Crusading male w. lame wife - an annoying theme
Submitted by jenhowel on Tue, 02/20/2001 - 09:14
Tags:
- "The Insider" - Russell Crowe's stay-at-home wife leaves at the drop of a hat
- "JFK" - Kevin Costner's wife just doesn't get it.
- "A Time to Kill" - Ashley Judd almost throws Matthew Mc(I can't spell his last name) into the arms of Sandra Bullock
Author Comments:
I think there are more examples of this, feel free to suggest. It's just a theme that bothers me in movies. A husband who is sacrificing to achieve a great goal, or let the truth get out, and his wife is portrayed as too lame to handle it. In real life, I think women are much tougher than this.
It's a theme you'll see repeated in just about any cop movie: the city's finest always have trouble with their wives, who want more personal attention and less public attention or less danger...etc. The alleged (please note I said alleged) psychology behind it is that men are more oriented to moral principle than women, who see moral principle as less important than the maintenance of personal and family relationships.
you know, i find it sad that hollywood makes films that are male lead and they throw in a generic housewife character with no substantial impact on the film.there is a bunch of wonderful actresses who could(if the screenplay is right)be a force sharing the screen with some of the great leading men. very few films acknowledge that.
Does "When a Man Loves a Woman" (Garcia, Ryan) fit? Or "Devil's Advocate" (Reeves, Judd)?
Oops, Devils Advocate was Theron, not Judd. I always do that! Both babes!
Dude, Theron wasn't lame in that movie, because Keanu wasn't fighting for right and good; he was fighting for the devil and his own pride. I only count wives who want love and attention as lame when they're oblivious to the greater good.
I haven't seen When a Man Loves a Woman, but isn't that about some alcoholic dude?