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Thomas Frasier
Professor Williams
ENG 102
6 November 2014
When a Navy Seal Plays Mom
A Rhetorical Analysis of the Movie The Pacifier- Feministic Perspective
is an information essay giving a full detailed analysis of the movie The Pacifier it
is written by a women using a feministic approach and without knowing any back
ground information on this movie you should know that the movie involves a
Navy Seal being a nanny and protecting a family as his mission. Being a nanny
isnt usually under the job description when signing up for the Seals, so right off
the bat you understand this isnt going to be a normal mission for Mr. Wolfe. In
society, people always assume and have the point of view that the women stays
home with the kids and the man goes to work and makes the money. This is the
opposite of society where the Navy Seal (Shane Wolfe) is being the nanny and
the lady of the house. This Rhetorical Analysis of the Movie The Pacifier this
analysis was written by Candice Yaboah and publication on February 6, 2012 by
ceyeboah.
Shane Wolfe (The Navy Seal) was put into a situation where he was out of
his element and none of his training could prepare him for it, but he was
expected to preform to perfection like all his other missions. The analysis points
out his flaws in and puts out the impression that he couldnt do everything right.
The author wants to find fault in whatever situation that Mr. Wolfe was put in. The

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author uses a feministic approach while analyzing this movie and she comes off
as holding Mr. Wolfe to a higher standard but doesnt understand that Mr. Wolfe
doesnt have a family and that is why this mission is a little harder for him
because he was 100% out of his element throughout the movie. She states that
Disney movies are targeted towards younger audiences between the ages of 10
and 16. Is she insinuating that Disney is trying to change the mindset of children
about what are the expected roles of men and women in society?
Throughout her analysis she tries to pick out what Mr. Wolfe is doing
wrong in his role of being Mommy for example she explains this in the scene
where Mr. Wolfe forgot the youngest child (Peter) at the arcade and goes on to
say that this incident verifies the hegemony of why women have a hard time
leaving their children with men, and reinforces the ideology that men are
irresponsible (2). Anyone could have forgotten their child when they are busy
have a lot of things on the mind and in this scene he finds out one of the kids in
in trouble and needs help, he was focusing on the bigger picture. The messages
that are portrayed in this movie challenges the status quo of society, as to what
activities, and behaviors are meant to be done by males, and what is meant to be
done by females (1). It is not the 1950s anymore, women work and have real
jobs and arent just housewives these days.
The Navy Seal (Shane Wolfe) was put into a situation where he was out of
his element and had no training in what this mission was had coming. Im sure if
the roles were reversed and a housewife were put into the role of a Navy Seal
she would not have perform as well as a trained Navy Seal. The movie was an

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attempt to make fun of men who are put in traditional roles of a woman or
mother. Of course they arent going to preform as a mother figure as well as a
woman would, but the author uses this situation to put the male down and
insinuate hes failing at his assigned job. It would be like putting a fish in a tree
then expecting it to behave like a bird. Feministic Perspective seems to want to
cast doubt on the mans abilities. She wants to insinuate that the women could
have preformed the job and he wasnt necessary. She shows this by pointing out
that he failed in his mission to knock out the 2 ninja warriors. Another example
would be when the young boy wanted to be in a play instead of wrestling
insinuated he had picked a more feminine endeavor.
There was no mention of the other children in the movie. Perhaps they
didnt fit into her objective, which was to castrate the male characters. She says
the movie is supposed to challenge the status quo of society, as to what
activities, and behaviors are meant to be done by males, and what is meant to be
done by females. She is perhaps reading more into the meaning of the movie;
maybe the movie was made to just make people laugh. Its funny to see men and
women put in situations that they are not entirely comfortable in. Disney hit this
one right on point when they put a Navy Seal having to be a nanny. The author
says Disney targets a younger audience of children between 10 and 16 (2). Is
she insinuating that Disney is trying to brain wash children into accepting
different roles for people, which might be nontraditional? Its going to take a lot
more than a movie to change natural instincts of people. Children are born with
natural instincts. This author misguided by her feministic perspective to think that

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children can be taught to disregard their biological functions. In the second
paragraph, the author is implying that after all Mr. Wolfe has done, he really
wasnt successful in his role as protector of the family. In the end, Mrs. Plummer
and the school principal defeat the two ninja neighbors without his help. There is
no mention of his abilities to adapt to his situation. Leading into the third
paragraph the author sees Mr. Wolfe as an excellent specimen of a manly man.
She also sees him in the role of the , mother. I think she is having a hard time
finding fault in him, but she wants him to fail in the role of mother. A mother
would have never forgotten a child at the arcade, but Mr. Wolfe did. Any parent
can come up short in their roles, she even states that women have a hard time
leaving their children with men, and men are irresponsible. She wants to find fault
in men. Men will never be good enough in any situation, and therefore they cant
be trusted to be good parents. Sometimes men dont think the same as women
especially, when women spend 9 months developing their child.
While she says she is trying to say that even though societal gender
norms do exist within our society, that individuals do not have to confine
themselves to these stereotypes, her judgmental writing and descriptions of the
men as unacceptable and failures in the role they are portrayed in the movie.
She wants the reader to say its okay to be different, but at the same time in her
writing, she is condemning them for not fitting in to the stereotype gender role.

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