'Gender Roles In The Film Why Change Your Wife'
The history of U.S. family structures can be interpreted as a broad movement from uniformity to diversity. The Victorian era ended in 1901 and along with it, so did the desire for uniformity. Families no longer felt the need to conform to every social construction and both women and men were more free to express themselves as individuals. In the 20th century, families became more modern and diverse, and the old ways of the Victorians were set aside to make room for originality and authenticity.
The expectation of keeping your home orderly and uniform stems from as early as the Victorian Era. The Victorian concept of respectability pressured families to conform to social expectations of being polite and proper, as well as keeping your home …show more content…
DeMille in 1920, exemplifies the gradual change from traditional relationships to modern. In the film, the main character Robert claims to require a wife that will satisfy his needs for a “sweetheart” and who will not always be a modest woman. However, in the Victorian era the same kind of modesty was completely normal for couples. When his ex-wife Beth overhears women gossiping about her and her proper ways, she cries out, “They pity me do they? Pity me because I’ve been fool enough to think a man wants his wife modest and decent.” (43:46) This film depicts the shift from modesty to diversity, through the character of Beth. Beth was mentally stuck in the Victorian age, but when her husband divorces her for a more modern woman, she is forced to acknowledge the change in society to a more flamboyant era. “The new morality and culture were much more androgynous than their Victorian antecedents had been. Among the intelligentsia, the spread of Darwinism and Freudian theory served to break down long-standing assumptions about binary, “natural” gender roles. The worlds of women and men merged at work, at college, and at play.” (Del Mar, 88) Women of this new era, the 19th century, began to seek out independence and freedom from the previous century’s restrictive
The expectation of keeping your home orderly and uniform stems from as early as the Victorian Era. The Victorian concept of respectability pressured families to conform to social expectations of being polite and proper, as well as keeping your home …show more content…
DeMille in 1920, exemplifies the gradual change from traditional relationships to modern. In the film, the main character Robert claims to require a wife that will satisfy his needs for a “sweetheart” and who will not always be a modest woman. However, in the Victorian era the same kind of modesty was completely normal for couples. When his ex-wife Beth overhears women gossiping about her and her proper ways, she cries out, “They pity me do they? Pity me because I’ve been fool enough to think a man wants his wife modest and decent.” (43:46) This film depicts the shift from modesty to diversity, through the character of Beth. Beth was mentally stuck in the Victorian age, but when her husband divorces her for a more modern woman, she is forced to acknowledge the change in society to a more flamboyant era. “The new morality and culture were much more androgynous than their Victorian antecedents had been. Among the intelligentsia, the spread of Darwinism and Freudian theory served to break down long-standing assumptions about binary, “natural” gender roles. The worlds of women and men merged at work, at college, and at play.” (Del Mar, 88) Women of this new era, the 19th century, began to seek out independence and freedom from the previous century’s restrictive