Daughters of Feminists
Um...here's the part where I frighten away every single person who has ever met me. I saw Stepford Wives tonight and my reaction...wasn't pretty. I've never seen the original, and I have no idea how I was supposed to react to the film. I'm pretty sure rage and tears of frustration weren't the reactions the writers were aiming for.
The following will contain giant flamey balls of twine SPOILERS, and much rage.
The opening of the Stepford Wives remake is profoundly upsetting to me, for many reasons but mostly for one line in particular. In the first 10 minutes of the film, Kidman’s character Joanne unveils the fall line up of reality TV shows for her network. They are ‘Romantic’ reality TV shows that focus on conflict between husbands and wives. One in particular, "I Can Do Better", involves the couple being placed on an island and surrounded by professional prostitutes.
In front of a stadium of executives, Joanne is confronted by Hank, one of the contestants from "I Can Do Better." Hank's wife Barbra left him for more than 5 porn stars on the show, and he demands Joanne explain why she would do this to him. After some interplay between the two, he announces he also has an idea for a television show. Covering, Joanne asks him to share it with her and all the other executives present. Hank pulls a gun from his jacket, aims it at Joanne and shouts "It's called Let's Kill All the Women!"
At this point I almost had to walk out. He said those words and I thought "Oh shit, l’Ecole Polytechnique." I don’t know if most people aren’t familiar with the Montreal Massacre, and probably most Americans aren't, but all the other Canadians in the audience laughed I’m going to assume it’s just faded from the collective consciousness. So, Here you go, Collective Consciousness, let me refresh your memory.
http://archives.cbc.ca/300c.asp?IDCat=70&IDDos=398&IDLan=1&IDMenu=70
http://www.gendercide.org/case_montreal.html
http://www.herplace.org/violence/vaw.html
So please, yes, lets make jokes about killing all the women. Sure, it’s funny, because that is absolutely not something that could ever happen, and so of course it’s perfectly alright for a man to shout Kill All the Women in a comedic film. It's a joke. It would never happen in real life.
The next five minutes were no better, because as I sat stunned and upset imagining Marc Lepine saying those words, I was subjected to a throw away joke about Hank visiting Barbra and her five lovers, prior to going after Joanne, and leaving them all in critical condition. Because no woman has ever been murdered by her husband for leaving him. Because that’s funny. Lighten up, girl.
The whole movie left me with this feeling that everyone else was watching a comedy and I was stuck in a horror film that was actually horrifying.
The idea of someone stripping away your individuality, your power and your choice terrifies me. What the film shows its men doing to their wives is rape or attempted murder. I felt like I did when Willow altered Tara’s memories on Buffy. I felt like crying or taking a wrench to someone’s head. Taking away someone’s power and choice is rape, and it's not funny. There are people in the world who would murder a woman for wearing nail polish. I am not ready to laugh at this shit.
There were so many lines that made me uncomfortable, because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how we were supposed to interpret them. Agree? Disagree? Mock the Nerdy Husbands? Sympathize with them because their wives had bigger balls than they do?
And also, frankly, because there are people in the world who still think women shouldn’t be in government or journalism or business or anywhere that isn’t the kitchen. (And the bedroom, but we don’t talk about that because it’s naughty.) Hell, one of them ran for MP in my local election. While those people are around, I can’t hear lines like "while you [women executives] were becoming men [inferred: by gaining power]" without feeling nervous because somebody next to me might hear that and go ‘hmm, that’s a reasonable statement.’
And the fact that the instigator of the plot is a woman? Why? Because what it seems like you’re saying is that the poor little geeky men who are insecure in their role as "support systems" (And jesu, that's their biggest complaint? I'd be more pissed about my lame bowties.) were lead by the craaaazy wronged woman. Because women only go bad when their husbands cheat on them. Because men would never think up something so insidious on their own, they need a woman to teach them to be abusive asshats. Because I am the Writer, and I am on CRACK.
Even the women’s reactions once their identities are restored are filmed in a way that offended me. They turn to their husbands, crowding around them, their voices raised in unison as if...nagging? Yelling, in some generous cases. I suppose I am spoiled by Buffy, but the fact that only Christopher Walken was smashed in the head with a candle stick surprised me. Where was the asskicking?
Oh, and the men are punished by being forced to go shopping in Stepford for their wives, while undergoing house arrest. They are relegated to the roles they had forced their wives into. They were forced to be ‘women.’ WTF. This is punishment? We’re supposed to laugh at this? Oh, look at the funny role reversal. Oh yes, Men are so silly.
I spent most of the film confused, trying to understand what the hell they were trying to say. It felt like someone didn’t understand what satire is supposed to be. Maybe it was the writers, maybe it was me. I don’t know. It was so unfocused. Parts of it were funny, but so much of it was "Ha ha, this is no longer relevant" humour that made me so damn angry. Women do get murdered because they’re women. It’s still relevant. So you better goddamn have something to say about it.
Satire is intended to have truth in it, yes, but it is also meant to have a message. This had truth, but it dealt with it as if it were untruth. Satire is supposed to be didactic and moralistic and bitingly funny. That’s the point. And they just didn’t manage it. Any of it.
I think the problem is I went in assuming it wouldn’t be funny, and so subconsciously I expected some seriousness. No, not seriousness. Realism. I can’t believe how upset I am. I’ve been writing for more than an hour and a half. Yeeesh.
Oh gawd, its 12:51. I’m missing so many points. If I could go through and have the quotes that upset me this would be easier. I just keep thinking of things that made me freak out. Like the girls behind me who kept whispering about how great the houses were. "Everything the American family needs", because every American family needs a sparkly chandelier! Oy vey.
The following will contain giant flamey balls of twine SPOILERS, and much rage.
The opening of the Stepford Wives remake is profoundly upsetting to me, for many reasons but mostly for one line in particular. In the first 10 minutes of the film, Kidman’s character Joanne unveils the fall line up of reality TV shows for her network. They are ‘Romantic’ reality TV shows that focus on conflict between husbands and wives. One in particular, "I Can Do Better", involves the couple being placed on an island and surrounded by professional prostitutes.
In front of a stadium of executives, Joanne is confronted by Hank, one of the contestants from "I Can Do Better." Hank's wife Barbra left him for more than 5 porn stars on the show, and he demands Joanne explain why she would do this to him. After some interplay between the two, he announces he also has an idea for a television show. Covering, Joanne asks him to share it with her and all the other executives present. Hank pulls a gun from his jacket, aims it at Joanne and shouts "It's called Let's Kill All the Women!"
At this point I almost had to walk out. He said those words and I thought "Oh shit, l’Ecole Polytechnique." I don’t know if most people aren’t familiar with the Montreal Massacre, and probably most Americans aren't, but all the other Canadians in the audience laughed I’m going to assume it’s just faded from the collective consciousness. So, Here you go, Collective Consciousness, let me refresh your memory.
http://archives.cbc.ca/300c.asp?IDCat=70&IDDos=398&IDLan=1&IDMenu=70
http://www.gendercide.org/case_montreal.html
http://www.herplace.org/violence/vaw.html
So please, yes, lets make jokes about killing all the women. Sure, it’s funny, because that is absolutely not something that could ever happen, and so of course it’s perfectly alright for a man to shout Kill All the Women in a comedic film. It's a joke. It would never happen in real life.
The next five minutes were no better, because as I sat stunned and upset imagining Marc Lepine saying those words, I was subjected to a throw away joke about Hank visiting Barbra and her five lovers, prior to going after Joanne, and leaving them all in critical condition. Because no woman has ever been murdered by her husband for leaving him. Because that’s funny. Lighten up, girl.
The whole movie left me with this feeling that everyone else was watching a comedy and I was stuck in a horror film that was actually horrifying.
The idea of someone stripping away your individuality, your power and your choice terrifies me. What the film shows its men doing to their wives is rape or attempted murder. I felt like I did when Willow altered Tara’s memories on Buffy. I felt like crying or taking a wrench to someone’s head. Taking away someone’s power and choice is rape, and it's not funny. There are people in the world who would murder a woman for wearing nail polish. I am not ready to laugh at this shit.
There were so many lines that made me uncomfortable, because I couldn’t for the life of me figure out how we were supposed to interpret them. Agree? Disagree? Mock the Nerdy Husbands? Sympathize with them because their wives had bigger balls than they do?
And also, frankly, because there are people in the world who still think women shouldn’t be in government or journalism or business or anywhere that isn’t the kitchen. (And the bedroom, but we don’t talk about that because it’s naughty.) Hell, one of them ran for MP in my local election. While those people are around, I can’t hear lines like "while you [women executives] were becoming men [inferred: by gaining power]" without feeling nervous because somebody next to me might hear that and go ‘hmm, that’s a reasonable statement.’
And the fact that the instigator of the plot is a woman? Why? Because what it seems like you’re saying is that the poor little geeky men who are insecure in their role as "support systems" (And jesu, that's their biggest complaint? I'd be more pissed about my lame bowties.) were lead by the craaaazy wronged woman. Because women only go bad when their husbands cheat on them. Because men would never think up something so insidious on their own, they need a woman to teach them to be abusive asshats. Because I am the Writer, and I am on CRACK.
Even the women’s reactions once their identities are restored are filmed in a way that offended me. They turn to their husbands, crowding around them, their voices raised in unison as if...nagging? Yelling, in some generous cases. I suppose I am spoiled by Buffy, but the fact that only Christopher Walken was smashed in the head with a candle stick surprised me. Where was the asskicking?
Oh, and the men are punished by being forced to go shopping in Stepford for their wives, while undergoing house arrest. They are relegated to the roles they had forced their wives into. They were forced to be ‘women.’ WTF. This is punishment? We’re supposed to laugh at this? Oh, look at the funny role reversal. Oh yes, Men are so silly.
I spent most of the film confused, trying to understand what the hell they were trying to say. It felt like someone didn’t understand what satire is supposed to be. Maybe it was the writers, maybe it was me. I don’t know. It was so unfocused. Parts of it were funny, but so much of it was "Ha ha, this is no longer relevant" humour that made me so damn angry. Women do get murdered because they’re women. It’s still relevant. So you better goddamn have something to say about it.
Satire is intended to have truth in it, yes, but it is also meant to have a message. This had truth, but it dealt with it as if it were untruth. Satire is supposed to be didactic and moralistic and bitingly funny. That’s the point. And they just didn’t manage it. Any of it.
I think the problem is I went in assuming it wouldn’t be funny, and so subconsciously I expected some seriousness. No, not seriousness. Realism. I can’t believe how upset I am. I’ve been writing for more than an hour and a half. Yeeesh.
Oh gawd, its 12:51. I’m missing so many points. If I could go through and have the quotes that upset me this would be easier. I just keep thinking of things that made me freak out. Like the girls behind me who kept whispering about how great the houses were. "Everything the American family needs", because every American family needs a sparkly chandelier! Oy vey.