In the movie The Burning Bed, Francine’s husband can be seen showing horrid behavior resembling each of the elements on the power control wheel. He shows abusive, controlling tendencies before their marriage even begins. He can be seen pressuring her into sexual behaviors, even after she has repeatedly said no and that she wants to wait for marriage; because of this, he pushes her into marrying him. After their marriage begins, his abusive behavior worsens. Mickey can be seen showing male privilege throughout the entire movie, he makes all the decisions and does not give her a say in anything. He physically hits her in front of friends and family because he disobeyed his orders to not leave the house and go into town without him. This illustrates isolation- he does not want her to have outside connections and goes as far to tell her to not even leave the house.
Throughout the movie, we frequently see Mickey being very emotionally
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The abuse inflicted on Francine was deadly; it extended far beyond a few punches and harsh words. Throughout this movie, I was so angered that his and her family both were so minimizing and denied the abuse. Francine had no way out. She even went to many different agencies and even the police but could not get any help. It is now forty years later, and I hope that it is not as hard for other women (and men) as it was for Francine to get help. I hope that there is a better system to protect women (and men) from their abusive partners even when they do not have the means to escape. I think that educating people, other family members especially, is important. If Francine had had more support from family members, maybe she could have found another way out rather than resorting to murder. It takes tremendous help and support to escape situations in which the victim becomes trapped, a person cannot do it