The Movie Enough and Popular Culture



Popular media influences us on a day to day basis, whether it is what we wear, what we drive, where we shop, etc. Media is always with us, but do we realize how much it affects us and how often it does?

During all of our class discussions I am always brought back to one movie in particular because I feel it meets a lot of the different topics we have talked about. The movie Enough starring Jennifer Lopez illustrates different masculine and feminine gender norms in families, social constructionism, and girl power.

Gender Roles

The movie Enough portrays the masculine and feminine gender norms of our society. When they first meet, Mitch is the passive male saving Slim from a rude customer at the diner where she is is working at. Having Mitch come to the rescue shows himself as the hero and automatically the audience likes him. Later on after they get married Slim becomes a stay at home mom, who cooks, cleans, and takes care of her daughter while, Mitch is a successful businessman who works outside of the home. It is the typical wife staying at home and taking care of her family, while the husband provides for the family. After awhile Mitch becomes abusive to Slim, since she found out he was having an affair. Since Slim, is a woman Mitch thinks that he should have all the power and say in the relationship and be able to abusive his wife if he wants, because she cannot do anything about it. “Men like the identities to fit within masculinity” (pg. 12) Mitch wants to be seen as masculine so beating his wife, and being the successful one in his relationship makes up his identity and is seen as masculine.

Social Constructionism

“People’s personality and behaviors are not predetermined by biology, but are shaped by society and culture” (pg. 18). I feel that people’s behaviors and personalities can be biological but I also feel that our cultures and our society play a huge role in shaping our personalities. We learn things from our friends, teachers, and media. In the movie Enough, after her husband abuses her she puts up with it for awhile because that is what she thinks she has to do. Eventually Slim realizes that she needs to do something about it and leaves him. Her behavior starts changing, because the advice she is getting from her family and friends, along with being chased by her abusive husband. Once her behavior starts changing, her personality becomes different. She becomes a fighter; she gets motivated to do something about Mitch. Slim begins taking fighting lessons from a teacher and he changes her personality. Slim becomes independent, confident, and a fighter.

Girl Power

Enough starts out as a movie, the audience thinks is about an abused wife, but in the end it shows girls to stand up for themselves and have power. Slim takes these lessons on fighting and trains herself to fight her abusive husband. When she goes to fight Mitch, he says “Man against woman, is that really fair?” Mitch makes it seem as if a woman cannot fight a man and win. As Slim is beating her husband, she has girl power. She is the total definition of femininity “Now just a swishy kind of glamour—and ideally just a masquerade, utilized by a confident woman who knows exactly what she’s doing” (pg 13). Slim is confident, and knows what she is doing as she is beating her husband. I think that this shows women that they do not have to be abused, but should not kill their husband either. It was empowering for me just seeing her go to the police, and leaving Mitch after being abused. Most women who are abused and have children do not leave their abusive relationships. Seeing Slim leave him and get even was empowering to me.