Friday, April 25, 2008
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.
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8 comments:
I think this is where I am supposed to ask questions.
I thought you did a great job! You talked about the smoking and drinking, which was good. But one major thing you didn’t talk about, but you showed, was the bra. When that character was transformed that was the first thing she talked about. During that time, burning bras was such a major issue. I thought I should point that out. Ok, so here is my question. Most of you guys argued that technology is bad when it is too strong. In my movie, it was said that human nature is to destroy themselves..or something like that. Do you think that technology is bad and should never be used? Or do you think it is the fact that humans are bad that technology is not the problem?
It's great how you analyzed the movie so thoroughly. On a grander scale, however, I failed to understand how the women were submitting to the technological 'improvements'. Was some other force besides technology used to coerce the women to get altered in such a way? Why did only the men have that technology, and was it also available to the women? Do you think the women would have used it also in a similar way, or because it was only used by men, it makes a larger statement about gender?
In response to Aubrey's comment:
I agree that the bra is another example of how the men are taking away their freedom of choice. I didn't touch on it mainly because of time constraints. So far as the question of whether it is the technology that is evil or the mindset of the men, that is one question I brought up in my presentation. What I believe is that while technology can be used to some advantage is specific cases, as we see with Molly in Neuromancer, in this case, the combination of technology and the views of society and men at the time together created this negative idea of technology. I do not necessarily believe it should never be used, but the film is arguing that technology can be misused and abused.
In response to Julia's comment:
I should have explained more thoroughly the process through which the technology was used on the women; I just didn't want to get stuck on explaining plot. However, throughout the film, when the two main characters I introduced you to came up with the idea of a women's lib group, they soon learned that something like that used to exist. This group disintegrated after the men started to take control of the women through technology. The women are literally captured/kidnapped and killed and replaced by these women made to look like and sound like their wives but are actually basically robots. I don't think the film would explore the idea of the women having the same power because at that point in time, it is basing its storyline off a more feasible fear that men will again find new ways to suppress women's equality.
Your presentation was very enjoyable. You analyzed your scenes based on historical context, clothing and body language. Do you think the setting, camera perspectives or any of those types of cinematic language helped your argument? Or did they not and this explains why you did not mention it?
I noticed that you said in you response to Julia, that they actually killed the women and replaced them. I didn't realize this and thought they were altered themselves. How does this play into the relationship between technology and death like we have seen in so many other examples?
Hey good job with your presentation. I was curious to what the men actually did to get the women to change. More specifically, what was the technology used? Was it ever explained?
I think its interesting how the "bad" influences of technology are manifested as women who care about housekeeping and wearing high heels. I understand it is in response to the social context of women's liberation, which is why the movie makes such a strong argument. But it makes me wonder about today's audience perception of the film. Do you think you have looked at the film differently than a woman would have looked at it when it was first released? The film is definitely making a strong anti-technological argument in favor of women's liberation, but i'm curious as to how the movie was accepted or rejected by the public. Maybe to some, the womanly result of the technological control was normal, or a good thing.
Aisha - I think that the cinematic language did play a part. However, I felt that the choice of clothing, setting, and expressions for the women made a stronger argument so I focused my presentation more towards those aspects of the film.
Megan - I should have explained more thoroughly how exactly the alterations took place, and I know I mentioned that the men murdered the women, but I should have expanded on that. But yes, they actually created the replacement woman first and then brought their wife to their "club" place and had the robot woman kill them. We don't actually witness this, but one of the last scenes is Joanna coming face to face with her replacement who is holding something to choke her with. The idea of death brings the misuse of this technology to an extreme. The men don't only alter their wives but actually kill them and replace them. The fact that they are dead, yet still alive in image, brings in the idea of the relationship between technology and the body again. It argues again that we should not allow technology to replace the body.
Mark - As I just explained above to Megan, the women are killed by their robot counterparts. The actual technology used is not actually explained, rather we just see the after effects.
Emma- I can see how the technology does not necessarily seem like its doing bad things to the women. Yet the film emphasizes the negative effects of this technology by using the characters Joanna and Bobbie. Both women are very outgoing, sassy, witty, strong, and passionate. For instance, the film looks at Joanna's passion for photography, which is non-existent once she is replaced. All unique qualities are stolen from them. I also think that at the time, since there was still a struggle with women's rights, the impact would have been greater than now when we don't see that as as much of a threat anymore.
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