MovieChat Forums > Horrible Bosses (2011) Discussion > Jennifer Aniston's character.

Jennifer Aniston's character.

posted 11 years ago by FurphyHaruspex
11 replies | jump to latest

The kind of boss she portrayed is horrible. And it was brilliant of them to cast the role as a female.

If it had been a male character it would have been horrendous to watch. There would have been no humor watching that kind of sexual assault on a female character by her male boss. She was physically groping him, flashing him, grabbing his ass, licking him on the back of the neck. If it had been a male groping a female, licking her, flashing her, and assaulting her nobody in the audience would have laughed.

I find it interesting how much the gender shift changes perceptions and allows an audience to laugh at something that would seem appalling if the roles were reversed.

Interestingly, if it had been a male character nearly every person in the audience would wish death to the character. However, because it was played by an attractive female the audience was far more split on the idea that she deserved to be killed.

[–] 11 years ago

[deleted]

[–] CaptainSexMachine 11 years ago

You know why the reactions are different? It's because men and women are different.

A man is physically superior to a woman so nobody really cares if he got slapped around by a woman.

A man is sexually dominant and therefore it is a violent crime when a man forces sex on a woman, but mockingly funny when a woman tries to do it to a man.

e.g. if a goat roars at a lion it's funny, but if a lion roars at a goat nobody is impressed.

[–] Splarne 10 years ago

Goats and lions? What are you a prophet?

[–] sean-cowan1 11 years ago

I agree that gender bias is too prevalent in society today, but I will also say that a lot of men - who do not have girlfriends or wives in particular - would very much appreciate the advances of Jennifer's character, and reciprocate. And since this movie was generally marketed and geared towards a male audience it was a perfect casting choice.

Moreover a woman of Jennifer's stature would not be a physically imposing threat to most men especially considering - in the movie at least- her character is a doctor and likely has no self defence training or anything that could negate size difference. So its very hard for anyone to believe Dale was ever in danger of being raped because he could simply over-power her if she ever really attacked him.

And when it comes to sexual harassment I think it all depends on if the person receiving the 'harassment' considers it as such. I've told some girls their breasts look nice and they genuinely appreciated it, but some would consider me to be a 'pervert' for even mentioning them. So I think this cut and dry business of 'the act is the harassment' isn't fact, unless you find the comments or behaviour harassing, it isn't harassment. For some women comments about their body, they consider compliments, others consider it harassment. Likewise for men some would consider Julia coming on to them harassment and others wouldn't. Largely it probably depends on if they are engaged or married or not, if they are single and have no prospects they would be very happy to have a hot woman come on to them.

In other words for Dale Julia's behaviour very much is sexual harassment, but for another hypothetical male character in the film it may not be at all.

You're a troll.

[–] Ddey65 10 years ago

I agree that gender bias is too prevalent in society today, but I will also say that a lot of men - who do not have girlfriends or wives in particular - would very much appreciate the advances of Jennifer's character, and reciprocate. And since this movie was generally marketed and geared towards a male audience it was a perfect casting choice.

I certainly can't disagree with you on that.

[–] spookyrat1 10 years ago

Well yeah, may be but above all else, I think the producers wanted to ensure the film wasn't too top heavy with boys.🐭

[–] Splarne 10 years ago

Bottom line...

I'd sign up to be harassed by Anniston.

[–] iroquois_pliskin00 10 years ago

Ditto.

But I understand the bias people have when it comes to men vs. women in the harassment or physical violence thing. I'm all for equality, but very valid points made here.

[–] userrrrr 10 years ago

She and Colin Farrell's characters were the only reason to watch the movie. Everything else is wretched.

[–] thepartydjz 10 years ago

Aniston is not even an actress, zero talent

[–] Evolution-X 10 years ago

She and Colin Farrell's characters were the only reason to watch the movie. Everything else is wretched.

I don't know, I thought Kevin Spacey did really well as Harken. He was one scary man and he played it well, though Spacey is an all-around great actor, so I didn't expect anything less out of him.

All I need is one mic...