I really liked this movie and thought it was interesting. From the start there were a few things that were apparent. One of them, being that the first woman neighbor they meet who comes over to offer food acts like a zombie (or robot). She is very soft spoken, well mannered, and was just there to do her job. She wouldn't even go over to the house when he offered. The worst thing was her apparent blank stare. The camera would zoom in on her face and you could tell that it seemed like there was nothing there behind her eyes. She was just like a robot. The second thing I noticed quickly was that this new town they moved to was clearly middle to upper class white suburban neighborhood. It seems that they all are very close knit and everyone seems to know what is going on.
I think that there were a lot of sterotypical housewives stuff throughout the movie. It seemed that most of the women were always working around the house doing something. When they were trying to gather the women for their group, all the women they were trying to recruit were home either cleaning, doing dishes, or doing laundry. They all dressed basically the same. Lots of makeup, and very nice flattering dresses to look good for their husbands. Their mannerisms were interesting too. They were very soft, well spoken and never questioned or argued with anyone. This seems all very sterotypical with the women in the house with their aprons on never questioning anyone or anything, just doing as they are supposed to do. Also being more broad, the women were just supposed to stay home clean and take care of the children and the men were the ones who got off free. They could basically do what they wanted, could come and go as they please, and were the ones who had the jobs.
It seemed that most of these roles were a trap and dehumanizing. The men had the life. They could come and go as they please, had their own mens club, had their jobs, and had the women do all the work for them. They basically would expect to come home to a clean house, with dinner on the table. The men completely benefitted from all of this. This was all free labor that was just expected to be done everyday. These roles were also very dehumanizing for the women. All the women did the same thing: cook, clean, and take care of the kids. They had no idividuality. They could not speak for themselves or doing anything that would 'upset' these roles for the women. Also, they have no personalities or attributes. They're just expected to act and talk a certain way and all the housewives act the same.
It's also interesting how the housewives have no time. I like how the article talks about by the time they get up, take care of the kids all day, cook, clean, etc. they get it all done just in time to go to bed to get up and do it again the next day. It's this never ending cycle that they can never get out of. There is always something to clean or cook. The days turn into weeks turn into years. Same thing over and over everyday. The housewives have nothing to look forward to. They seem to be stuck in time and not be able to move forward. Since they barely have enough time to get their housework done in the day, they definitely don't have time to start any sort of womens organizations or do anything else that they would want to do. Until they start doing something out, they are just going to stuck in time.
So directly about the movie, it was interesting how after about four months and a drawing later, all the women start to act like the sterotypical housewives. It's apparent in the movie that after you start to meet some of these characters a lot of the women are the same. They all have that vacant expression in their eyes and they seem just like zombies. One thing that I found really intersting was that near the end of the movie, she was hiding in her bedroom and they show the door right before she comes out. The door had the shadows of maybe the staircase on the door which made it look like she was in a prison cell. I thought this was ironic because she basically could be in prison. She's about to be turned into a robot zombie who is only going to do what her husband says and all the housewife stuff she was running away from.
I also couldn't help but notice all the similarites between two other movies: Invasion of the Body Snatchers and Rosemary's Baby. In Invasion of the Body Snatchers, both movies had characters who were running from a 'zombie' person who was going to be taking over their real body and transforming into the zombie body. Both movies had people taking care of the other bodies getting them ready for when the time came for them to take over. For Rosemary's Baby, I can't remember the name of this (if anyone does remember let me know please!) but it's basically the fear of something normal, an everyday thing. Just like the pregnancy in Rosemary's Baby, and now being a housewife, something that people do everyday can become something terrifying. Also, in both movies people who are close to them like both of their husbands are in on the whole thing and both women have no one to turn to. What happens when you have no one to turn to because everyone is in on it? That's scary.
Theres more I could go on about but the one last thing I wanted to mention was the movie making the movie out to be a negative image of a housewife. Is it really such a bad thing? I don't think I would mind staying home cooking all day; I love food. However, it is true that I would go insane doing the same thing day in and day out. It wouldn't go fun to have to watch everything you said and do as you are told. I don't think that it was as bad as they made it, and that some women actually injoyed doing all the housewife work. I'm sure there were women out there who totally hated it though and this is where the movie came in.
I really like this movie because of how it deals with the idea of woman's equality and rights. I think this is an interesting topic in american history. If you think about it in the begining men worked to make money and the wife's job was to tend to the house and raise the kids. This traditional family structure had been in place for a long long time and people where use to this being the norm. Well WWII showed women a life outside the home where they could make a living and provide. Some saw this time a glimpse of freedom that women could attain. I personally think that everyone should be treated as equal. It amazes me that for so long we had a system that excluded women from most activities like voting. and a system that pretty much incuraged women to stay at home and keep the house in shape and the kids in line. And even now after they became "equal" we still find that they payed less then men for the same job a lot more often then you would think. I don't understand how people can think that a woman cant do what a man can.
ReplyDeleteThis movie is really making a neat point on how the women is being relegated to the kitchen to clean and cook like a robot or better yet a slave. Now i agree that there are some women that love to be home raising their kids and cleaning and cooking. But the bigger picture is that women now have the choice to stay at home or go out and work. And the fact is in economic times where in now the two income family's are without question doing better then single income family's. so the question is why was it so hard to get women's rights passed.
At this time their where people Men in particular that thought that women leaving the home might destroy America. They thought that without moms at home kids would grow up poorly and on top of that they where taking jobs that men had once held. Our men's only club had been penetrated. Men had enjoyed there man only time away from the house and many didn't want this to end. I think thius really exemplified by the mens club in the movie.
I really like this movie its creepy on a weird level where you own mother could possibility become a robot and only want to clean and cook but a mindless instrument all the same. And i will agree it has a similar feel to the Attack of the body snatchers.
There is one thing that i have thought about for a long time and that is that once women left the home and started working who was at home to straiten out our kids teaching them right from wrong and normal life skills and basic morals. I think you can look at the time when kids started rebelling more and creating there own youth culture can be traced back to not have a parent around all the time to keep an eye on there kid and make sure their doing the right things. When women left the home they gave up on teaching and guiding their kids through life like has been time tested for generations. With know one to rear the kids we passed them of to child care centers to raise our kids and as such we see a generation of the socially inept bullies and kids that don't know simple right and wrong.
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ReplyDeleteI really like how you classify this movie as a zombie movie, Julie. I think you're right. And Will, your points about cultural ideology and putting women back in the house after WWII are well-taken, but keep in mind, this was the 1970s, not the 50s. This movie, (and 2nd wave feminism and the backlash against it) happened in the 70s-- _after_ the huge and various rebellions of the '60s we've discussed. I'd have liked to see you more explicitly work the reading into your discussion though--it explicitly discusses the points you raise, about women's work and its value (actual and perceived), as both a point of feminist contention and a theme of the movie.
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