The Full Monty, released August 29th 1997, is a comedy based and filmed in the city of Sheffield, the home of steal works. It was directed by Peter Cattaneo, and it stars the Scottish actor Robert Carlyle, Mark Addy, William Snape, Steve Huison, Tom Wilkinson, Paul Barber and Hugo Speer. The six men decide to form a male strip tease act to get enough money to do something else and for the main character, Gaz, to see his son. Four of the men needed the money as they were made redundant from the steal working company in Sheffield. The film discusses different subjects and themes such as homosexuality, depression, obesity, working class culture, fathers' rights, suicide and unemployment. I believe that this describes the atmosphere and the subjects that were being described at the time, especially after the redundancy of 90,000 of workers. The film was a huge success, it had an unexpected international commercial success and grossed a total $250 million. It was later adapted into a musical in the year of 2000 and then into a play in 2013.
Social Class
The working class in Sheffield in particular is frequently seen throughout the film and is represented to use excessive amounts of slang and swearing, rather than what other countries would stereotypically expect an person living in the UK to sound like. Unemployment is also seen within the film, such as the four males that lost their job in the steel mills. Therefore Gaz cannot afford to supply the funds for his son, take him on trips to see the football or even great his house. It is one scene in the film where Gaz's son is talking down to his dad and asking him why they can't do "normal things"; making Gaz feel useless. It was Margret Thatcher who brought this upon Sheffielf, though she was then replaced by John Major in 1990 and unfortunately didn't make any changes to Thatcher's dei-industrialisation, unemployment, low wages, and poor housing and education.
Gender
The Full Monty shows the female characters to play quite domestic roles, such as the stay at home wife, working in a sewing factory, cleaning and keeping the house tidy etc. Although the way in which they speak conforms against the stereotype of women as they are heard using slang frequently. The film also reverses the stereotypes of women, but they place it on the male characters as they are strippers and seen through, not the male gaze, but the female gaze and they are sexualised throughout which I don't believe is good. Women or men should not be seen as if they are just an object or a piece of meat. Another example of gender roles being reversed in the way that women are seen to be more financially stable and independent, therefore becoming the new breadwinners since so many men lost their jobs at the still mills. Throughout, the men are heard discussing their lack of self esteem, masculinity and confidence; an example of this would be when Dave is talking to the group about wrapping himself in cling film as it supposedly reduces fat. Another example of lack of body confidence is when horse in present in a phone box, talking on the phone and holding a tool that is said to make his genitals bigger. The the main example is seen in the scene where all the men are together in Gerald's house, and they're all self conscious about taking their clothes off in front of each other. Even though the theme of male insecurity and vulnerability is present all the way through the film, confidence and self esteem is then regained in the final scene where they all perform the full monty, and all men and women are cheering them on.
UK (Sheffield)
At the beginning of the film, a clip is shown to the audience of what Sheffield used to be like, and it was described as a 'City on the Move' and once the clip had finished an image of the abandoned steal works appeared, showing the different between what sheffield once was 25 years before this. It was a very well known place, filled with amusements, shopping centres, parks and newly built buildings.
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