalized to the sex typically performing them, and these characteristics are viewed as stable, intrinsic attributes of each sex. Specifically, to the extent that women are concentrated in domestic work and communally demanding employment, people believe that they are warm, caring, and socially skilled (Williams & Best, 1990). To the extent that men are concentrated in strength- intensive roles and in high-status roles, people believe that they are assertive, forceful, and dominant (Ridgeway, 2011; Williams & Best, 1990). The film Cake is set in present-day Karachi where the film rotates around a dysfunctional family of five; Zareen (Aamina Sheik), the middle child who has left her dreams to deal with her folks, their farmlands and essentially everything else around the house, Zara (Sanam Saeed), the youngest one who has been living in UK for a long time and the oldest, Zain (Faris Khalid), who lives in New York with his significant other, a child and their folks (Mohammad Ahmed and Beo Rana Zafar). The family reunites after the parents' wellbeing begins weakening. Following their get-together, circumstances emerge where the family is constrained to go up against each other and manage their grievances, laments, feelings of resentment, insider facts, bliss and everything else in the middle. The film has recently the appropriate measure of mind and amusingness, adjusted by the perfect measure of disaster. At its center, "Cake" is a film about the progression of time seen through the eyes of one family and offers a sincere take a gander at the substances of life, of at various times, of decisions and results. In Patricia Collins(1999) book Black Feminist thought she talks about the Mammy image which typically portrayed Black women as obedient, faithful domestic servants basically saying that they were only good for house work and taking care of children. With this picture Black women keep on enduring this since society still observe's the lady as somebody will's identity dedicated and would just think about the family unit and kids. The following controlling image that was clarified was the Matriarch image as the Black woman playing the man's part inside the family unit instead of being a nurturing lady that she should be. This identifies with intersectional types of abuse that Black women keep on enduring in light of the fact that Black women today need to play both mother and father to their youngsters since most fathers are truant in their kids' lives, and Black women will probably be the ones with fruitful vocations that will enable them to be the principle
  • 2. supplier for the family rather than the Black man. In regard to the film Zareen, the eldest daughter is both the Mammy and the Matriarch since she takes care of her parents and their house domestically, as well as looking after their lands from where they earn their living. Zareen has both roles as a son and and daughter and as a caretaker of the home and their work. As for Zara she is portrayed as the Black lady as explained by Patricia Collins is the educated Black woman who has given up family life in exchange for a career. Zara lives in the UK and works spending rarely less time in Pakistan with her family. Little is known about her love life but she lies to her parents about it, she tells them she is still living with her supposedly partner but there is none. Both Zara and Zareen are created as controlling images so they audience would know how to view or treat them as. They would treat Zara as a workaholic not knowing how to live in relationships thus men should stay away from her. While Zareen being the Matriarch and Mammy has an emasculate personality where she goes to their lands to work and has a fatherly role as well as domestic role where she takes care of her parents. In one scene where Zara takes Zareen to a New Years party, Zareen feels uncomfortable and wanted to go home even thou she was with her peers, because she wanted to be at home with her parents. Which shows she was so used to being domesticized that she didnt want to do anything with that party but fulfill her role as a Mammy. Traditionally it is believed that men and women have different sets of gender roles (Giddens, 2006; Schaefer, 2010; Miaji 2010; Spencer, 1997; Rao, 2007). Parsons and Bales, two Functionalist theorists, say (in Schaefer, 2010), women should concentrate on domestic life and become anchored in the family as wives, mothers and household managers; on the other hand, men are supposed to focus on livelihood and become anchored in the occupational world outside the home. Women are only responsible for doing household chores, cooking, washing and rearing children (Sultana, 2011; Balk, 1996). On top of that it is believed that women are not supposed to go outside for professional jobs (Balk, 1996). These gender stereotypes impede the development of a society as these destroy individual talents to some extent (Schaefer, 2010). Cake had broken these stereotypes in a way that Zareen would work in her fathers Sindhi lands while Zara was away from home in the UK independent and would work. People with firm gender role views are more likely to have traditional traits than people who are more adaptable to these gender roles. The gender roles consist of women being the Caretakers while the men are the Breadwinners because of entity scholars' more prominent dependence on generalizations to sort and decipher social information. (Kray, Howland, Russel 2017). Cake broke this stereotype of a man being a bread winner by having Romeo a male character taking care of Zara and Zareens parents and doing household chores, while Zara and Zareen worked thus breaking the gender role of a woman. Zara and Zareens brother Zain is married to a woman named Sana, unlike male gender stereotype he listens to his wife and adheres to her wishes. This may be the cause of emotional vulnerability may be particularly important within the context of romantic relationships because people want to maintain the relationship, have their needs met, and avoid being hurt by their partners (e.g., Huston & Ashmore, 1986; Peplau & Gordon, 1985; Thompson & Walker, 1989; Vogel & Tucker, et al., 1999).
  • 3. Gender roles arise from expectations of the society and their preconceived notions, where a male is dominant and orders around his female counterpart and is in control of her, while the female is submissive and takes care of the children and household. In the case of Cake Zain does not order around his female counterpart instead his counterpart does that to him. While Romeo is also more domesticized the opposite of the male patriarchal values since he takes care of the parents, cooks, cleans and basically is around the house, more so his personality is more humble , meek and down to earth opposite to a stereotypes arrogant dominant man. References:
  • 4. Collins, Patricia Hill. (1948). Black feminist thought: knowledge, consciousness, and the politics of empowerment Giddens, A. (2006). Sociology. (5th ed.). Malden: Policy Press Schaefer, R. T. (2010). Sociology. (10th ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill. Miaji, A. B. (2010). Rural Women in Bangladesh. Lund: Media Tryck. Spencer, M. (1997).Gender: Foundations of Modern sociology. (7th ed., pp. 193-220). Ontario: Prentice- Hall Canada. Rao, C. N. S. (2007). Women in Society: Sociology. (6th ed., pp. 813-857). New Delhi: S. Chand & Company Limited. Sultana, A. M. (2010). Factors Effect on Women Autonomy and Decision-Making Power within the Household in Rural Communities. Journal of Social Sciences. 7(1): 18- 22. Balk, D. (1996). Defying Gender Norms in Rural Bangladesh: A Social Demographic Analysis. Honolulu: East west Center. Nur Ul Haq, A.R.(2009). Stereotyping of women as a domestic being in Bangladeshi television commercials: A critical study of discourse Kray,L.J. Howland,Laura. Russel,A.G. (2017). The Effects of Implicit Gender Role Theories on Gender System Justification: Fixed Beliefs Strengthen Masculinity to Preserve the Status Quo Thompson, L., & Walker, A. (1989). Gender in families: Women and men in marriage, work, and parenthood. Journal of Marriage and Family, 51, 845-871. Peplau, L. A., & Gordon, S. (1985). Women and men in love: Gender differences in close heterosexual relationships. In V. E. O'Leary, R. K. Unger, & S. B. Wallston (Eds.), Women, gender, and social psychology (pp. 257-291). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum. Huston, T. L., & Ashmore, R. (1986). Women and men in personal relationships. In R. D. Ashmore & F. K. Del Boca (Eds.), The social psychology of female-male relations: A critical analysis of central topics (pp. 167-210). New York: Academic Press. Vogel, D. L., Wester, S. R., & Heesacker, M. (1999). Dating relationships and the demand/withdraw pattern of communication. Sex Roles, 41, 297-306. Confirming Gender Stereotypes: A Social Role Perspective David L. Vogel,1,4 Stephen R. Wester,2 Martin Heesacker,3 and Stephanie Madon1
  • 5. Williams, J. E., & Best, D. L. (1990). Measuring sex stereotypes: A multination study. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Ridgeway, C. L. (2011). Framed by gender. How gender inequality persists in the modern world. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.