Alienation in Stepford Wives
...ation in Stepford Wives. The first example of alienation occurs in the beginning when Joanna is at her successful at her work. She seems to have everything going for her from a successful career to a husband and children. However, all that backfires in her face when she loses her job, which suddenly brings down her self-esteem and pride within a matter of minutes. To make matters worse, Joanna also learns that her husband has been having an affair with her secretary. This affair is due to the fact that she was so focused on her career rather then giving much attention to her relationship with her husband. On top of all that, Joanna’s children also resent her in every way. They show no sense of love or respect towards her. At one incident her young daughter draws a picture of her shooting her mommy. Since all this seems to occur almost simultaneously Joanna goes into a shock and stays in isolation in a room by herself for a little while. This alienation occurred because of personal decisions Joanna made about her life. Since Joanna had dedicated her every effort and dedication to her work, she was in a way cut off from her family, friends, and personal life. Unfortunately when her career came to a whirlwind end it left Joanna lost and devastated. She had nothing else to turn to because her family and personal life had taken on roles of their own and Joanna had never even realized it until it was too late. The one thing that meant the most to her was lost out of nowhere therefore Joanna faced alienation to the highest extent. Another example of alienation presented in the movie is seen through the actions of the men. All the men in the movie faced a certain extent of alienation, which drove them to change their wives into robots. Walter felt that Joanna was far more superior then him. She was much more successful and recognized compared to him. He felt alone and not important in his wife’s world. That is what lead him to have an affair and finally to move his family into Stepford where he had hoped to change his wife and lifestyle. The other husbands also had similar situations with their wives. They felt abandoned from their wives and that is why they brought th...