Roles

Members of a group fall into specific roles that "define the formal structure of the group and differentiate one position from another....[and] ensure that task behaviors of group members are interrelated appropriately so that the group's goals are achieved" (Johnson & Johnson, 2009, p. 15). In "Calendar Girls," Chris and Annie immediately fall into leadership positions of the “calendar girls" group. This role “assignment” happens naturally as Chris, the most fearless, rebellious, and determined of the bunch, comes up with the nude calendar theme and engages her best friend Annie, who is quickly behind the idea and helps solicit buy-in from the other WI women. Annie is also a mascot of sorts for the group as it is in the memory of her husband that they are creating the scandalous calendar in hopes of raising more money than in past years in order to buy a couch for the hospital waiting room. As the main leader, Chris pushes the other women in the group beyond their comfort zone, encouraging and ultimately daring them to go further. Her tenacity and spunk has no end, and it is no surprise that she isn’t able to sit at home at take care of her familial responsibilities when the group is invited to Hollywood—for her the Calendar girls have become the main group of focus. In contrast, Annie is more calm and level-headed throughout the process. In her “vice-leader” support role, she helps gain the trust of the other women as she follows Chris’s crazy idea without much challenge. However, role conflict emerges when Annie feel like Chris is taking things a little far and may have shifted her focus on the wrong motives—fame and celebrity rather than simply raising money for the hospital as was the original intention. The humble leader-in-the-shadows Annie speaks for the rest of the Calendar girls as she gets angry and forces Chris to come back to reality.

Several other characters have small yet distinguished roles not within the Calendar girls group per se, but in making their achievements possible. The photographer the women hire to shoot the calendar takes the role of the enabler as he brings his artistic talent and discretion to make the women comfortable and create a surprisingly excellent final product. Chris’s husband plays the role of the loyal supporter outside of the main group as he takes care of the family business and their son while Chris is wrapped up in developing and marketing the calendar. Even to the end when Chris drops her responsibilities and runs off to America without telling her son or husband because she can’t stand to not be included in the exciting television publicity and feels betrayed by her husband speaking with the tabloids, her husband is faithfully waiting for her upon her return, having already forgiven her probably because he knows her personality well and ready with his own apology and admission of his mistake. Without his support, Chris would not have been able to devote all her energy to leading the calendar mission and it would undoubtedly not have been such a huge success.