Always wondered who murdered the ladies, assume it was their "clonebot". Also, how were the humans murdered? I figured the men would get their rocks off seeing their human wives tortured to death as any man that would be okay with their wives murdered is obviously sadistically insane. Finally, where did the corpse's end up? Once again, the husbands probably had a pack of dogs eat them or some other sadistic way of destroying the evidence.
shareDepends really, Joanna figured it out and Diz said she was brighter than most so not all of them fled to the men's association to look for their kids, although the sheriff seemed to have done this before, almost like an escaped wife protocol :'D
Murder and disposal was probably clinical, they had a special ambulance when Carol Van Sant collapsed after her car accident, maybe the wives were taken there and medically killed via drips or shots and the corpse was incinerated.
I don't believe they kill their wives.
The robots are placeholders. What we are seeing are the real wives but they are so brainwashed and lobotomized that they don't know which end is up.
Yes, the wives are killed. That is shown when Joanna stabs Bobby and the Bobby robot starts malfunctioning.
The robots kill their human counterpart; Joanna's robot was walking towards her with a nylon in her hands to strangle her.
It would be great to get a remake (not the spoof one) where they could use computer chips in the women, which would make more sense and maybe even give a little "hope" that they could become free. The 2004 remake goes both ways....Bette Midler gets stabbed and acts like a stabbed robot but in the end it's all chips in the brain - guess they couldn't decide which way to go.
You never saw the bot touch Joanna nor what really happened.
I bet you missed the name of Coba’s company. They showed it. It is very significant.
Why do they have to show it? Makes the final scene where she's an automaton like all of the other supermarket wives more dramatic. You infer that her robot counterpart killdeer with that nylon cord and the men go on doing what they've been doing with impunity. Chilling.
shareYou still don’t know the name of the company and what it means?
You didn’t see her be killed.
The real story is much more disturbing.
I may have missed the name of the company. It's been a number of years since I last saw Stepford Wives (and even longer since I read Ira Levin's novella). If you would illuminate me on this topic, I'd appreciate it, Annkat. I think this film has passed the 'statute of limitations' on spoilers.
shareRemember Joanna saying to Walter about Coba’s company? What do they make, sleeping pills? A shot in the dark.
The film reveals Coba’s company. It is called Coba Bio-Chemical.
Biochemistry is the study of metabolic processes inside the body. Biochemical drugs get involved with altering the biochemical processes of the body. Some focus on the brain.
Now that we know this, we can conclude that robots don’t need biochemical anything. But humans do.
There is a time discrepancy between what Walter says about the Men’s Association allowing women and Joanna’s statements about how long before the women change.
To end, robots don’t need to eat or drink. And why would they need to program that close to real behavior? It’s because they didn’t. The robots are placeholders only. Something much worse is going on.
That's an interesting observation about Coba Bio-Chemical. But why couldn't he have a bio-chemical company and also study/work with robotics? Isn't his nickname 'Dis?' If I remember correctly, didn't that stand for 'Disney?' And wasn't there some discussion about the robots in Disneyland/Disney World like in the Hall of Presidents exhibit? Couldn't the robots possess some biochemical properties - like the ability to eat and digest food (regardless of whether they gain/need nutrition from it)? You know, just so outsiders won't catch on? 'Hey, why do we never see [Joanna] [Charmaine] [Carol] [Bobbi] eat or drink anything? She wouldn't be ... a robot?' I guess I don't see why the identity of Coba's company makes it impossible for the woman to be replaced by robots - with or without biochemical properties. Again, it's an interesting observation that I'm glad you shared with me, but I think it's a stretch to suppose that it lends that much credence to your theory.
shareThe robots are placeholders for about 3 to 6 months only. Then the real wife is back with scrambled egg for brains and full of drugs.
The eating and drinking is a hint. There is no way they can get a robot to eat. If they use animal parts it ceases to be a robot and instead becomes an abomination, tortured flesh. Not to mention that they have no real AI and never will.
Why Diz has a biochemical company and not a robotics company is an interesting mystery. Of course, rumors state that Disney was one of the programming sites for MK Ultra. So maybe Diz NEVER built animatronics at all.
Carol (Nanette Neuman) had a malfunction at that party early in the movie. She kept repeating the same thing (like a broken robot). She would have been one of the earliest wives traded in for a robot. When Joanna stabs Bobbi - no blood. Sparks and wires. Robot. When Joanna meets her fate, it is an eyeless robotic version of herself that strangles her (yes, offscreen). There is a lot more evidence of the wives being permanently replaced by robots than place holding until they are sufficiently brainwashed. Again, you're blowing up the name of the company to provide a biochemical explanation while ignoring evidence of a permanent robotic replacement.
As for the eating and drinking, maybe once a month the husbands take their robot wives to 'the doctor' for a cleaning. They basically get vacuumed out like an aquarium. In the interim, they don't stink because the food and beverages land in a hermetically sealed chamber - sort of like a Diaper Genie, but better.
Carol's mind control was breaking down because she was drinking and getting drunk. Not to mention the head injury that started knocking some old personality habits loose. Watch the "white rabbit" in the break down scene. The movie very specifically includes Diz walking around Carol and trying to get her attention and reacting to her behavior. There is no reason why a robot should be drunk nor do they need to program it to do so. The drinking shows that Carol no longer needs the robot replacement.
The scene with Bobbi occurred not more than a week or so after she was changed. The robots are used for at least a few months or perhaps longer while the real wives are brainwashed.
No, to the last suggestion. The men shown aren't mega rich. Nowhere near it. They can't afford the regular upkeep of such machinery. At a certain point it would be beyond their means to do so. Nor are many of them that important to be blackmailed. Walter is not a legal star and that is from his own wife's mouth. So what does he have to offer Diz and Co? The old NY apartment was not palatial and it wasn't in an exclusive neighborhood in NYC for the time.
Also more food for thought. In the original ending, Joanna was supposed to kill Walter and end up with Diz. Tell me, why would Diz want a robot of Joanna, when he quite clearly wants the real Joanna? Where would be the triumph in that?
The wives are not dead, they are tortured and psychologically traumatized.
You do make some good observations, Annkat. However, I still find it hard to make the leap into first-robots-then-brainwashing when we see no such scenes of brainwashing. We do see the robots. We see that Bobbi is a robot, and we see Joanna's robot replacement.
I also think you're misconstruing Diz's motivation. I really don't think it's money. Remember that dialogue between him and Joanna at the end of the movie at the Men's Association right before Joanna meets her replacement? He says something akin to, "We did it because we could. We found a way and we're moving forward." As simple and cold as that. I think Diz genuinely believes the way of the future is a return to the past. I'm not a history buff, but it seems he's trying to reclaim something akin to the Victorian era. In any event, he's trying to create an age that would have existed before the First and Second Waves of Feminism. Sure, I'm certain he charges the men a fee. But money is not the primary goal. He wants women to be servile to men, and the more husbands he can get to go along with it, the more normalized it will appear in Stepford ... Connecticut ... New England ... the U.S. ... and beyond.
You are ignoring his most important line to Joanna (and to us), "It isn't what you think."
Well what does she think? What did she just witness? If seeing the robot isn't what we think it is...well then what is? Logically, and everyone has pointed this out, someone is going to notice these women aren't aging. Someone is going to start looking. But Diz and the rest are totally confident about it all. This is because they aren't committing murder. They don't have to get rid of bodies, unless you count the temporary robots.
So if it isn't what we see, it has to be the hidden clues all over the film. It has to be what we hear and the subliminal visuals. It has to be the name of Coba's business. It has to be Carol wigging out and showing micro-expressions, looking lost and confused. Not like robot Bobbie who was completely plastic. It has to be Diz, reacting to Carol's deprogramming first BEFORE her husband.
When your machine "AI" toy is broken are you going to jump in front of it and hope it fixes itself just by looking at your white leisure suit? NO, you would just sit there and ignore it, try to get it fixed or return it. But if you were dealing with a brain washed person who has been trained to notice you and alter their personality by words or visual colors, then yeah...you are going to parade yourself in their line of sight. Never take your eyes and ears off of Diz.
Look up Dr. Ewen Cameron and psychic-driving. Also note, doesn't Dr. Ewen look a little like Diz.
You make a compelling case, Annkat. Enough so, that I think I ought to rewatch The Stepford Wives (1975). I must admit, I hope brainwashing does not turn out to be explanation. The way I have always interpreted it (murder and robot replacement) sends a much more sinister message. But I will rewatch it with an open mind.
shareI think the movie could be interpreted both ways. The most obvious (robots) will always win out. But there is another option rolling around underneath.
This movie has a lot in common with The Manchurian Candidate.
Rumors state that the military and intelligence agencies used to sell their brainwashed victims as "Human Robots". They would do demonstrations to showcase their mind control.
This is also the case with Blade Runner films. You never see robots in that film either. The first film's opening credits say so.
The brainwashing theory is utter nonsense. It’s a fairly simple horror story by a feminist author which is about men replacing their wives with obedient robots.
Annkat is taking 2 plus 2 and getting 5. S/he has a pet theory and is trying to crowbar it into a story into which it doesn't belong.
Yes, there are absurdities like… won’t the children realise that mommy is acting weird and never ages? But that’s just part of the ridiculous feminist nightmare concept the film is built on.
It’s a great horror movie but this isn’t high art.
I especially agree with your third paragraph, Melton. I think the film was just as much of an indictment on husbands who don't appreciate their wives as it was that generation and class of children not appreciating (or 'seeing') their mothers. All part of the "ridiculous feminist nightmare."
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