Gender Differences in When Harry Met Sally

Gender Differences in When Harry Met Sally

ENG 225- Intro to Film

When Harry Met Sally is a Romantic Comedy film from 1989, written by Nora Ephron and directed by Rob Reiner. The film follows the title characters, Harry and Sally, trying to maintain a platonic friendship, but ultimately falling in love. Goodykoontz & Jacob (2014) describe theme as an idea, subject, or topic of some kind that pervades the plot, and state that it less about what happens in the movie, and more about the meaning that you take away from the movie. Movies can, and generally will, have more than one theme. However, there is usually one theme that is more prominent. In When Harry Met Sally, most people tend to assume that the main theme is about whether men and women can be friends; however, it is really about the differences between men and women. In 2009, Entertainment Weekly published an article of an interview with Nora Ephron that said, “To her, the movie was never about answering that question; it was about showing how different men and women are.” (Bierly, 2009) This paper will describe different techniques used in this movie to help establish the theme of the differences between men and women.

One technique that was used in this film that helped highlight the theme of gender differences was lighting. Throughout this film, whenever we see Harry and Sally, there is always more lighting at Sally. For example, in the “high maintenance” scene (2012), we see the split screen of them in their beds on the phone watching tv together, Sally has her bedroom light on, whereas Harry is sitting in the dark. Also, whenever you see them standing near a window, or standing outside, Sally is always standing where the beam of light hits. This lighting technique contributes to highlighting gender differences by expressing that women are generally more warm and sensitive, and men are more aloof.

Another technique used to emphasize the theme in this film is sound, specifically music and dialogue. Through the length of this movie, the dialogue constantly offers debates between Harry and Sally on several issues, which is representative of the way men and women think differently. For example, in the “men and women cannot be friends” scene (2012), Harry and Sally are debating whether men and women can be platonic friends. Harry believes they cannot, due to sex getting in the way, whereas, Sally believes they can. Another example is in the “I’ll have what she’s having” scene (2015), where Sally argues that Harry’s behavior to women is disgusting and Harry argues that it is not because they have a good time. Then they argue about women faking orgasms and Harry says nobody ever has with him because he would be able to tell, but Sally argues that woman has probably faked it with him at least once without him knowing and then she proceeds to demonstrate how convincing a woman can be when faking it to prove to him he wouldn’t be able to tell. This film also underlines the theme with the choice of music. For example, in the “potato, tomato” scene (2013), when Harry and Sally part ways after their road trip, the song playing in the background sings about two people are different. One line of the song says, “You like potato, I like potato. You like tomato, I like tomato. Potato, potato, tomato, tomato, let’s call the whole thing off.” Between the dialogue of that car scene, and that song playing at the ending of the scene, the theme of gender differences was introduced and accentuated very well.

A third technique used in contribution to the theme of this film is acting, specifically the type of acting and the type of actors. “A type is a category that you fit into as an actor and also as a human being.” (Haase, 2003) The two leads of the film, Billy Crystal (Harry) and Meg Ryan (Sally), are personality actors. Goodykoontz & Jacob (2014) state that acting depends heavily on a strong personality and that the perception is that personality actors are, on some level, playing themselves. In this film, Crystal plays the role of Harry, a bitter, sarcastic and pessimistic man. Ryan plays the role of Sally, an uptight, optimistic, hapless romantic. Both actors have strong personalities that are representative of the typical man and woman, and the differences between them and their viewpoints. The use of realism acting benefits the theme of the film greatly, as well. Realism acting can be thought of as naturalistic, as it gives the impression of genuine human action and reaction. (Goodykoontz & Jacob, 2014) The genuine human actions of realism acting help to keep focus on the theme. If the film were to use another method of acting, like stylized acting, the attention would be drawn to the acting, rather than the story and the theme.

In summation, all the elements of the film When Harry Met Sally, come together to cohesively express the theme of gender differences. The mise en scene helped display this theme through costumes, scenery and props. We see the theme through costume as Harry is usually more casually dressed, whereas Sally is always more put together and dressed prim and proper. When it comes to scenery, whenever Harry is shown spending time with his friend, there is always sports involved, whether they are at a game, the batting cages, or jogging. When Sally is shown spending time with her friend, they are doing more classy things like lunch and wine, at the bookstore, or wedding dress shopping. We see the theme in the props being used in scenes like when they part ways after the road trip, we see Harry’s luggage is a big old duffle bag, another small bag, and a baseball bat; whereas Sally uses nice, neat suitcases that are secured in place. This film is a beautiful, light-hearted love story that perfectly highlights the differences between men and women in a comical way.

References

A Muse of Fire. (2011). When Harry Met Sally Men and Women Cannot Be Friends. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8kpYm-6nuE

Bierly, Mandi. (2012). Entertainment Weekly. Nora Ephron Explains ‘When Harry Met Sally.’ Retrieved from http://ew.com/article/2012/06/27/nora-ephron-meaning-of-when-harry-met-sally/

Goodykoontz, B., & Jacobs, C. P. (2014).  Film: From watching to seeing (2nd ed.) [Electronic version]. Retrieved from https://content.ashford.edu/

Haase, Cathy. (2003). Acting For Film. Retrieved from https://books.google.com/books?id=8kV4BwAAQBAJ&pg=PT117&dq=types+of+acting&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwij35OgkbjbAhWFnFkKHepYA1QQ6AEIMzAC#v=onepage&q=types%20of%20acting&f=false

Movieclips. (2015). When Harry Met Sally… (6/11) Movie CLIP – I’ll Have What She’s Having (1989) HD. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNEX0fbGePg

Reiner, Rob (Producer & Director), Scheinman, Andrew (Producer), Ephron, Nora (Writer & Producer). (1989). When Harry Met Sally. [Motion Picture]. United States: Columbia Pictures.

Santos, Carolina. (2013). When Harry Met Sally. Potato, Tomato. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1YxJ52T21jY

Suarez, Roy. (2012). When Harry Met Sally. High Maintenance. [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AX04tAufdO8