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Article: THE NEW STEPFORD WIVES THEY LOVE, HONOUR & OBEY, OBEY, OBEY!: `I decided to relinquish control, hold my tongue, and stop treating John as a baby who couldn't function without me' Laura Doyle, author of `The Surrendered Wife'
- Article from:
- The Independent (London, England)
- Article date:
- February 22, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright 2001 The Independent - London. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
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There is a revealing moment in The Stepford Wives when Nanette
Newman, dolled up in hat and full make-up, hair and nails "done" as
usual, malfunctions. In the middle of one of their suburban garden
parties, she goes into an electronic fit, which leaves her endlessly
repeating the line, "I'll just die if I don't get that recipe!",
until her husband politely removes her from the party, with a tactful
gesture to his friends.
The moment is symptomatic of the film's ambivalence towards its
pre-programmed domestic goddesses. Here's the robotic perfect wife
choking on one of her stock homey phrases. In another moment that
reveals the first glimmer of paranoia, the two "real" women in the
film try ...