Woman in a Man's Role?

The film Mr. and Mrs. Smith starring Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie perfectly portrays the breaking of a woman's gender role while also holding on to important aspects of a woman's identity. John and Jane Smith are married, but are both secret assassins. Neither knows about each other's secret second life, until they are assigned to kill each other. In the end, they much choose which is more important: their personal life or their secret career.

Jane Smith seems like the typical housewife when she gets home from the office every day. She cooks dinner for her husband John, sets the table, and cleans up the mess afterward. She is always perfectly put together, makeup and all, and never hesitates to be nice to the neighbors. Her home is beautifully decorated and in pristine condition. She seems far from the "female road outlaw," but her seperate identity is truly one of crime and murder (Boozer 209).

When she leaves for the "office" every morning, her entire indentity changes. She is an undercover assassin who is the best in her firm, and is definitely not scared to shoot a gun. A whole different person comes out when she is at work: an aggressive, hostile woman who does not care who gets in the way of her mission. This is until her husband gets in the way. Jane must decide what is more important to her, and in the end she realizes that John is the one who she should pick. The Smith's end up working together to accomplish the mission they were both sent out on before they were assigned to kill each other. Jane Smith is much like the character in Sleeping With the Enemy because she is not scared to take on a more masculine role and kill others (Boozer 212).

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a film that takes away from the female stereotype of being the perfect housewife. It proves that women can be as forceful and intelligent as men can, and since it was such a box office hit, millions of people got the opportunity to see this point of view, which is important for every woman to see.