Document text
July 12, 2004 - Subscribe - Contact Us - Rate Card - Place an Ad Valley&State Backpage O&E Sports Archives Classifieds Faith&Beliefs Obituaries Revels July 1, 2004 Latest 'Stepford Wives' remake is watered down By Chris Honor� Tidings Reviewer The original "Stepford Wives," based on the novel by Ira Levin, was a serious B horror film. Disgruntled, prickly wives were brought to Stepford, Conn., and, well, eliminated, replaced by robotic clones who, through the magic of science fiction and technology, exemplified in every way the ideal mate. The chilling point made by the film was that the men of Stepford - husbands, fathers - were so deeply resentful of the way they were treated by their wives that they would go to any extreme to finally have the women of their dreams: compliant, eternally cheerful, perfect in every way, homemakers and accepting of them completely despite their immaturity and bumbling ways. They were kings, and their women were their adoring, obsequious slaves. They just had to kill them to save them, so-to-speak. The original "Stepford" had a certain dark tension that is definitely missing from the remake. And that would be because the director, Frank Oz, and screenwriter, Paul Rudnick, decided to make a satire, of a sort. No doubt, the idea of men living in a '50s-type homogenous community, where all the women look like June Cleaver, a place where father knows best, is filled with comedic possibilities. And there are some funny one-liners. But in its pursuit of comedy, the film relinquishes any serious examination of its darker undercurrents. And there are many, and they run deep. The nerds of Stepford, those whiny, immature and misogynistic men, who would rather live with mindless and robotic women than mix it up in any real relationship, are not funny. They are beta males who resent their working-wives, women who have become more successful than they, and rather than confront their own inadequacies, they believe that if they just change their wives, they also will be transformed. So, using state-of-the-art technology, the Stepford men alter the Stepford wives' brains, exchanging their mates for women who are the equivalent of domestic waitresses, and are simply delighted with their new roles. Each husband is provided with a remote - how comforting, how familiar - if he desires something, say, sex on demand, always delivered with the enthusiasm of an Olympic hopeful, well, all he has to do is press a button and his wife is good to go. Sort of like one minute you're watching CNN and the next it's the sports channel. An interesting concept, but by no means, by any definition, a relationship. Men's fantasies of what comprises the perfect woman can seem inanely funny (perhaps the equivalent of reading "Playboy Magazine" as a comic book). And that's where "The Stepford Wives" goes. In a way it's like viewing that television series "Father Knows Best" as a comedy but for reasons never intended. Keep in mind that in the '50s there was little said about the title; and not to forget how June Cleaver, mother of the Beaver, dressed while serving stacks of pancakes while getting her charges off for the day - full, flowing dress, pearl necklace, hair impeccable, moving about the kitchen with great calm while hubby sat at the table sipping coffee and reading the paper, lifting his cup for a refill. It's funny and yet it isn't. Just like this current remake of "The Stepford Wives." DailyTidings.com Home Page Valley&State | Backpage | O&E | Sports | Archives | Weather | Classifieds Columnists | Faith&Beliefs | Obituaries | Revels | Subscribe | Contact Us Copyright 2004 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers All Rights Reserved Click Here Site Search: .:Advertisements:. RESOURCES - Mail Tribune News - ODOT Road Cams