Women's Rights and Wrongs

 

                       Foto fra filmen The Stepford Wives

The Women's Liberation Movement

Ira Levin, The Stepford Wives 1972

Film:  Frank Oz, The Stepford Wives 2004

Worksheet for the film

1. The first filmatization of The Stepford Wives was a horror movie. The director of this version has chosen to turn the film into a comedy, a social satire. Discuss why?

2. What is the satire directed against in the film?

3. How is the theme of women’s liberation dealt with in this film compared to the book? In this connection you may want to consider the way the main character Joanna is portrayed in the film compared to the book and the introduction of the character Mrs Willington and her function in the film.

 

From Betty Friedan, The Feminine Mystique, 1963

From Valerie Solanas, S.C.U.M. Society for cutting up men MANIFESTO, 1968

Fay Weldon, "Weekend", 1978

From Naomi Wolf, The Beauty Myth, 1990

Kira Cochrane, "Now, the backlash",  2008

 

Perspectives: The Male

Ernest Hemingway, "The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber" (1936)

Ang Lee, (dir), Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Guardian Review

Worksheets for The Stepford Wives

Translate the following:

I den lille overklasseby Stepford er alle glade og specielt kvinderne så fuldendte og lykkelige, at det i sig selv er mistænksomt. Det synes i hvert fald tilflytteren Joanna, der sammen med alkoholikeren Bobbie begynder at kradse i den polerede overflade på det perfekte samfund.

Answer the following questions in groups. Your answers must be handed in to me after each period.

pp. 14-29

  1. Write a summary of pp. 14-29
  2. What impression does Walter give of his first night at the Men’s Association?
  3. Describe Bobbie. How does she look, what is she like, what are her interests and how does she compare with the other Stepford women?
  4. How do the women in Stepford respond to Bobbie and Joanna’s recruiting attempts? What explanations do they give for their response?
  5. How does Joanna react to being in the big city again?
  6. Why does Walter bring the New Projects Committee home with him?
  7. What projects are they working on and what do you think of them? What suggestions does Joanna come up with?
  8. Who is Ike Mazzard and what is he doing during the meeting?
  9. How does Joanna react? What do you think of his behavior?
  10. What does Joanna mean when she says she forgives him (Mazzard) for blighting her adolescence? (p. 28)
  11. What impression do you get of the president, dale Coba?

pp.

30-45

1. Write a short summary of pp. 30-45

2. Describe Charmaine. What does she look like, what is her situation, what are her interests and how does she compare with the Stepford women in general and Bobbie and Joanna in particular?

3. What does Joanna discover when she cleans out the storage room?

4. What is Kit Sundersen's  explanation for the disbanding of the Women's Club in Stepford and her own loss of interest? Why has she not told Joanna about this before?

5. What is the thought that suddenly strikes Joanna about the Stepford women? (p. 40)

6. What does Joanna experience when she is photographing the Men's Association House at night?

7. How does she react to this experience? What do you think? Is it her city-bred suspicion that gets the better of her?

 

pp. 45-61

1. Write a short summary of pp. 45-61.

2. What does Joanna learn from the local woman Mary Migliardi, who helps her serve and clean up during the party she gives?

3. What is the matter with Bobbie during the party?

4. What has happened to Charmaine? Describe the change she has undergone? How does she herself explain the change?

5. How do Joanna and Bobbie react to her change? What are they going to do about the situation?

6. How do Walter and Dave react to the idea of moving from Stepford?

7. What is the project Claude Axhelm is working on?

 

pp.63-78

1. Write a short summary of pages 63-78

2. What does the letter from the Department of Health say and how does Bobbie react to it?

3. What impression do we get of Walter and Joanna's sex life?

4. When Bobbie tells Joanna that she is going on a weekend with Dave, just the two of them, Joanna experiences a sense of déjà vu (p. 67). Explain what the déjà vu is about.

5. Who is Ruthanne Hendry? Describe her, her appearance and her background, profession etc.

6. What does Ruthanne think about the Stepford women and how does she interpret their lack of interest in socializing?

7. What impression do we form of Bobbie when she returns from her weekend with Dave? How does she look? How does she talk and behave? (pp. 71-73) Note the differences.

8. How does Walter behave when Bobbie and Dave come to pick up their son? Why do Dave and Walter withdraw to the living-room?

9. Describe Joanna's telephone call to Bobbie (75-76). What strikes you as strange and different about Bobbie? How does Joanna react? How does she try to explain the difference to herself?

10. Describe Joanna's visit at Bobbie's. What is different? How does Bobbie explain her change? What does that remind you of?

 

pp. 78-95

1. Write a short summary of pp. 78-95

2. Describe the conversation(s) between Joanna and Walter (pp. 79-81). How would you describe the state Joanna is in, what is she suspecting, and how does Walter respond?

3. What do you think of Walter's suggestion that she should see a psychiatrist? Why do you think Joanna goes along with it?

4. How does Bobbie explain her change when Joanna revisits her?  Do you think she convinces Joanna? Explain.

5. Describe Joanna's visit with the psychiatrist. How does the psychiatrist react to Joanna's worries and suspicions and how does she explain what Joanna is going through (p. 89)? What treatment does she propose?

6. What is the sudden flash of insight Joanna experiences while she is talking to the psychiatrist (p. 89) and what are the implications of it?

7. What is she looking for at the library and what does she find out? What is the significance of her discovery?

 

 

Return