The Stepford Wives: Difference between revisions

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''[[The Stepford Wives]]'' started life as a 1972 novel by Ira Levin. In it, Joanna Eberhart, her husband Walter, and their two young children move from New York City to the eponymous Connecticut commuter-town. Joanna becomes friends with fellow new arrival Bobbie Markowe, as the two of them also become more and more concerned with the behavior of the other housewives in Stepford, who are all impossibly beautiful, housework-obsessed and totally submissive towards their husbands, who in turn are all members of the "Men's Association.". The novel was successful enough to be made into a movie in 1975; [[William Goldman]]'s script was fairly faithful to the original, with the major difference being a far more explicit finale showing what was happening to the wives. In both versions, {{spoiler|the wives were robot duplicates that replaced the original women after their husbands had them murdered}}. Both versions of the story had [[Downer Ending|Downer Endings]]s.

While just a modest hit in theaters, the film quickly sprouted a meme in the 1970s1970's, with the term "Stepford Wife" becoming a catchphrase used to describe [[Housewife|female homemakers]] who were sexually repressed and only concerned with domestic chores.

No theatrical sequels were made, but the movie spawned, over the course of two decades, three [[Made for TV Movie|made-for-TV]] "sequels": ''The Revenge of the Stepford Wives'', ''The Stepford Children'', and ''The Stepford Husbands''. The lack of Levin and/or Goldman's involvement was painfully obvious, and all three films were also victims of [[Bowdlerise|bowdlerization]]: in ''Revenge'' and ''Husbands'', the victims were not {{spoiler|killed and replaced}} but instead merely brainwashed, while ''Children'' had the replaced teenager left alive for no readily-apparent reason, allowing in all three cases for a rescue and happy ending.

In 2004, [[Frank Oz]] directed a more overtly comedic [[The Stepford Wives (2004 film)|remake]] of the original film. The production suffered from [[Troubled Production|severe behind-the-scenes turmoil]], including actors walking off the project and some last-minute reshoots. Many viewers found the revelations of the resulting finale to [[Gainax Ending|come completely out of left field]] and contradict the rest of the movie, but as always, [[The Stepford Wives/YMMV|Your Mileage May Vary]].

* [[Black Eyes of Evil]]: [[Robotic Reveal|When Joanna meets her robot double in the film]], it hasn't quite been finished yet and is sporting a pair of these. (Thisthis is a minor [[Special Effects Failure]], as they're supposed to be empty sockets-- thesockets—the black contact lenses reflected ambient lighting.). It's also sporting a [[Evil Is Sexy|new large bustline]].

* [[Broken Record]]: In addition to the example under [[Foreshadowing]] below, there's also {{spoiler|the robot Bobbie after Joanna stabs her with a knife.}}.

* ~[[Chekhov's Gun~]]: The word "archaic.".

* [[Foreshadowing]]: "I'll just ''die'' if I don't get that recipe!" .... "I'll just ''die'' if I don't get that recipe!" ... [[Broken Record|"I'll just]] ''[[Broken Record|die]]'' [[Broken Record|if I don't get that recipe!"]]

* [[Motor Mouth]]: [[The Simpsons (animation)|Julie Kavner's]] character in ''Revenge''.

* [[Paranoia Fuel]]: Joanna experiences this in-universe this, when she realizes that either her husband is going to have her replaced with a robot that no one will be able to tell isn't her, or she's going crazy and this is all in her head. She isn't sure which of these two scenarios is worse.

* [[Pyrrhic Villainy]]: One of the few high points in ''Revenge of the Stepford Wives'' was an older Men's Association member revisiting [[My God, What Have I Done?|the painful realization]] of what he had given up by having his wife remade.

* [[Sex Bot]]

[[Category:OneThe Hundred100 Scariest Movie Moments]]

[[Category:TropeMultiple Works Need Separate Pages]]