There are many women in this film, and the three highlighted are Tess, Katharine, and Cyn. They discuss business and many things other than men, so it definitely passes the Bechdel Test. This movie highlights the relationship between women in the workplace-- especially contrasting the comradery between secretaries and the cutthroat nature of Katharine.
Katharine is an interesting character. At first we admire her because she has managed to make it in a male dominated industry and she seems to want to help Tess. She tells her that if she ever has an idea to come see her and she’ll do her best to help out. She is also very confident, even referring to herself as “the quarterback.” She knows what she wants, and she’s not afraid to go after it at all costs.
Maybe you’ve got everyone around here fooled with this saint act you have going, but do not ever speak to me again like we don’t know what really happened, you got me?...Now get your bony ass outta my sight! - Tess
Libby wondered what the movie would be like if a man was Tess’s boss. Would Tess have hated and resented a male boss if he took her ideas? Would this situation have happened at all? Tess has reacted and spoken out against male bosses in the past, as shown in the beginning of the movie. Additionally, Katharine pretends to be supportive and caring of other women. Katherine reaches out to Tess. Tess’ male bosses set her up with various “interviews,” but they themselves never really said they wanted to help her be more than a secretary. Tess really resents that her boss would pretend to be supportive of her and other women when she really isn’t, which is why Tess creates this scheme.
When discussing this, Megan noticed that the only reason this was possible is because of Katharine’s accident. She believes that Tess had the opportunity with Katharine being out of commission that she never had before. Tess found Katharine’s email to Jack and took advantage of the situation. It’s hard to say if she would have done this with a male boss, but then again, she never had the chance to cash in on an opportunity like this. Tess was able to take control of her own fate here, and that is a very powerful thing.
Katherine is a stark contrast to Cyn, Tess’ best friend. Though all the women are witty and humorous in their own right, Cyn by far takes the cake.
Can I get you anything? Coffee? Tea? Me? - Cyn
From the get-go, Jack is quite taken with Tess. It’s essentially love at first sight for him and he is totally enthralled by her.
Nothing happened...I took off your shoes. I took off your dress. I put you on the bed, and I kept my eyes closed the whole time. - Jack
It’s hard to deny the chemistry between Jack and Tess. He’s so taken with her, and wants to help her be taken seriously, so he buys her a briefcase of her own. He unsuccessfully attempts to get her to go out to lunch with him after, but she wants to keep things strictly professional.
Libby has been wondering for the past few movies why it seems that fulfillment at the end of a movie for women always includes a successful relationship with a man. It is true that for many people a happy life involves a marriage or relationship. And a movie that was purely about fulfillment in the workplace could be pretty boring. We really love the relationship between Jack and Tess, but sometimes Libby wishes that there could be a movie where the woman doesn’t get the man, and is still happy.
Though Megan agrees with this point, she thinks it makes sense that Jack and Tess end up together. Although Tess is very self sufficient and capable on her own, after dealing with a guy like Mick and putting up with all the crap she did as a secretary, it was nice to see her not only achieve her professional goals by herself, but also end up with a guy who deserved her and was her equal. For this particular movie, it made sense. Perhaps if the story was structured differently, it would have been nice for Tess to end up single and still very happy with her life.
Another interesting point in relation to that idea of professional and romantic fulfillment is Tess’s age. At the beginning of the movie both Tess and Katharine say that they are thirty years old. According to the U.S. Census Bureau the average age of a first marriage really began to increase in the 1950’s. In 1988 the average age of marriage for a man was 26.7 and for a woman 25. Tess is older than that average age, and is beginning to really long for a successful job and marriage. Katharine had professional fulfillment but was obsessed with marrying Jack, and really wanted that so called perfect life.
Something that we discussed a lot in our post on Kramer v. Kramer, which is shown in even greater detail in this movie, is women in the workplace. If you want to read a history of women in the workplace we suggest you read that post. In this post we will be discussing sexual harassment in the workplace and gains that women made in the 1980’s.
Women made many gains in the 1980’s in the professional world. We found an article that was specifically about Maryland, but reflects general trends of the times. In 1990 women outnumbered men in “specialty area” in Maryland. Nationally, the number of women in the workplace increased by 27%. Tess works specifically in finance, and from 1960 to 1983 the number of women in the banking and financial management increased from 2% to 15%. We can see that Tess truly does work surrounded completely by men, and the women that she does interact with are secretaries.
It was in 1980 that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission stated that sexual harassment was a form of sexual discrimination under Title VII, which was confirmed in 1986 by the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court case, Meritor v. Vinson, said that plaintiffs could prove violations of the Civil Rights Act "by proving that discrimination based on sex has created a hostile or abusive work environment." The problem of sexual harassment became visible in the 1980’s, but still continues to this day.
According to the New York Times review, Working Girl provides a heroine with the “chance to prove herself in the professional arena, undergo a much-needed fashion overhaul and move up from a romance based on animal magnetism to one that very pointedly mixes business with pleasure.” This is a very good summary of the major points in which Tess is involved. She is very smart and the movie focuses around her growth. The New York Times also complimented Melanie Griffith’s performance as Tess, saying she had a good balance of “street smarts, business sense and sex appeal.” The Times also compliments Tess as a character by applauding her strength and determination. Robert Ebert can’t help but think that Melanie Griffith was the “right one” for the part. He noted that after having played more “sex-drenched roles” you could feel that both “Griffith and her character are both trying to get respectable - to assimilate everything that goes along with “serious hair.’”
When looking at Harrison Ford’s portrayal of Jack, the New York Times thought that he played “Jack in a foggy and rather faraway manner, never (setting) off many sparks with Miss Griffith, but perhaps that’s not the point..” Jack is the romantic lead opposite tess, but he’s not a romantic character, so we agree that it wasn’t the point to have sparks. Though we have to disagree in a way because we personally found the characters to have good chemistry, but perhaps not in a cliché sort of way. Robert Ebert found his subtlety and tendency to play more pensive to be appealing. “When he’s in love with a woman, he doesn’t grab her; he just seems to ponder her a lot.”
Ebert also thought that Sigourney Weaver’s subtlety with Katharine, making her “say all the right things while subtly suggesting that she may not mean any of them” was indispensable. She is the character that initiates Tess on her real journey, and so her role is crucial and she brought an interesting level of depth to the character. The Times found Alec Baldwin and Joan Cusack to bring delightful charm and humour to their roles as Mick and Cyn. This we cannot help but agree with. Especially with Joan Cusack, we would have to say she stole every scene she was in.
However, the New York Times did find that the plot holes were a distraction. For example, they thought that it was hard to believe that “no one in the office spots Tess wearing Katharine's clothes, commandeering her desk and using a very non secretarial manner to answer the telephone.” They also found the fact that she was able to accomplish this in a matter of a couple weeks not believable. This is where Megan found herself disagreeing with the Times. Although she sees their points, she also believes that when you watch a movie or play that you need to suspend your disbelief. The only way that these things work is in the world of the story, and sometimes that means you need to ignore a few minor things and believe that in the world of the story these plot holes are simply truths. Movies aren’t necessarily supposed to be realistic, and so Megan thought it was an unnecessary critique to give an otherwise great film.
Robert Ebert put it best when he described Working Girl as playing “like a thriller.” You’re constantly “on the edge of your seat” at each twist and turn, and it is very well written. The characters compliment both each other and the times well. We think that this is a very progressive film for women and enjoyed watching the plot progress and Tess’ strength and independence prevail throughout the entire film.
Bock, James. "Women Made Career Strides in 1980s Census Data Show Marked Md. Gains." Tribunedigital-baltimoresun. The Baltimore Sun, 29 Jan. 1993. Web. 21 May 2015.
Ebert, Robert. "Working Girl Movie Review & Film Summary (1988) | Roger Ebert." All Content. N.p., 21 Dec. 1988. Web. 21 May 2015.
Elliot, Diana B., Kristy Krivikas, Matthew W. Brault, and Rose M. Kreider. "Census Bureau." Anthropology News 33.4 (1992): 24. United States Censur Bureau, 3 May 2012. Web. 21 May 2015.
Guilder, George. "Women in the Work Force." The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 01 Sept. 1986. Web. 21 May 2015.
Maslin, Janet. "Working Girl (1988)." The New York Times. The New York Times, 21 Dec. 1988. Web. 21 May 2015.
Stritof, Sheri. "Median Age at First Marriage, by Sex: 1890 to 2012." Marriage.about.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 May 2015.