I know this movie is a product of its time, but did anyone else find it sexist that it's perfectly okay for Doris Day's character to give up her Hollywood career to get married, but it's not okay for Gordon MacRae's character to give up his military career?
shareWhat? That's about the most foolish statement I have ever read ! A officer in the military has a life binding contract to country and the branch of service in wish he serves... If a woman marries a military officer or a man marries s female officer They know that...The sacrifice is not sexist it's patriotic... Foolish statement!
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I know this post is a bit old, but yes, it was sexist. The year 1950 was the middle of a backlash following WWII in which women who had had advances in careers and jobs in the 1920s-40s now were suddenly expected to stay home, be mothers, and pop out babies. That's the underlying message for Doris Day's character.
Never mind that she loves her career as much as Gordon MacRae's does his--she's supposed to give it all up for him. In real life, that often didn't have a happy ending.
On top of the reactionary attitude of the 1950s, the upper crust military atmosphere of West Point and beyond was even more reactionary. However, the first poster who answered you is incorrect. As a matter of fact, many officers (just as much as enlisted men) would be discharged from the service following WWII when the U.S. military was downsized considerably. This reversed a bit with Korea, but a lot of those men were younger boys who had missed being drafted for WWII, not WWII vets. And they were back out at the end of that war, as well. That included many officers.
While it's true that West Point cadets entered with the intention of making a career of it, not all of them graduated (it's a tough course) and not all of the graduates had full careers, for various reasons. In addition, a full military career is generally 22-30 years. This means that if you start when you graduate at age 22, you can be retired by your early fifties. Yes, you'd be in the culture probably for life, but your career wouldn't last your lifetime unless you died young.
This is doubly, triply so today, where they can't wait to get you out quickly at the end of your initial enlistment or commission because they don't want to pay people full retirement benefits.
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