Running Head: THE STEPFORD WIVES MEDIA ANALYSIS

Markesha Gibbons

University of North Texas at Dallas

Professor S. Holmes

December 3, 2018
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For our media analysis project we chose to take a look into the semiotic symbols in the

film ​The Stepford Wives​(2004), written by Paul Rudnick, starring Nicole Kidman as the main

character Joanna Eberhart. ​The Stepford Wives​ is about a successful television producer who

career plummets due to a controversial show. With hopes of kicking back and having a great new

life in a beautiful new town, Joanna and her family packs up and moves to a suburb in Stepford

Connecticut, only Joanna discovers all of the wives, who were all prior professional women,

turned out to be robots controlled by the men in the town. This film overall represents the role of

women in society, career seeking beyond the bedroom beyond the kitchen, who are in reality

being punished by being reprogrammed into better versions of themselves. Standard housewife’s

who enjoys play time with the kids, trips to the supermarket, and keeping the house squeaky

clean. Meanwhile Stepford represents the role of advertising the false idea of the “American

Dream” and how you can escape all of your modern problems if you pack up and move to a

perfect suburb. In this analysis we will explore the signs and symbols of language, and their

coded messages, color semiotics, feminism, and characterization, using signs and signifiers to

describe the characters.

The film starts out showing women in power and men in a role of submission. Joanna is

not your typical domestic housewife, running a home and family, she clearly represents an aspect

of feminism. When Joanna is first announced to come to the stage by her female boss, who is

later the one to fire her, she is introduced as the companies “maverick” and “wildcard”.

Maverick meaning independent minded and wild card signifying ​a playing card that can have
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any value, suit, color, or other property in a game at the discretion of the player holding it.​

Immediately after she walks up to the microphone there is a wide shot of a crowd full of her

woman network affiliates cheering her on like it was the next President of America that had

walked on stage. The film then takes a turn to the typical “cinderella” theme we so often see in

women lead films. Joanna gets fired, right before her husband is introduced into the film. Walter

Eberhart shows up like Joanna's hero as he announces to her he quit the firm the minute he heard

she was fired. Joanna who once spoke with bold face expressions and a confident filled voice,

now spoke like a school girl who needed saving and asked did he really do that for her. As if

now two jobless adults was something to actually be comforted by. Secondhand, with the same

breathe that Walter had just convinced his wife she was the reason he quit his job, he also

convinced her that their declining marriage is due to her success and informs her that the kids

were immune to her absence. This is a perfect example of decoding a message about gender

differences and work life balance. .

Joanna and her family then packs up and move to Stepford, the American dream

community which has perfect houses, perfect lives, stepford husbands, and stepford wives.

Stepford can be described as being magical or unreal as everything is top of the line, in fact in

the film it is described as being, “Everything the family needs. Founded by George Washington,

Stepford is the family paradise, it has no crime, no poverty and no pushing”. In reality Stepford

is a place where the men are dressed as powerful conformist, but are truly conniving and

murderous preying on their wives while the stepford wives are symbolized to be man's idea of
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what he believes a woman should be. The mear beginning of this film is a great example of how

women who break free of their men intended back seat housewife positions is blamed for family

failures and punished by being forced back into a box called living the “American Dream”.

In one of the very first scenes of the movie, Joanna introduces all of the trailers for the

new TV shows that would be coming on the network and eventually be introduced to general

audiences. This scene has a lot going on within it, Joanna is displaying so much energy and

enthusiasm for the trailers that she is showing to her immediate audience, and the audience is

also participating with the cycle of energy being given by Joanna.

So much is happening, however, I noticed that in this scene Joanna is wearing a nice

jacket and pencil skirt combination that is black. Joanna is a fair skinned woman, the contrast of

the color black to her skin was noticeable but also appealing. In Color Psychology black

symbolizes power and control. Black can be intimidating and unfriendly because of the power it

exudes. The color black implies: self-control, discipline, independence, and a strong will. The

color black also gives an impression of authority and power. When I noticed that Joanna

Eberhart was wearing the color black, I knew that the point of her wearing the color was to

exude authority and power, because she is an independent and strong willed woman in her line of

profession.

In the article Female Leaders Wear Black For A Reason, the author Sally Percy mentions

actress Saoirse Ronan, and how she would be wearing black to the 2018 Golden Globe Awards,

as a way to protest sexual harassment. Percy, then goes on to state that she commends this
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actress and many other actresses, that will be wearing black to the awards show in protest of

sexual harassment. Percy also mentions that black is the color of mourning and grief, as well as

the color of seriousness and respect. For many women who work in a business professional

environment, black showcases as a defense mechanism against bias, discrimination and sexual

harassment in the workplace.

Joanna and her husband Walter, are portrayed in the movie as having a good bond ,but

their marriage carries many unspoken issues. When Joanna and Walter are settled into their new

house in the town of Stepford, they have a huge argument and Joanna promises Walter that she

would do her best to make their new life in Stepford work. Part of Joanna trying to “make it

work", is when she decides to wear brighter more cheerful clothing, and does her foremost to fit

in with the wives who reside in Stepford. Wanting to blend in more with the Stepford wives,

Joanna wears a variety of colors, ranging from brown, to purple and especially pink. In the Color

Psychology of Pink, the color pink is described as being a calming color. Pink can also be

associated with love, kindness and femininity. The color Pink evokes feelings of joy and

happiness. Many people associate the color pink, to all things either feminine or girly.

Towards the end of the film, Joanna’s color choices transition again, to a creamy white,

and bright colors infused with the color white. In the Color Psychology of White, western

cultures associate the color white with: weddings, hospitals and angel’s. The color white is used

to convey: purity, cleanliness and peacefulness. The color white is symbolic to purity or

innocence. When Joanna begins to wear this color, by the end of the movie she is now a symbol
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of purity and innocence. She is no longer the strong and independent woman, that can think for

herself. Joanna is now an innocent fragile being, waiting to be told what to do. There is a huge

contrast from the Joanna that is introduced to the audience in the beginning, and the one that the

audience is shown at the end. Each Joanna, and the color she represents is symbolic of her

character in the movie. In the beginning, Joanna wore black which symbolizes power and

control. At the end, Joanna begins to wear brighter/ white colored clothing, symbolizing how

innocent and gentle she has become.

Transformation is one of the themes throughout the movie “The Stepford Wives.” The

many signifiers of specific changes can be seen from the change from a city to a suburban

environment to a change in various characters behaviors and physical appearances. But, one of

the main signifiers of physical and mental transformation is in the main character’s, Joanna

Eberhart, hair. At face value, one might not think of hair as being a signifier to a person’s state of

being. But, in this film, where there is a stark difference in what it means to be a career woman

and a housewife, a woman’s appearance can give a hint to where her attitude, values, and ideas

lie.

In the 2004 version of this movie, Joanna is a successful executive of a television

network that specializes in reversed gender-based reality t.v. programming. What is meant by

reversed gender-based is that the women on these programs are often portrayed as polygamous,

breadwinners, and very assertive; roles that are often assigned to men in the mainstream media

(but, that’s for another analysis). Joanna is portrayed as a stereotypical career woman. She is
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headstrong, independent, and fearless. Her hair is brunette and carefully cropped into a bob that

frames her face. One might ask, how does Joanna’s short brunette hair signify the traits of being

headstrong, independent, brilliant, and fearless? Well, all one has to do is consider the societal

stereotypes about hair.

In society, it is a well-known stereotype that brunettes are regarded as “more

competent and intelligent” than their blonde and red-headed counterparts (Beddow, Hymes, &

McAuslan, 2011). This perception, according to the “Hair Color Stereotypes” article, is due to

the lack of representation of redheads and blondes especially, in the workforce. With short hair,

women are often perceived as confident, strong, and professional. “Women’s hair is central to

their social position” and sporting short hair could be an example of “women using their hair to

try to gain some power” (Weitz, 2001). These stereotypes of women with brunette and/or short

hair are reinforced in both the media (like in this movie) and in real life through the

representation of women in the workforce.

Now, on the other end of the spectrum, there is a well-known saying that

“blondes have more fun” or that “gentlemen prefer blondes.” In the film, when Joanna moves

with her family to Stepford, Connecticut initially she has trouble fitting in with the other wives.

The wives are portrayed as meek, submissive, housewives, the complete opposite of Joanna.

Another trait that the wives have that contrasts with Joanna is that most of the wives have

blonde, long flowing hair. As with the portrayal of Joanna, the Stepford wives were assigned

their personality traits alongside the appearance of their hair because of long-standing societal
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stereotypes about women with blonde hair.

In contrast to brunettes, blondes are perceived to be, according to

the article by Beddow, Hymes, & McAuslan, feminine, attractive, and fun. “They are also

perceived to be dumb, as can be seen with the prevalence of dumb blonde jokes” (Beddow,

Hymes, & MsAuslan, 2011). These stereotypes of blonde hair play into the submissive roles that

the Stepford wives have been assigned to them by their husbands. Representation also plays a

part in how blondes are perceived. Blondes “are underrepresented in certain sections of the

workforce” (Beddow, Hymes, & MsAuslan, 2011). The length of the Stepford wives hair also

plays into how they are sexualized. According to the article by Anthony Synnott, long hair

represents unrestrained sexuality. This can be seen several times during the movie when the

husbands are describing their wives as hot, sexy, babes.

“Hair is perhaps our most powerful symbol of individual and group

identity—powerful first because it is physical and therefore extremely personal, second because,

although personal, it is also public rather than private” (Synnott, 1987). While seeming

insignificant, the characters hair in “The Stepford Wives” were signifiers to the audience of what

their values were (whether if it’s in the office or the home) and their personalities (being

headstrong, independent, and fearless or meek, submissive, and docile). When Joanna is

transformed into a Stepford wife, her hair goes from a brunette bob to a long, flowy blonde

hairstyle. This lets the audience know that she has left her fast-paced executive lifestyle behind,

although unwillingly, to become a mere housewife that tends her husband’s every whim.
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In the Stepford wives film, Joanne Eberhart is a successful woman of great influence. In

the beginning of the film she is dominating the scene and is clearly in control of the audience

who stand and applaud for her, showing how much they admire her. She is the ultimate feminist

fantasy, a woman that is powerful on her own and is held back by no man. Although she has

ascended to great heights, she will soon come tumbling down. Eberhart made a show where it

was testing a marriage couple’s loyalty to one another, and basically the woman decided to go

off with multiple men instead of her husband. (It seems as if the roles are reversed at the

beginning of the film, a woman with all the power instead of a man, the man being the loyal one

instead of the woman, etc.) The hurt and betrayed husband came to the auditorium to shoot

Eberhart but missed.

Afterwards, her career ends due to the controversial show and she loses her mind. I found

this to be very harsh because “although the film implies that gender discrimination is a thing of

the past, Joanna’s firing is evidence of women’s vulnerability in the workplace, as this seems a

rather extreme response given that she was the network’s most successful president” (Vint, S.,

2007). Maybe this is symbolically mocking feminism, saying that a woman cannot handle having

too much power. Her husband takes care of her and takes her to get electroshock therapy. Then,

her husband takes her to a new neighborhood called “Stepford” where their family will soon live.

In Stepford, it is quite a different world from what Eberhart is used to. All the women

there are perfect, the houses are perfect, the flowers, the cars, and everything is perfect. The

women represent everyman’s fantasy which is to have a subservient, sexy woman that cooks,
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cleans, and has sex anytime he wants it. What these women represent is a feminist nightmare,

women who are basically caged and have to live up to a man’s expectations. The women in

Stepford are dressed in bright colors with florals on their dresses and always wear make-up so

they can look pretty for their husbands. This is big stereotype of how women are supposed to

appear and symbolizes the standard of perfection the women have to live up to, to please their

husbands.

In the Stepford wives movie, instead of looking at the men as valuing female attributes a

lot, I see it as selfishly taking advantage of women. A feminist would see Eberhart at the

beginning of the movie as at the peak of her attributes and when she’s in Stepford, at her lowest.

A woman is good for more than sex, cooking and cleaning, but the men in Stepford do not think

that way. They rather their women be robots with chips implanted into their brains, than for them

to be normal human beings and think on their own. Eberhart’s husband wants his wife to change

and she gives in conforming to the ways and image of the Stepford wives. She realizes

something very strange about the women though.

She had an uncanny feeling that these women were being controlled and not really

human, especially after witnessing sparks coming from one of the women’s ears when she spun

herself out of control while dancing. When it comes to Eberhart’s husband, “the uncanny has

received little notice as a symbol for such fears regarding ideology and social control” (Elliott, J.,

2008). In other words, Eberhart’s husband did not take her justified paranoia seriously and

initially thought she was the problem, not Stepford. The lack of social control (although there is
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social order, it is in an eerie and twisted manner) in Stepford feeds Eberhart’s paranoia and the

feminist ideology that is prevalent early in the film, shatters in the face of “[patriarchal]

ascendancy [which] appears not through the threat or enactment of all-too-evident male sexual

violence but rather through the uncanny doubling created by the secret Men’s Association

conspiracy” (Elliott, J., 2008).

In conclusion, the symbols in the movie The Stepford Wives have great meaning and

representation. The colors of Eberhart’s clothing change from dark to light which represents the

physical change in Joanna's character. Joanna is no longer, strong and independent. Joanna

becomes a fragile, dependent being...Her hair also changes dramatically in the film which is

symbolic of the transition she goes through from being an independent powerhouse to being a

slave to the standards of beauty that comes with being an object of a male’s fantasy.

Furthermore, there is representations of the American dream in the film which [insert]...Finally,

there is symbolism when it comes to feminist ideologies and anti-feminism which is prevalent

throughout the film. The Stepford wives is a great film that was designed to have many

underlying symbols which provoked deep thinking and analysis among our group.

References

Beddow, M., Hymes, R., & McAuslan, P. (2011). Hair Color Stereotypes and Their
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Associated Perceptions in Relationships and the Workplace. ​Psi Chi Journal of

Undergraduate Research, 16(1), 12–19. Retrieved from

http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=66617069&site=

eds-live

Cherry, K. (n.d.). The Color Psychology of Pink. Retrieved December 3, 2018, from

https://www.verywellmind.com/the-color-psychology-of-pink-2795819

Cherry, K. (n.d.). The Color Psychology of White. Retrieved December 3, 2018, from

https://www.verywellmind.com/color-psychology-white-2795822

Elliott, J. (2008). Stepford U.S.A.: Second-Wave Feminism, Domestic Labor, and the

Representation of National Time. ​Cultural Critique,​ ​70,​ 32–62. Retrieved from

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ive

Grossberg, L., E., Wartella, E. A., Whitney, D. C. & Wise, J. M. (2006). MediaMaking: Mass

media in a popular culture (2nd ed). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.

Kousari, M., Azizi, F., & Azizi, H. (2015, March 01). The Representation of Women in the

Advertisement of Persil Washing Powder. Retrieved December 3, 2018, from

https://doaj.org/article/7776f27996cd49349f84e2bbbd3f7e0b
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Percy, S. (2018, January 16). Female Leaders Wear Black For A Reason. Retrieved December 3,

2018, from ​https://www-forbes-com.cdn.ampproject.org/v/s/www.forbes.com

Synnott, A. (1987). Shame and Glory: A Sociology of Hair. ​The British Journal of Sociology,

38​(3), 381-413. doi:10.2307/590695

The Color Black. (n.d.). Retrieved December 3, 2018, from

https://www.empower-yourself-with-color-psychology.com/color-black.html

Vint, S. (2007). The New Backlash: Popular Culture’s “Marriage” with Feminism, or Love Is All

You Need. ​Journal of Popular Film & Television,​ ​34(​ 4), 160–169. Retrieved from

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v​e
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