Feminism and Ideology: The Terms of Women's Stereotypes

Abstract

Terms of Endearmentl belongs to a cycle of quality family melodramas produced in the US since 1979 which have been well received by critics, lauded within the industry and popular at the box office. In Kramer vs. Kramer (1979), Ordinary People (1980) and On Golden Pond (1981), the narratives focused on the importance of the father's role (played by Dustin Hoffman, Donald Sutherland and Henry Fonda, respectively), and onmen as sources of emotional support in the nuclear family, thus displacing women as wives and mothers from their conventional place at the centre of the family melodrama. Each of these films has been criticized for embodying conservative, antifeminist values, by punishing women who work outside the home (Seiter,1983). Like these films, Terms of Endearment (1983) portrays a white, upper-middle class family and features prrstigious actors Jack Nicholson, Shirley MacLaine and Debra Winger. But in this film women re-take centre stage as the narrative focuses on the relationship between mother and daughter. There is also an infusion of other generic elements, most notably the woman's film, the situation comedy and the made-for-TV-movie (Kellner, 1985). Like its predecessors, Terms of Endearment has been harshly criticized by left-liberal critics, who have seen the film as a 'right-to-life soap opera' (Biskind,1984; Sarris,1983). Terms of Endearment successfully tapped into a cultural interest in mother-daughter relationships which flourished in the media. The film's advertising, which has featured various shots of MacLaine and Winger posed in affectionate exchange with one another, snapshot style, has emphasized this aspect of the narrative. Women's advice columns, magazines and programmes on daytime television began to capitalize on this interest in mothers and daughters in the late seventies. Nancy Friday's bestseller My Mother, My Self was published in 1977. The ABC daytime serial General Hospital climbed to the top of the Nielsen ratings after producer Gloria Monty decided to concentrate on the relationship between the teenage character Laura Weber and her mother Lesley. The Phil Donahue Show broadcast several