This is a P.C. feministically affirming story of one woman's quest to become the breadwinner of a family and her smothering loser white male husband. Set in 1965.
... which, unfortunately, was the lot for many women back then. Thank goodness some (like Evelyn) had the spirit to rise above it!
I don't understand, is that good or bad? And why post such a comment? I doubt that Evelyn was thinking about "quests" when she was writing her jingles. Seems to me it was a way to survive that had nothing to do with women's lib!!!!!!
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People's lives are not based on political correctness. At that time women were just starting to have to enter the work force and it was considered embarassing if your wife had to work. She did her best to see that her family's needs were met and tried to do it without completely demoralizing her husband. I can't see what is wrong with that.
Remember when you bash the "character" you are bashing the memory of a real woman who really lived and her children still do.
There are always cynics, and there always will be - more's the pity!
Spoiler alert!
Actually, one of the few things that I didn't like about the film is that it made Evelyn Ryan come across as more of a victim than she probably really was. If you've read the book (and if you haven't, why haven't you?), you know that in real life she *did* take the weekend trip to New York that she won, and that after her husband's death she spent ten winters visiting her grown children in the various warm climates where they had settled -- far beyond "the Ohio-Indiana border!" The film takes those things away from her.
Really, *that's* the way in which the film is politically correct. We all know, of course, that during the 1950's there was a secret cabal that tried to deprive American women of the right to vote and legally redefine them as chattel.
I'm glad to hear that. To me, the movie, although very awesome, left me feeling a bit sad at the end, especially when she looked so lonely in the doorway and said that she never really went far beyond the "Ohio-Indiana border." Now that I know she was able to explore the world at least a little bit, I feel better!
shareI don't think Evelyn Ryan was ever a 'victim' in the true sense of the word (although things were obviously very difficult for her finacially) as she was happy being home with her children and had her gifts of writing and a lively imagination to fall back on. And I know she travelled in later years - even visiting my country: England - something many of her fellow Americans will never do, even with travel being relatively cheap these days!
Aaaargh!!!! I am so weary of anything that shows sensitivity to an underrepresented group labelled "politically correct." This term has lost any meaning because it's thrown around so randomly.
Was Evelyn a "victim"? No more so than anyone in to a confining situation. She was a woman who had lots of responsibility but little authority. This is what many women were handed by society. She chose to find outlets for herself and her children. I'd argue that she was happy, not a victim, and was depicted as a woman of resources and courage.
She chose to have 10 children so she was a victim of her own choices. I felt badly for her constant struggle but it didn't have to be that way.
shareI haven't read the book, and I'm sorry that the movie changed those facts. (Makes for a better story?).
But truly, the first scene with her husband signing the mortgage papers set the tone for what life was like for women back then.
How different both of their lives might have been if her husband had EMBRACED her power instead of being so threatened by it.
Clearly anyone who sees this film as being "politically correct" is equally threatened by the concept of PEOPLE, regardless of gender, being able to flourish in their strengths. Sad. Feminism is just "humanism" and frees everyone.
What a gift to be able to reduce a woman's life, an alcoholic's torment and their struggle to survive into a neat little sterotype. Life must be very easy for you, muldoomstone.
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