#and the vile internet parade is just a bunch of middle managers lashing out because ''no one wants to work anymore!!!!!''

[notbecauseofvictories]

it's wild to watch the original Stepford Wives (1975), and realize that their depraved vision of hypersexualized domestic slavery was just...Betty Crocker. June Cleaver. A modestly made-up woman in gingham or pearls; a husband looking for some afternoon delight. Not that these aren't very narrow and terrible boxes to be stuffed into, or that the control inherent in the fantasy is any different ("Why? Because we can," Dale tells Joanna) but compared to Stepford Wives (2004) you could almost admire the reasonableness, the relative affection.

But then, on the flip side….doesn't this make the ending even more tragic? In Stepford 2004, it's never quite clear why Joanna and Walter are married. They simply are, by necessity of the plot; while they do talk about why they like each other, it has the ring of a "we're moving in different directions" speech, or even a performance review, rather than genuine affection.

In Stepford 1975, it's very clear why Joanna and Walter are married. It might not always be the best of marriages (the women's lib discussion, where Charmaine admits that her husband married her for how she looks; the scientist who scribbles "I'm not happy either" on the notepad) but Walter makes sure Joanna has a drink, somewhere to sit; he watches the kids when she's in the dark room, or travels to New York; he eats breakfast with her, fights with her, sits in the dark weeping after he discovers what Stepford will make of her.

Which makes his defection to the Men's Association even crueler, more selfish. It might not always have been the best of marriages, but it was something resembling a partnership. And if Joanna ever thought that was a choice, a choice both of them were making together day after day…well, she knows better now. There was only ever one person entitled to make choices in their marriage. It wasn't her.