An Unfilmable Conclusion: WAGYWHYB & Smooth Talk

Both Smooth Talk and Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been address the issues of sexism and racism, however, Sooth Talk takes a more revolutionary approach towards the issues.        

            Daly addresses the criticisms that both Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been and Smooth Talk have received for being a “cautionary tale” to women. She displays the opinion of B. Ruby Rich who is disgusted at the way that Chopra’s film seems to warn girls to “keep a lid on their sexuality” through the use of camera spacing. As quoted by Daly, “Every time Connie is on screen, she’s shot in close-up…every time Arnold is on screen, he’s in middle-shot framed against ample landscape” (Rich 148). Both Rich and Daly feel that this use of tight, close-up spacing is a way to show women as inferior and in the same token, “each time Connie crosses into new and larger spaces…she becomes increasingly more vulnerable” (Daly 148). I felt this sexism as I read as well, however it was quite subtle because, as Daly points out, Oates simply followed the formula of the too common horror story where the girl is trapped and helpless. I felt that Chopra’s Smooth Talk showed equal signs of sexism, however I noticed most of this in the dialogue and Connie’s reaction to male characters. I did not consciously notice the difference between the close-up shots of Connie and the properly spaced shots of Arnold, however this too could have been a result of my familiarity with such stories.

Daly goes further to say that Oates’s original story is revolutionary in its feelings towards women. Oates does not blame Connie, the victim of the story, for the attack, and in fact give her the last word, rather than giving that privilege to Arnold. This is quite revolutionary for the 1960’s, a time in which women were never considered superior. However, Smooth Talk provides even more empowerment to Connie, as it is set in the 1980s.

 This difference between the power given to Connie is most evident in the end of the movie, when Connie is shown returning safely to her home, seemingly unshaken by the events. This is quite a change from Oates’s book, in which the reader is left wondering if Connie will ever return at all, let alone return safely. Oates is quoted saying “Laura Dern’s Connie is no longer ‘my’ Connie at the film’s conclusion; she is very much alive, assertive, strong willed-a girl perhaps, of the mid 1980’s and not of the mid-1960’s” (Oates 149). Daly explains that the reason for this difference is most likely due to the fact that the 1960’s had not experienced the feminist movement, making women of the 1980’s much more “resisting readers” to the “smooth talk” of men around them.

As you can see, both Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been and Smooth Talk address the issues of sexism and feminism. However, Smooth Talk, due to its later time period, gives quite a bit more empowerment to Connie.

Works Cited: Daly, Brenda O. "An Unfilmable Conclusion: Joyce Carol Oates at the Movies." The Journal of Popular Culture 23.3 (1989): 101-14. Print.Oates, Joyce Carol. “Where are you going, where have you been?” New Brunswick, N.J: Rutgers University Press, 1994. Print.