The Stepford Wives

Stepford Wives is a film about a community, Stepford, where the men, unbeknownst to the outside world, technologically alter their wives to make them the perfect, subservient housewife. The film deals with the relationship between the body and technology especially concerning control over other bodies and loss of power. The film, made in 1975, plays with the ideas of gender roles which were prevalent at the time because women were just recently gaining more and more equality. The misuse of technology puts fear into the audience that the increasing technology in our world could some day help to make possible the faulty ideals of some.

Prompt 11

The film, The Stepford Wives, explores not only the idea of technology and the body but also how people can use technology to take power and control over others. The film, made in 1975, is based around the ideas of male dominance and gender roles. While during this time period, women were gaining rights and independence slowly but surely after long struggles against male dominance, the film brings out a fear in the audience that one day technology could allow men to take control over women. The technology used actually transforms these women into the ideal stereotypical housewife. The fact that it is actually the men running this operation to change their wives, demonstrates how people can take advantage of technology and misuse its power. In this case, the men in Stepford use technology to take control of the women, taking it to the extent of almost manufacturing the women as if they were dolls or prototypes. Another question to think about is the extent in which technology played a role in this women dominance operation compared to the extent in which it was the ideals of society at the time which influenced the men's choices. Also, consider if it is the combination of the two that makes technology dangerous. Is it our faulty ideals as humans that make technology dangerous or technology itself that is dangerous. If technology weren't involved, would these men simply have found another way to achieve their goals?

Prompt 10

Throughout the novel, Case is constantly trying to escape his physical bounds by jacking into the matrix. However, he is still human so Gibson connects him to human impulses still. The two ways that Case connects to the physical body is through drugs and sex. He always has a girl around that fulfills his sexual needs. Also, in the beginning of the novel, he is restricted by his drug addiction. I found this to be an interesting connection between the "meat" and the mind. While AI's like Wintermute are simply mind and no meat and don't have the same needs, Case cannot escape his meat. While he tries to disregard his human instincts, there is still the theme of a need for sex and drugs in order to satisfy his physical needs. The sex itself, atleast in Case's case, is not influenced by technology and is simply physical pleasure.