I chose to analyze The 40 Year-Old Virgin for two reasons. The first being that it is without a doubt one of my top 5 favorite movies of all time! Second, but most importantly, I chose this film because of the unique situation of the main character Andy (Steve Carell). Andy is a 40-year-old, single male who lives on his own and works at an electronics store. To add insult to injury, he is a video game playing, action figure collector who's main source of transportation is a bicycle. Andy hangs out primarily with a group of male guy friends that happens to be his co-workers. The plot of the movie starts to take place once his friends find out Andy is a virgin after joking around about their sexual experiences during a poker game. At first Andy is ashamed and runs away but his friends later catch up to him and want to help out with his situation. From there on Andy and his friends set out on a mission to help him lose his virginity and become a ladies man given their "expertise."
In my analysis I decided to focus on the double standard scripts posed by Kim et al along with the gendered relationships scripts of Ivory et al. From the male perspective I chose to observe how Andy interacts with his friends and females. And for the female perspective I chose to observe how Andy's love interest Trish interacted with him. In the sense of sex as masculinity and good girls scripts (Kim, 2007), I looked for both actions of characters that reinforce and go against codes that follow those scripts.
The first scene that was analyzed was the first interaction between Andy and his later love interest Trish. Trish walks into the electronic store where Andy works and is looking for some help with a purchase. Though their are several staff members (Andy's friends) who are available to help her, they all act as if they have other business to tend to so that Andy can assist her. Trish goes on to tell Andy that she owns a "We Sell Your Stuff On Ebay" across the street from the electronic store. She then gives Andy her number and tells him to call her sometime. Andy proceeds to ask what does he need her number for if she is across the street. They both laugh and she then leaves the store. As she leaves one of Andy's co-workers approaches him and congratulates him on getting her number.
In this scene there was good example of counter scripts from the interaction of Andy and Trish. For starters Andy tended to be the more passive person (Ivory, 2009) in the conversation especially towards the end. He was not aggressive at all and would not have been the initiator of conversation had it not been for his friends. On the other side of the conversation was Trish who looked to be the aggressor (Kim, 2007) in giving Andy her number and telling him to call her or stop by the store anytime. She did not set any limits (Kim, 2007) within this conversation pertaining to any sexual advances. If anything she opened the door for any sexual advances to be made between the two while Andy seemed to be confused during their talk.
This next scene is the development and beginning of their first date:
While on the date Andy and Trish go to a restaurant where they have causal conversation. While they are talking some of the restaurant staff are singing happy birthday to one of the customers. While still in conversation Trish misinterpreted what Andy said and thought he told her it was his birthday also. She then asks the staff to sing to Andy for his birthday as well. Though embarrassed, Andy laughs the situation off and Trish gives him a kiss on the cheek and tells him happy birthday. The next part of the scene is back at Trish's house where the two are engaging in heavy kissing and touching. Trish then asks Andy if he is really into kissing where he responds that he is. Next she tells him to take off his pants and then asks him if he needs any help. Once he takes his pants off she asks if he has any protection and he says "I don't like guns." She then shows him the drawer where she has leftover condoms from her previous marriage as she proceeds to go into the rest room to freshen up. As Andy waits in the bedroom he struggles to put on a condom because he has never done it before. The scene ends when Trish's daughter walks into the bedroom with her boyfriend and sees Andy in the bed and her mother half-dressed with a bunch of condoms on the ground.
This scene also presented several counter scripts go against the courtship strategies (Kim, 2007). To start Andy was ridiculed about his place by his friends saying that it is too childish and not masculine for him to have as many action figures and video games as he did in his apartment. Once on his date it seemed as if Trish dominated most of the conversation and Andy was active in conversation but not powerful. Following dinner when the two head back to Trish's house it seems that Trish was the one who initiated the sexual contact whereas Andy was fine with just kissing, which is usually coded to be a more feminine characteristic. However, Trish does set a limit by asking Andy if he had protection and when he did not she had her own supply meaning that they were not going to engage in unprotected sex (Ivory, 2009). Though Andy was the initiator of the date, he tended to be the less dominant character throughout the scene.
The final scene that was observed took place in this clip:
This clip is towards the end of the movie and it shows some character development with Andy. As you can see in the clip portrayed some dominant characteristics when he wanted to take a stance for all of the changes going on in his life. Prior to his friends finding out that he was a virgin he lived a lifestyle that was average and ordinary to him. Now with all of the new changes in his lifestyle, it has almost been as if Andy has not had time to take into account how different he has become. This scene shows Andy's frustration and allows him to finally portray some aggressive, stereotypical male dominance by finally putting his foot down.
The clip also began with Trish portraying more of a submissive female character role (Ivory, 2009) by telling Andy that she feels she is falling for him and wants to take their relationship to the next level after their twenty dates that the two agreed upon. As they are in the heat of action Andy stills shows some resistance to the situation by saying that they have not quite reached their twenty dates yet. Once they knock over the action figures that were on the bed, Andy reaches his boiling point and begins to yell about the value of his collection thus finally showing some dominance of his character (Ivory, 2009). It is not until now when the two start to act as typical gendered relationships usually play out with a male dominant character and female submissive character (Ivory, 2009).
Andy's unique problem is the main cause to blame why he did not typically portray scripts such as using sex as masculinity (Kim, 2007) or having dominant traits (Ivory, 2009). In the story his virginity held him back from these scripts because it was not masculine for Andy to be a virgin, especially at the age of 40. It was not until Andy started to be put in situations that may have lead to him losing his virginity by interacting with women in ways he had never before that helped him develop into a more masculine character. Also it took a more dominant female character and some friends to finally break Andy out of his shell and allow him to gain his masculine traits through the experiences he had with them.
Holz Ivory, A., Gibson, R., &
Ivory, J. D. (2009). Gendered relationships on television:
Portrayals of
same-sex and heterosexual couples. Mass Communication & Society, 12 (2).
Kim, J. L., C. L., Collins.,
Zybergold, B. A., Schooler, D., & Tolman, D. L. (2007). From sex to
sexuality:
Exposing the heterosexual scripts on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research, 44(2).
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