MovieChat Forums > How to Murder Your Wife (1965) Discussion > How funny would this be if the genders w...

How funny would this be if the genders were reversed?


Men would scream like stuck pigs if a movie glorified the idea that working women should kill their husbands just because they weren't complete doormats. And that seems to be the main objection -- that the wives weren't complete doormats, that they were strong and outspoken, not submissive little girls (the "Jackie Kennedy" version of 1960s female perfection). Women in movies aren't even allowed to kill their husbands when their husbands are physically abusive -- it simply isn't as much "fun" to watch women killing men as it is to watch men killing women.

Just remember, you’re not seeing real women in those movies – you are seeing male-created caricatures of women, designed as horrible harridans in order to give men an excuse for hating women – similar to the caricatures of “rapist black bucks” that white men created to give them an excuse for hating black men. Men create those characters. Men script and direct the actresses. Men caricature women like that in order to justify “killing” them – to justify male abuse of women, to make it "funny" and therefore more acceptable and less morally abhorrent. The acid test is to switch genders and see how "funny" it would play with men in the women's roles. Or switch race & gender and see how funny it would be with black men as the ones who are "put in their place".

Actually, it was movies like this that contributed to bringing about the feminist movement. The real underlying theme of the movie is that women give sex (and cooking and cleaning and childbearing) to get love and security, and men give the illusion of "love" to get sex and service. Research confirmed that marriage was very bad for women and VERY good for men, who held all the aces. In study after study, married men and single women were found to be the happiest, and married women and single men the unhappiest. Think of how cushy marriage is for men even today -- it's the wife's job to create leisure time for her husband so he can be a "little boy" while she remains a "responsible adult". For example, picture groups of married women daring to spend several weeks a year blythely abandoning their families to go on hunting and fishing trips every spring and fall with "the girls", or spending hours away from home playing golf with the girls and playing poker with the girls and drinking at bars with the girls and watching sports, either going to sports events or on TV, with the girls, joining lodges with the girls, going camping with the girls, going to male strip clubs with the girls. Their male authority figure husbands wouldn't "allow" their little servants to behave like free adults, that is -- like men. American men basically live homosexual lives – spending as much time as they can in the company of other men. Married men have a thousand times more freedom in marriage than women have -- women are virtual prisoners of their husbands. Why do you think more married men cheat on their wives than wives do on their husbands? Their wives create all this leisure time for "the boys" to fill any way they choose, since a husband's free time can never be questioned. In America, men are treated like adults but expected to behave like children, and women are treated like children but expected to behave like adults.

Thinking women, even in the 1960s, were not deceived by this male propaganda just because the male media controlled all the messages. The feminist movement finally broke the truism that "life imitates art", and that he who controls the "art" (media) controls the thoughts and actions of women. Women finally stopped accepting the male woman-hating media glop they were fed as "truth".

I guess feminists finally woke up and realized the truth of Thornton Wilder's comment about marriage: "Marriage is a way of tricking a housekeeper into believing that she is a householder."




"The abuse of greatness is when it disjoins remorse from power."
- Julius Caesar, act 2 sc 1

reply

right on maude!

reply

If this movie was remade then the Lemmon role would be played by a woman. It will need a good writer and director to pull it off along with the actors.

Its that man again!!

reply

[deleted]

Better still...remake it with Ellen DeGeneres in Lemmon's role and Portia de Rossi in Virna Lisi's role...with a little updating, it could actually be watchable!

reply

What a load of BS. I haven't watched this movie yet, but it's blatantly clear that it was the 60's when women began to be frequently portrayed as empty-headed, ultra-submissive bimbos, which was a reflection of the "free love" hippie types. Before that, women were largely portrayed as confident, sexy (not trashy), sophisticated, and intellectual. These days, a man plotting to kill his wife would never fly, but a woman plotting to kill her husband could actually be passed off as comedic. These days, the only portrayed images you will see of a woman in the media is either that of a whore, a bimbo, or an emotional basket case. Feminism has destroyed women and society in general.

reply

Isn't 'I Love You To Death' a comedy about a woman who tries to kill her husband?

Generosity, that was my first mistake

reply

Well, our good Mister Ford had his butler and was confident in his self-happiness.
And for the wife, she was very happy to have found Santa-Claus, not having to work, and buying herself a fur-coat.
And yes, if it were for a computer nerd sneaking into the happy household of 2 lesbians, with one of them projecting to kill the undesirable intruder... why not, if the jokes are good, I would have fun!
I am happily engaged with my future wife, fully respectful and giving her the freedom she desires... but I can have my fun with some 60's satire and this one was absolutely great!
Anyway, men did not look very smart in this movie either....

reply

This movie was a reflection of society at the time. Men were taught by society at the time that it was desirable to be single and undesirable to be "tied down" - now that there is more equality, this movie could be remade today with a successful woman who does not want to be "tied down" and writes a fantasy about killing her husband, the husband seeing the writing and leaving the country, and the wife being accused of murder. I actually don't think there would be any objections from neither men nor women about such a premise being used for comedy. The only grounds for feminist complaints about this farcical comedy from 1965 is the bachelor party, where the men celebrate the bachelor breaking off his engagement as if that is a good thing, and then a woman coming out of a cake (did anyone actually DO that at bachelor parties in the 60's or was it a joke that was only seen in the movies?) - that was disgusting sexism. But the rest of the movie? A light-hearted comedy. And, if the genders were reversed, it would have been equally funny and light-hearted if made today.

"Enough of that technical talk, Foo!"

reply

picture groups of married women daring to spend several weeks a year blythely abandoning their families to go on hunting and fishing trips every spring and fall with "the girls"


Yes, I know this was written four years ago, but this analysis is absurd. My wife goes off about four weekends each year to visit family and friends out-of-state, leaving me with our three young children during those weekends. I cook and bathe them and put them to bed, which are all things my wife usually does when she is home. Also, once a month, she goes out to a bar/restaurant with just the "girls" - four wives who each leave their husband with the children one day each month to go to a bar and drink with other moms/wives. This is a totally normal marriage. Our friends all do the same. Wives DO leave their family for a few hours/days on occasion to go out drinking with the "girls"

Their male authority figure husbands wouldn't "allow" their little servants to behave like free adults,


I know absolutely ZERO women who have abusive husbands that do not allow their wives to behave like free adults, going out whenever they want with whomever they want while the husband takes over household responsibilities for a short time. What sort of world do you live in where that was still true in 2009?

"Enough of that technical talk, Foo!"

reply

Claire Trevor's character the villainess-nasty shrew who led Mrs.Ford astray.Would've zapped that bitch with pleasure.

reply

Push The Button

Generosity, that was my first mistake

reply

It wouldn't work if the genders are reversed.

Men generally aren't selfish parasites that live of their partners money while they belittle them, insult them and strip them of their very humanity.

Just look at what Edna is saying to Stanley's wife:

"A woman is never really free until she is married.
Now she's free to enjoy the good things in life, she can spend money.
You know, money.
Have little affairs and still be taken care of.
That's why men have to be controlled.
Right, right!
For the good of the home, the casa. Understand?
Actually, it's just a matter of keeping them off balance, you know? "

And now tell me this is not truly despicable and beyond any kind of defense?

And the sad part is, that many women actually think that way. I know quite a few that married, quit their job and live comfortably off their husbands money while they're doing nothing except enjoy the easy life like parasites...

------------------------------
Prepare to be judged....with a FGM-148 Javelin!

reply