Like I said...
...I've been catching up on decades' worth of movies in my spare time thanks to the Berry College Library's video collection. Now that I'm off my Woody Allen kick, I'd like to mention a movie I just, in fact, got done watching: The Stepford Wives (the original one, with Katharine Ross and Paula Prentiss).
This has to be, by far, the scariest movie I've ever seen. And before I go on, let me define more precisely what I mean by scary. There have been scenes in movies that made me jump--the alien's ribcage popping open in Independence Day, or numerous points in M. Night Shyamalan films. But that's a kind of scary that relies totally on the suprise factor: the unexpected twist, the misdirection of sound, or tricking the audience into believing something just to pull the rug out from under them. No, this scary--what made The Stepford Wives chilling--was, I think, best illustrated in that one moment in the movie where everything comes together and you know exactly what can happen, what probably will happen, and what it means. I realize I'm being vague here, but I don't want to go too much into detail for those who haven't seen it. Suffice it to say that the movie is about male chauvinism at its worst. It's about taking away from women everything that men enjoy: activities, hobbies, a personality, power in decision-making. It's about telling women that they're no good unless they have big boobs and cook and clean all day and never leave the house (except, of course, to buy groceries or flowers for the garden). I'd like to think that the Psychology of Women course I took last year helped me better appreciate the horror that the main character experiences when she realizes what her husband is trying to take away from her. It's scary because it's what thousands of women worldwide go through, if not in so dramatized and absurd a way.
It's scary also to realize the depths to which the human character can sink, and then to remember that I (gasp!) am a human, too. There's a scene in the movie where the main character (Katharine Ross) asks the head honcho of the Men's Association of Stepford, who were responsible for the terrible things done to the women of the town, why they did it. His answer was simply "Because we can". And I was scared because I realized once more the reality of my position in the world, that there will be dozens of opportunities where I could unfairly exert power over women. I'm glad I watched this movie, because we guys always need to be reminded that women are not just boobs and service, that they are people, too, with wants and needs and desires just as important as ours.
This has to be, by far, the scariest movie I've ever seen. And before I go on, let me define more precisely what I mean by scary. There have been scenes in movies that made me jump--the alien's ribcage popping open in Independence Day, or numerous points in M. Night Shyamalan films. But that's a kind of scary that relies totally on the suprise factor: the unexpected twist, the misdirection of sound, or tricking the audience into believing something just to pull the rug out from under them. No, this scary--what made The Stepford Wives chilling--was, I think, best illustrated in that one moment in the movie where everything comes together and you know exactly what can happen, what probably will happen, and what it means. I realize I'm being vague here, but I don't want to go too much into detail for those who haven't seen it. Suffice it to say that the movie is about male chauvinism at its worst. It's about taking away from women everything that men enjoy: activities, hobbies, a personality, power in decision-making. It's about telling women that they're no good unless they have big boobs and cook and clean all day and never leave the house (except, of course, to buy groceries or flowers for the garden). I'd like to think that the Psychology of Women course I took last year helped me better appreciate the horror that the main character experiences when she realizes what her husband is trying to take away from her. It's scary because it's what thousands of women worldwide go through, if not in so dramatized and absurd a way.
It's scary also to realize the depths to which the human character can sink, and then to remember that I (gasp!) am a human, too. There's a scene in the movie where the main character (Katharine Ross) asks the head honcho of the Men's Association of Stepford, who were responsible for the terrible things done to the women of the town, why they did it. His answer was simply "Because we can". And I was scared because I realized once more the reality of my position in the world, that there will be dozens of opportunities where I could unfairly exert power over women. I'm glad I watched this movie, because we guys always need to be reminded that women are not just boobs and service, that they are people, too, with wants and needs and desires just as important as ours.
posted by Casey at 4:02 AM
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