Analysis: The Stepford Wives

Robot or Stepford?

By: Hiba Tabbara
Imagine living in gated town, grass on every lawn, mansion-like houses, and big busted women who follow their husbands’ orders. Now, imagine that a place like this is controlling the citizens’ lives. This is Stepford. “The Stepford Wives” by Ira Levin, published in 1972, shows an anti-feminist point of view where women are portrayed as “perfect” housewives who worship their husbands and do what is supposed to please them. This book was made into two movies, one in 1975 and the other in 2004. Although both movies are similar, their genres differ. The 1975 movie of “The Stepford Wives” shows the horror of having a town made of robots whereas the remake gives it a more comedic side. In the 2004

Men have a “Stepford Men’s Association” at the very top of a mountain where they get together in order to play video games, have a drink, or even discuss their wives. This association is related to “All That Is Solid Melts into Air” by Marshall Berman. Modernity has been affecting our lives in many ways which we are able to see in the movie, “The Stepford Wives”.
The Stepford Wives The Stepford Wives sum up almost every man’s “perfect” image of a woman. These women are controlled by a remote their husbands can turn on and off. This remote can enlarge a wife’s breasts, shut her down, allow her to rewind, and focus only on one thing: keeping the house clean and maintaining her body image. We get to see how women are portrayed in a Bourgeoisie society. “The basic plot of The Stepford Wives concerns men who discover the ultimate method of controlling women. The men create robot duplicates of their wives, which have no will and become men 's sexual and domestic slaves.” (EJumpCut). Mike, the men’s association ring leader, was able to convince most of the men to enhance their wives.

They visit the Simply Stepford Day Spa. As Joanna and Claire, Mike’s wife, walk into the day spa, we see a group of ladies holding brooms in the center of the room. Surprisingly, these ladies sound like robots answering Claire. Joanna realizes something is wrong when she sees all of the wives dressed to their very best while exercising. Claire snaps back at Joanna saying that women always have to look their very best for their husbands no matter when it is. Claire exercises these women by acting out daily household chores which she calls “Clairobics”. These robot-like women have been manufactured in such a way to fit expectations set by men. One might think where the harm in that is, it’s still exercising. In this movie, women are transformed into an “American Dream” lifestyle for all men. Before these women were turned into robots, they had outstanding jobs such as being a CEO for an airlines company, a well-known judge, lawyer, etc. These women had it all. Their husbands felt ashamed at how a woman, their wife, is able to get a top notch job while they barely do any work. Later on in the movie at the men’s association, the Stepford husbands tell Joanna their jobs. We see that every husband had a job at well-known companies such as Disney, NASA, and the Pentagon. Although these husbands were also payed highly for their jobs, they always seemed to be less superior to their wives. This goes back to the anti-feminist role