Gender Stereotypes, Gender Discrimination, Androcentrism, and the Personal Consequences of Internalizing Gender Stereotypes in the Film Revolutionary Road
The movie Revolutionary Road is set in an American background in the 1950’s. This was a revolutionary time as it was in the beginning of the civil rights movements and at the height of the clamor for gender equality. The title of the movie is therefore somewhat symbolic of the mood of the American society at that point in its history. April and Frank Wheeler are the two main characters who are married with two children and living in the suburbs. Frank is a low-level worker in the same company that his father worked while April is a housewife (Bailey, 2007). They were originally depicted as a young beautiful couple with everything to look forward to as they were ‘intellectuals’ and in a world where computers were just coming to the fore. Their suburban life was not what they had envisaged when they become married. Many reviewers of the book and film have posited that the central themes are feminism, andocentrism and gender stereotyping (Tas, 2010). This discussion will dwell on the latter two by analyzing the different roles played by the characters in contrast to what was the expected societal norm.
Gender stereotyping is simply defined as generalization of gender attributes, differences, and roles of individuals and/or groups. These generalizations can either be positive or negative but are rarely accurate or vary from situation to situation. In Revolutionary Road, and in the 1950’s, women had specific roles distinct from those of men. Since the early civilizations, women were confined to marriage and childbearing where the primary roles included caring for the family and nurturing children. Their own aspirations were not considered important and were relegated as secondary. These stereotypes imprisoned April and she always felt trapped in her suburban life. She compared what she had become with what her envisaged life would be and felt lost. When she is depicted placing her trash cans on the curb as perfectly as all others in the suburb, there is an effect on the viewer that leads one to empathize with her situation. In sharp contrast, Frank is depicted smoking in the train situation seemingly without a wonder in the world. These stereotypes led to discrimination of April as her life was out of her control and in the control of the society as she was expected to conform to its norms. The greatest factor that leads the viewer to conclude that April is discriminated is the lack of reproductive control on her part. Every time she was pregnant, her misery was compounded as she was expected to raise her children and not much else.
Gender stereotyping is not a reserve of the 1950’s or traditional societies. It is prevalent today. In most societies in Africa, girls are not even given the opportunity to go to school since they are not considered as breadwinners but rather confined to the family roles. In progressive societies too, gender stereotyping is common. During the holidays, I visited a vet to take my friends pit bull for a checkup. This dog is considered in some societies as a fight dog and naturally belongs to men. I was shocked that some people at the vet drew the conclusion that I could not own such a dog. Even the vet stopped short of asking me who the dog owner was and I got the feeling that if I at no time mentioned that it was my friend’s then he would not have believed it mine. These assumptions that certain things are a preserve of certain genders based on inaccurate perspectives are exactly what led April to feel confined and discriminated. Nowadays, people associate the color pink with women or gay men and consider it a girly color. This in itself amounts to gender stereotyping.
Although Frank was on occasion depicted as unhappy, his position is incomparable to that of April. He had choices. He is even seen as having the occasional affair with a secretary that serves to spice up his otherwise boring suburban life. In the end, April convinces her husband that they would be best suited in Paris where they could fulfill their dreams. However, and predictably, April’s pregnancy with her third child spoils these plans. Frank is of the view that his third child warranted a stay in America so that he could be raised in the country as was expected. This masculine view of the world further compounds April’s misery as her plans are scuttled. Her opinions are not considered here and Frank becomes very bitter in the ensuing fight where he says mean things about April while throwing the furniture around. Many people expect that gender discrimination only occurs where one party is violent towards the other. However, in this film, Frank was never violent but nonetheless discriminated against his wife by disregarding her opinions and viewpoints. He could not understand the misery that she underwent since she was a stay-home mother while he was out in the world which served to break the monotony and boredom of suburbia. The society was acutely andocentric and only what mattered to Frank was seriously considered whereas what mattered to April was ignored.
The ending to this film is tragic (Honeycutt, 2008). April was backed into a corner where the society so ignored her opinions that she took matters into her own hands in the pursuit of happiness. The gender stereotypes, which she did not conform to came back to haunt her. She well knew what was expected on women during that period in history and she dared defy it. Her third pregnancy, she knew, was her doom. Since it was illegal in those days to abort, she decided to do it regardless. The societal pressure was too much for her. Her dreams and aspirations had been hindered for so long and she was not about to surrender to another cycle of pregnancy and nurture. She had to get out of the prison that she found herself in: the results were tragic. She knew the risks involved in having an abortion but felt they were worth it compared to succumbing to the stereotypes that were deeply rooted in the society.
References
Bailey, B. (2007). Revolutionary Road—the Movie. Retrieved 21st Feb, 2014 from http://www.Slate.com.
Honeycutt, K. (2008, November 17). Film Review: Revolutionary Road. The Hollywood Reporter
Tas (2010). Was ‘Revolutionary Road’ about feminism? Megaphone Diaries. Retrieved 21st Feb, 2014 from http://metrac.wordpress.com/2010/04/14/was-revolutionary-road-about-feminism/
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