However, I am positive during wartime (WWI, WW2, etc...) there was a sense of urgency in relationships that caused women back then to act very modern, and not wait.
I do agree with you that premarital sex/illegitimate births increased during the years of WWII for the reasons you suggested. What people seem to forget, or maybe just don't realize, is that movies from this era didn't realistically show what was going on in the real world. There has always been premarital sex, children born out of wedlock, prostitution, homosexuality, drug use, etc., but movies during the Hays Code years didn't accurately represent this. Watch any pre-Hays movie and you'll see plenty of sin and degradation. My teenage daughter actually asked me if married people used to sleep in separate beds, since that what was depicted in old movies.
What I think made this film unusual for its time is the fact that they didn't make Jody an unlikable character, or make her pay for her "sin" in the usual ways (death, ruined life, etc.).
I need my 1987 DG20 Casio electric guitar set to mandolin, yeah...
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Regina_Giddens
13 years ago
What I think made this film unusual for its time is the fact that they didn't make Jody an unlikable character, or make her pay for her "sin" in the usual ways (death, ruined life, etc.).
Yeah, I found this unusual also. In most movies under the Hays code, a character who had pre/extra marital sex was usually 'punished,' and at the end of the film doesn't get anything they want. It kind of ruins movies like this from this era, because you can always tell how it's going to end.
I guess the reason it was acceptable here because Jodie
is punished, her indiscretion causes her to lead a mostly miserable life even if she gets her happy ending eventually.
Your future is all used up...
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agilhuly
12 years ago
I thought this was an interesting question and asked my Mom if she'd seen the film or remembered any discussion along these lines at the time. She said she had and she didn't, but she knew that it wasn't rated "Condemned" by the Catholic Legion of Decency - she wouldn't have been allowed to see it (she was 17) if it had been. I think Regina's right - "because Jodie is punished," she's allowed a qualified happy ending after she's done penance. Also because she accepts her punishment - she doesn't argue when her friend the nurse tells her, "You sinned" and her father refers to her "mistake" - and sacrifices her personal hopes to the child's best interests. Not to mention the sacrifice made by the baby's father - if Jodie had gotten pregnant by a traveling salesman or some guy she met at a bar, very different story.
Anne
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boxerrebellion
7 years ago
But she did get punished. She lost her child. I can't imagine the pain that must have caused her.
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