The 1987 film Baby Boom was on television the other day and I couldn't help but tune in since it was one of the movies I watched as a child. Horrific music, bad gender politics and all, I still couldn't tell you why I enjoyed it so much. I was pretty precocious and preferred playing hotel manager and bank teller over housewife and mommy and my mom will tell you I only owned a handful of dolls in my lifetime. So I guess the mom in a business suit attracted me, but now when I watch it I see it in a totally different light.
If you've never seen it I'll bring you up to speed: J.C. Wyatt, played by Diane Keaton, is a successful New York business woman on the brink of her career as a soon-to-be-partner of a multi-million dollar company called "The Food Chain." Her "genderless" name is perhaps supposed to suggest she's trying her best to fit in with the male-dominated business market of the late 80s. At a business luncheon with her boss she expresses some of her "radical" ideas, professing she doesn't want to be married and definitely doesn't want kids - ever. It's only minutes after her "feminist tirade" that she gets an early-morning call from overseas informing her that a distant cousin has died and left her something in his will. Of course, we all know what it is but she stupidly decides it might be money.
The next day she meets her "inheritance" at the airport - Elizabeth, a curly-headed toddler with a suitcase and diaper bag. The social worker hands her off to the sulking J.C. who nearly has a breakdown (one of her many tantrums throughout the film) in the middle of the airport. The next scene we're taken to a swanky restaurant as J.C. comes close to committing child abuse, lugging Elizabeth around like a briefcase, nearly banging her head in the door. She hands her off to the woman at the coat check, proceeds to her luncheon, and acts oblivious to the sound of Elizabeth crying.
Later, at her apartment she leaves Elizabeth on a chair, telling her to "sit!" as if she's talking to a trained puppy. And when her boyfriend meets little Elizabeth it's as if he's never really interacted with a baby before in his life, professing he's doesn't know how to hold her because he's never held a baby. I'm sure there are people out there like this, but really, you've went your whole life without holding a baby? And we see him reasoning with her like a small child, telling her to go to sleep because he has a big business deal the next day (I actually wouldn't have minded if she'd spit up on him there just a little bit, but I digress....).
A couple weeks go by like one might suspect after being thrown into the stresses of motherhood: she struggles to find a trustworthy babysitter, the men around her start giving her odd looks when she has toys delivered to her office, and the young man she's been training for several years is now being promoted, while her dreams of becoming partner are quickly slipping away.
Rather than cutting back a bit at work she drastically decides to leave New York and the company behind, purchasing a 60+ acre estate in Vermont - if you can't play with the big boys, go home, right?! In Vermont, it plays out like most "city mouse goes to the country" plots - the house starts needing repairs and she doesn't know what to do about it. She breaks down into another tantrum, professing she can't live there anymore, she needs civilization and sex!
And then "the man" enters, the one who's going to save her from her single-motherhood status and repair all her broken pieces. On cue, just seconds after her "I need sex" line, she's lying on a doctor's table staring at a middle-aged veterinarian. You're just hoping she'll at least keep it together, but the New York high-lifer she was and still is comes out as she sits and spills her dilemmas, reminiscent of a therapy session.
Desperate to leave the end of civilization and return to New York she decides to sell her homemade baby food. Her small company, "Country Baby," becomes successful to the point that her old company in New York wants to purchase it for several million dollars. Caught between the prospects of staying with the country vet and returning to New York, she decides to pass on the business deal, and the movie closes with her return to the vet and little Elizabeth in the country.
From the beginning, I feel, we're not meant to like her character. She's selfish, a bit delusional, and she's a stereotypical "yuppy" business woman. As an audience we're almost relieved to find that she's going to be taking care of a baby, if only to bring some of the attention away from herself. The fact that she's playing this type of character is problematic in itself when trying to consider this film as feminist. Why is she such a disagreeable character when she's a working woman and non-believer of marriage and motherhood? And why is it that we're only allowed to warm up to her once she has a baby in her arms? This seems to only suggest you become a better woman when you enter the throes of motherhood.
So, while I appreciate the attempt at feminism in this movie, it's hard to watch films like this one that might profess to be "feminist" or at least a consideration of radical gender politics. In my opinion it falls short and the attempts can only be called "cute." Though C.J. does succeed in her small business and the men who rejected her decide she's quite a business woman after all, she's making organic baby food of all things, which in itself suggests women might only truly succeed when they're linked to motherhood. Furthermore, her story is reminiscent of the sexist fairy tales we all know and love where a man saves the day - in her case, filling her desire for sex and knowing how to hold a baby.
While we might be able to blame the politics of the movie on its time period, I'm falling short to even come up with a great example of a present-day feminist motherhood movie. Any suggestions?
Though I still can't quite grasp why I enjoyed this movie as a child, I can appreciate it for Keaton's performance, but that's about it. And overall while I understand I might not be taking every point of this movie into account, I don't feel this film can be labeled "feminist," but I'd love to hear anyone's else's thoughts on the movie!
*pictures from here, here, and here.
I had never seen this movie Jade but I can relate in a sense. I was much like you when I was little I preferred playing bank and scheduling ficticous appointments at an imaginary doctor's office so it makes sense in a way that you liked it when you were little but I agree wholeheartedly that there are few (maybe no) successful attempts at feminist motherhood roles in movies. Great post!
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