The Stepford wives: 2nd feminism seen from the 4th

By: Ash L Donoghue, Year 10 

In 1975, the film Stepford Wives was released as an absurdist, fringe, sci-fi, daylight horror that intrigued audiences with its portrayal of the suburban housewife. The movie was inspired by the 1972 novel written by Ira Levin (author of Rosemary’s Baby). She had written the book with a more satirical view of the suburban, American, middle-class housewife. As much as  

The original book deserves just as much credit and attention but for this article, I am going to be focused on the 1975 movie adaptation. 

The movie follows our protagonist Joanna Eberheart. Joanna Is a modern-looking 70’s woman working as a photographer in New York City. She and her family lived in New York until her husband, Walter Eberheart, pushed the decision to move out into the countryside and into a suburb called Stepford. From the moment they enter Stepford Joanna starts noticing the outdated and strange way that all the women in the town dress, talk, and behave, but she doesn’t unravel the full truth until it is too late.  

The movie, as well as the book, has made the term “Stepford wife” into a household phrase. "Stepford wife” means someone who is perfectly made up and presents a perfect facade.  

When the movie first came out, it was influential to the time’s big hit of what is now known as the 2nd wave of feminism*. In case you are unsure, we are currently on the 4th wave.  

The movie and the book may look incredibly different to us as the generation within the 4th wave, but to these housewives in the 70s who read the book and saw the movie while the 2nd wave was still ongoing, it was insanely eye-opening. This was because when it was written or showed the stereotypical suburban housewife, the women watching realized that that was them, which made the story feel even more planted in truth.  

The story itself at the time was and still is a feminist message hidden behind the sci-fi horror aspects of the movie/book. In the 2nd wave, it exposed the very nature of a housewife and the “ideal woman” in a man’s world. It sought to reveal the inequality not just in the world but in the very home itself. The movie had a big impact on the people of the time and stands as a frightening, absurdist portrayal of the horrors of being controlled by a male society.  

Through the eyes of a 4th waver, this movie appears differently than it did to a 2nd waver. From a pair of fresh eyes, this movie demonstrates not only the helplessness of the women but also the helplessness of the men who only feel powerful when they have the support of the other men in the town. The men of the men’s association in the film appear to be either old, weak, or frail in some way or another meaning that they cannot be powerful by themselves in a situation. The movie shows us that the men seem sexually repressed, which is why they push the women into a look that they see as safe and easy to control. The men crave any validation that they can receive whether sexual or just social (this is shown by how honored Walter is to join the men's association even though it seems customary for all the men in the town to join).  

It truly is interesting to look at this film with the eyes of someone from the 4th wave. 

So, why am I telling you this? I didn’t write this to be a deep dive into the movie or the book. Instead, I tell you about this because I believe it is important to view this movie through the eyes of the generation of the 4th wave of feminism because of the difference of the audience and the time. Whether you are a person who is interested in feminism or you don’t give it much mind, I implore you to watch it - if not for its message, then for its movie techniques, its story, or just to expand your knowledge. I believe that too often we disregard older movies just because they’re old.  

I also want you to watch the 1975 movie just so that you can see the blatant slander of the 2004 movie adaptation, which is completely tone-deaf to anything that the original story (book or movie) was trying to convey and instead opts to push the opposite narrative of the women being in the wrong and them being evil. The whole 2004 movie feels as if the Disney channel™️ tried to make a political message into a romcom. 

If you enjoy watching psychological horrors and thrillers as I do, you might have heard about Jordan Peele’s “Get Out”. But, did you know that the movie was inspired by the original 1975 Stepford Wives? If you’ve watched both movies, then you’ll probably see the similarities that Get Out has and the techniques it's picked up from Stepford's wives.