|
The shim is a truly interesting specimen. They appear to be one gender, but their private bits tell a completely different story. Many shims are fabulous creations with larger-than-life personalities and a crazy awesome fashion sense. Changing your gender appears to be a liberating endeavour. You can be anything and anyone that you want because you are your own creator.
I noticed a while ago that many of the movies I love use a shim as the main character, and I felt that it was necessary to chronicle the shim as it appears in mainstream Hollywood. This is by no means a complete list, but below are some of my favourites.
I will split this shimography into two categories. Up first we have the two ladies who decide they want to be dudes for a while. It seems to be much more common to have a male to female shim than the female to male shim. Perhaps there is more comedic potential in the former category because we find men doing stereotypically female things more ridiculous? Whatever the reason, here are the two ladies who sacked up and became dudes.
Put a Sock in it (Women Becoming Men)
Victor Victoria (1982)
Basic Plot: Julie Andrews plays Victoria Grant, a struggling soprano who is poor and looking for work. She meets a man named Toddy (Robert Preston), who convinces her to present herself as a man and sing with her powerfully female voice as a drag queen. In her own words, she is "a woman, pretending to be a man, pretending to be a woman." As the newly invented Count Victor Grazinski, Victoria finds success and acclaim. A Chicago gangster named King Marchand (James Garner) becomes interested in Count Grazinski because he believes him to be a woman. Gender confusion-based hilarity ensues.
Romantic Hookups? In Victor Victoria, King Marchand is convinced that Victor is indeed a woman, and he works to expose shim for what she is. Marchand decides that it doesn't matter if she is a man, and the two hook up, where he learns that she is, in fact a lady.
Believability Scale: This movie is complex because Julie Andrews is crossing gender lines in two different ways. On my scale of how believable she is as a man, however, I give Dame Andrews 3 ½ rolls of boob tape out of 5. She does an excellent job of making her voice ambiguous, and she does well to carry her posture in a masculine way, but she is still Julie Andrews.
Yentl (1983)
Basic Plot: A young woman, Yentl (Barbra Streisand), wants to pursue a Talmudic education after her father dies, so she cuts her hair, dons a prayer shawl, straps down her boobs, names shimself Anshel and finds a yeshiva (school of religion) where shim will study with the other men (breaking the cultural codes of the Hasidic Jewish community). Once at the school, shim meets a fellow student named Avigdor (Mandy Patinkin) and falls in love with him. Avigdor is set to marry a girl named Hadass (Amy Irving), but her family cancels the wedding and arranges a marriage with Anshel. Religious hilarity ensues.
Romantic Hookups? I think this is movie provides us with the most awkward romantic hookups of any that I catalogue here. There is a frightening scene where a bunch of the boys go swimming (nude) in a river by the school one day. Anshel is invited to join them, and a very naked Mandy Patinkin tries to force shim to strip down. We may or may not have to see Patinkin's stones. More ridiculously, Anshel and Hadass go through with their marriage, and they proceed to have a wedding night. Anshel gets Hadass a little drunk and convinces her that they do not have to hookup just because it is what is done. They stay married for a while, and it is ridiculous that Hadass never finds out that Anshel is a lady.
Believability Scale: I award Babs 4 rolls of boob tape out of 5 for her portrayal. I wouldn't say that I believe she is a full-out man, but she makes an extremely believable boy with her slight frame. Her constant longing looks at Avigdor and the fact that she has tiny lady hands are kind of big clues about her shimness.
Dude Looks Like a Lady (Men Becoming Women)
Now, onto the other section of this shimography-men in drag. The candidates in this category have committed to differing levels of ladyhood. Let's dive in to this colourful world of press-on nails, fake eyelashes, big wigs, and tucked privates.
 Some Like it Hot (1959)
Basic Plot: Two male musicians, Joe and Jerry (Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon), witness a mob murder in Chicago and have to get out of town, quick. They adopt female personalities (Josephine and Daphne) and go on the road with a female band where they meet a young star named Sugar Kane (Marilyn Monroe). Both shims become infatuated with Ms. Kane and spend the rest of the trip pursuing her (as women, mostly, though Joe creates a male persona to woo her while in Florida). Train-based and yacht-based hilarity ensues.
Romantic Hookups? Tony Curtis's character takes on a male identity and bags Sugar Kane on a yacht that he steals from a rich Florida man. This rich Floridian takes an interest in Daphne (Jack Lemmon's in drag) and even when he finds out that Daphne is a man, he is still game for the relationship. This movie is a little bit weak on the gender-norm violating romantic hookups, but it was the 50s, so I don't fault it for this.
Believability Scale: The scale we will be using for the dude shims is slightly different than the female ones. Tony Curtis makes a decent looking lady, even if he is a little bit beefy, and for that I award him 4 tucks out of 5. Jack Lemmon, on the other hand is a scary looking woman who cannot walk in heels. Mr. Lemmon, I give you a shameful 2 ½ tucks out of 5.
To Wong Foo Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar (1995)
Basic Plot: I avoided watching this movie for a long, long time because I dislike movies (or bands or TV shows) that have unwieldy titles. Now that I know what this title refers to (a random autograph given by Ms. Newmar to someone we never meet), it is even dumber than I could have imagined. All that being said, this is a great shim movie. The plot is this-two New York City drag queens, Vida Boheme (Patrick Swayze) and Noxeema Jackson (Wesley Snipes), win a "Drag Queen of the Year" award and with that, they win a trip to Hollywood. They decide to cash in their plane tickets and rent a car, so they can bring along a new member of the drag community, Chi Chi Rodriguez (John Leguizamo) and teach her how to be a queen. While traveling across America, they assault a handsy police officer and then later their car breaks down in a small rural town. They are stuck in this town for a weekend and use the time to teach the women of the town how to be fabulous. Mostly this means the ladies get new hairstyles and a vintage clothing store gets ransacked. There is a frightening b-story about spousal abuse wherein Stockard Channing plays a battered wife who Patrick Swayze befriends. Small town hilarity ensues.
Romantic Hookups? There is only one close call for a romantic hookup in this movie. Chi Chi seduces a young local boy who saves shim from a group of threatening rednecks. Before things get to any sort of bedroom, Chi Chi gives up the boy so that a local girl can seduce him by being a little bit fabulous herself. Oh, and unrelated to the shim storylines, Blythe Danner takes a burly lover.
Believability Scale: These ladies really get points for pulling off a fabulous vibe while having gigantic shoulders. Johnny Legs is awarded with 4 ½ tucks out 5 because he makes a fine looking Latina lady. Wesley Snipes is slightly less pretty than Leguizamo, but he pulls it together with the attitude. 4 ½ tucks out of 5 for him as well. That brings us to the Swayze. He does not make a pretty lady. That being the case, his body movements and his ability to walk in heels with more grace than me, along with his kind lady spirit give him 4 tucks out of 5.
 Tootsie (1982)
Basic Plot: Actor Michael Dorsey (Dustin Hoffman) is unable to find work because his reputation as a difficult person to work with is keeping him from landing parts. He hears of a soap opera role being cast, dons a big red wig, pulls out a hilarious southern older lady accent, and wins the part. Dorothy Michaels is his shim alter ego, and she becomes an instant hit on the show and with the viewers. Dorothy befriends another cast member of the soap opera, Julie Nichols (Jessica Lange) and tries to help her get out of a bad relationship. Dorothy is an older woman, and she is pursued romantically by a soap opera legend, John Van Horn (George Gaynes). Older person hilarity ensues.
Romantic Hookups? Very nearly. As mentioned, John Van Horn actively pursues Dorothy and even proposes marriage to her. Meanwhile, Michael Dorsey falls in love with Julie Nichols but befriends her as Dorothy. During a "girls" night in when Julie is telling Dorothy about her unhappy relationship, Dorothy almost puts the moves on Julie, but Julie is not into the older ladies, so she rebuffs shim, saying she likes shim as a friend only. Later, Dorothy reveals herself to be Michael on live TV, and Julie is understandably confused by the situation.
Believability Scale: Much like Swayze before shim, Hoffman does not make an attractive woman. That being said, he makes a rather cute older southern lady, and his voice and mannerisms are spot-on. For this, I give him 5 tucks out of 5.
Mrs. Doubtfire (1993)
Basic Plot: I saved Mrs. Doubtfire for last because it was the first shim movie I ever watched and arguably the funniest of the bunch. The plot revolves around an out of work actor (seeing a pattern here?), Daniel Hillard (Robin Williams), who gets divorced from his wife, Miranda (Sally Field) and has limited visitation rights to his three kids. When career-driven Miranda decides to hire a housekeeper and babysitter, Daniel asks for the job, but she refuses. Daniel, with the help of his make-up artist brother, transforms into an older British lady named Mrs. Doubtfire and gets the job. Mrs. Doubtfire wins the children's hearts and under the body suit of an older lady, Daniel is able to the father he couldn't be as himself. Contained Robin Williams' hilarity ensues.
Romantic Hookups? Mrs. Doubtfire is surprisingly lacking in the romantic hookup department. Daniel (as Mrs. Doubtfire) tries to make Miranda's dating life difficult (she is being wooed by Stuart (Pierce Brosnan)), but he doesn't really seem to want to win her back. There is an older gentleman bus driver who is interested in Mrs. Doubtfire (and her "natural" Robin Williams-amount of hairy legs), but nothing comes of it.
Believability Scale: The make-up in this movie is pretty amazing (in fact, it won the Oscar for Best Makeup in 1994), and with the help of a body suit and a full latex mask, Robin Williams makes for an extremely believable older British gal. 5 tucks out of 5 awarded.
Dishonourable Mentions
Connie and Carla: I didn't actually see this movie, but they kind of stole the plot of Victor/Victoria, which I am not down with. Julie Andrews, I will always be your defender.
Big Momma's House (and similar): I haven't seen this movie, and I am not going to. The movie appears to be outrageous for the sake of being outrageous, and that is just not what makes a good shim.
Hairspray: I do not now, nor will I ever, believe John Travolta is a woman. He didn't even change his voice! To borrow from the Comic Book Guy: Worst. Shim. Ever.
Lauren is a writer and editor for (Cult)ure Magazine. She isn't a shim, but admires those who are. Follow her on twitter @lylcoln.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
