In the movie Tootsie, the main actor brands himself and creates a certain reputation. This reputation is not one that most people want to have though. Michael has not had a job for two years and wonders why. He talks to his agent and the agent says that no one wants to work with him because he is to much maintenance. This is when we first see the “brand” that Michael has created for himself. “A company entering a crowded market place with a new product may rely on their existing brand to help it succeed” (More Than A Name, 17). In class we have discussed that people look at the past to see what is to come. They use the past to help determine if the brand is something they want to be apart of or not. Based on his past actions, Michael is having a hard time becoming a true actor. The number of actors seeking careers in New York is very high meaning that Michael is trying to compete with a lot of people. However, he is also competing against himself. The existing reputation he has is very poor and in order to get hired he needs to prove that he has changed. If producers had experienced better situations with him then Michael might not have such a hard time finding a job as an actor. I think that throughout the movie though he has one good quality that could ultimately achieve his goal in getting a better reputation.
In order for a brand to succeed, there must be passion. Michael is very passionate about acting. In the movie Michael is at his birthday party and rather than enjoying it, he is asking people about acting. This helps us see that he cares very strongly about his career as an actor. “The key to good product design…is to care about what you are creating: “It is about focus and caring…Bad products testify to people not caring. Our goal is to develop the very best products we can. Some things you rely on intuitively to say ‘yes, this is right’”(More Than A Name, 170). Michael cares so much about his passion to act that he dresses up as a woman. He does this in hopes to change the way that producers look at him. He wants to gain their respect so that he will be able to get hired more often. Overall, Michael does whatever it takes to overcome what he did wrong when branding himself which was creating a negative outlook that people in the acting business have on him.