The First Wives Club Analysis

The First Wives Club Analysis

When I was in the process of looking for a movie to watch for this essay, my initial thinking was to find a movie about male chauvinists, dominant male figures, etc. then it dawned on me; find a movie that features empowered women and their points of view. The movie I chose was The First Wives Club written by Olivia Goldsmith and directed by Hugh Wilson (Police Academy, Guarding Tess).

The film is a comedy about three women who seek justice after their husbands divorced them for younger women after the men became successful. The three women feel used because they stuck by their men through thick and thin, good times and bad, just to be kicked to the curb after all they had sacrificed for their husbands. They set out for not revenge but justice.

The first dramatic scene, that sets the tone for the movie, shows Cynthia (Stockard Channing) committing suicide by jumping off a building because her husband had just married his much younger lover. At the funeral, the three central characters in the film see each other for the first time since college and after talking, find out that they too, are in the same situation. Eliese, played by Goldie Hawn, plays an actress past her prime who was married to a successful director. Annie, played by Diana Keeton, plays a meek ex-housewife to a very successful ad executive and Brenda, played by Bette Midler, plays the role of ex-housewife to a successful retailer. After talking to each other and getting angry about their situation, they decide that they are entitled to every bit of success as their ex-husbands and put a plan into action as to how to seek justice. The women coined their group, The First Wives Club.

I'm sure this goes on, on a daily basis. Donald Trump comes to mind when I think of his divorce from Ivana and his subsequent marriage to a younger, Marla Maples. I may be wrong but I don't think Ivana had much to do with Donald's fortunes. I think if you looked at 1950's society, it was all about the man bringing home the bacon and the woman frying it up, so to speak. The woman's role was to keep the home in order so that the man could concentrate on his work and come home to a clean house, dinner on the table, and maybe a little 'nookie' if he wasn't tired. The woman was not to upset her man lest bring the fury of the poor soul that just worked his fingers to the bone so he could have that nice home, dinner, nookie, etc.. Maybe the women felt that they could lose their men if they didn't have things just so.

In today's modern society there is much more equality between the sexes. There are more women in the work place. Women are now holding positions in companies that have traditionally been held by men. It is not uncommon to have the woman in a marriage be the bread winner of the family. There are more stay-at-home fathers today than there has ever been due to the fact that women are going to college, getting married and having children, and still fulfilling their dreams of having a career. An excerpt from careerplanning.about.com states, "Traditionally the mother has been the one to take on this responsibility, while the father takes on the responsibility of providing for his family financially. In the past this made sense. After all, the man was the one with the career. As a matter of fact, a woman sometimes left work as soon as she got married. Now both partners usually work prior to having children and the woman usually has as much vested in her career as does her husband."

The male figures in The First Wives Club come from the 1950's mentality. It is short-sighted of them as well as selfish to assume that they alone are responsible for their successes. The movie sways from one point to another; the success of the women's ex-husbands and their trophy wives and girlfriends that are much younger than them.

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