Interpersonal Conflict In Tootsie

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The movie that I chose to watch is called Tootsie, starring Dustin Hoffman. I chose this movie for a couple reasons. It is a comedy, I remember going to the movie theater with my mom when I was little to watch this movie, and I thought there would be many good examples in this movie of interpersonal conflict. Michael Dorsey is an aspiring actor in New York City. His biggest strike against him is that he is too controlling and only sees rolls from his viewpoint. His agent, George Fields, explained that no one will hire him because of his bad reputation. In his personal life, Michael is a bit of a jerk that treats women poorly, especially his long term friend and fellow actor Sandy Lester, a woman who already has self-esteem issues.…show more content…
A cultural dimension that influences how people manage conflict is whether their culture is one of low or high context. Michael Dorsey displays a low or individualistic culture in Tootsie. Michael is a very direct and tell-it-how-it-is individual in the movie. He does not agree with skating around the issues. As an actor, he feels that his audience should see things for how they really are, versus how the directors, screenwriters want the audience to portray them. Michael continually stands up for what he believes. However, this is how he got his bad reputation thus no one wanting to hire him. The interpretation from the movie was that Michael was brought up in a culture of valuing the rights, needs and goals of individuals. This is what moved Michael into being controlling and only see rolls from his…show more content…
Michael Dorsey not only was an aspiring actor, but he was also a part-time acting instructor in a course that Sandy was enrolled. This is where Michael and Sandy became to know each other and formed a complementary relationship. Sandy relied on Michael to help her overcome her fears of displaying her aggression but doing so in an intellectual manner. Sandy looked up to Michael as a mentor, teacher, friend and eventually a lover. Sex, gender and power are three words that can easily go together. Most people think of these three words together with male domination. However, in the movie Tootsie, it is quite the opposite. Michael was having much difficulty landing a job as a male. He needed to raise money to finance a play written by his roommate and after several failed auditions in a male role; he decided to audition as a female for a role on a daytime drama. Much to his surprise, he landed the role. He found power in changing his identity and becoming a woman. As Dorothy, he had a newfound fame and became a

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