The Incredible Shrinking WomanDo you ever read the ingredients of the products you buy? Sometimes "yes", sometimes "no"...there's a lot of stuff out there with artificial this and that; it's no wonder that people have gone "organic", trying to remove the GMOs and chemicals from their lives, in an age where various allergies to things like gluten and the predominance of cancer and other cellular mutations has become the status quo. All of these products--hair spray, deodorant, perfume, et cetera--are supposed to make our lives better and easier, but the cost we pay for our modern living may not be worth the price tag.
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The Incredible Shrinking Woman is the story of Patricia "Pat" Kramer (Lily Tomlin), a housewife right out of Better Homes & Gardens, charged with managing her unruly children and maintaining the household. Aided by an assistant, Concepcion (Maria Smith), she stocks the shelves with products from her supermarket, the mecca of her domesticity and source of countless items meant to enrich the family's busy life. In fact, her husband Vance (Charles Grodin) is a leading advertiser for half of the products they own, and he involves Pat in his work. She funnels ideas about product names to him, which accelerates his climb up the corporate ladder. The film opens with a canned cheese huckster trying to paw his product onto the supermarket goers--and God knows what goes into that stuff, not to mention the other products that she gets bombarded with: air freshener, moisturizer, and even that ubiquitous chemical presence in the California air, smog. Chemicals--by nature--interact with each other to produce a reaction; but none could have predicted that all of the household items would produces the "diminishing returns" that Pat finds herself discovering; she begins to shrink. What starts out as an innocuous diminishment soon escalates into a rapid decrease in size. On the other hand, as word gets out about the strange phenomenon which has overtaken the "Incredible Shrinking Woman"--as the news dubs Pat--she finds that she is showered with media attention; only, for all the attention and fandom, it does nothing to halt her deterioration. Not to let an opportunity for global conquest go to waste, the "Organization for World Management" begins a clandestine operation to discover what it is that makes Pat's physiology so special...and how they can monetize it for their own capital gains.
The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a comedy, albeit a periodically black one, as well as a satire--of media, consumerism, and domesticity. Directed by Joel Schumacher, the California of the film is dominated by brands, the community of Tasty Meadows is like a living, breathing commercial, made up of those who define themselves by their products and a catchy slogan is a sure-win for hooking the crowds. When the discovery is made that Pat's shrinking has to do with her exposure to all of these products, Vance's boss, Dan (Ned Beatty) tries to sweep it under the carpet, anticipating the fallout on his own checkbook, and ambivalent to the public health issue. The Illuminati-like secret society of the O.W.M. acts not only without integrity, but outright menace, a cynical view of what is no doubt an allegory for a government either too indifferent to act on the public's behalf, or worse, complicit in the endangerment of its citizens. Made well into the "Women's Lib" movement, The Incredible Shrinking Woman is conscious of how Pat's immersion in a domesticated world of products and the arms race of keeping the home running like a well-oiled machine, putting on makeup and an attractive outfit for her husband returning from work makes her appear like just another fixture of the homestead. It becomes evident that as Pat shrinks, and her capacity for running the house shrinks as well, even Concepcion cannot keep the house running without Pat. Vance becomes increasingly frustrated--as amiable as he may be toward his wife--at the impact on their sex life, and makes a few "harmless" comments about dieting and getting up on a soapbox--which, to be fair, is literal when she delivers a rant about "another stupid doll" after she has shrunk to the size of a Barbie atop an actual soapbox. Ultimately, these comments are indicative of his perception of gender roles in the household, challenged in the face of irreversible change. As Pat shrinks to the size of a doll, she begins to feel that she is being treated like a toy, an object to be studied, scrutinized, and even stared at like a toy, and not without reason considering her companions change from people of flesh and blood to those made of plastic. Everybody gets in on Pat's "fifteen minutes"; her neighbors of Tasty Meadows become known to the worldwide television viewers--imagine a spin-off with her nosy neighbor, Judith Beasley (also Lily Tomlin)--and Pat appears on talk shows and magazine covers, becoming a media darling in the process. Although Pat professes that she feels that since her rise to stardom, people listen to her now, regrettably, it seems more like the public idolizes her instead, although her message does reach a few key people like Rob (Mark Blankfield), her reluctant and misinformed captor. The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a bit like a dollhouse: a movie strange enough to be artificial, but it resembles a facsimile of the real thing with a subtle bite to it; maybe that should be how they should pitch Cheese Tease?
Recommended for: Fans of a strange comedy which is thought-provoking enough to make you want to double check the ingredients lists at the supermarket in the future. It's a weird comedy, but one with clever moments that also illuminate feminist issues without overwhelming the story, as well as the dangers of rampant consumerism.
The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a comedy, albeit a periodically black one, as well as a satire--of media, consumerism, and domesticity. Directed by Joel Schumacher, the California of the film is dominated by brands, the community of Tasty Meadows is like a living, breathing commercial, made up of those who define themselves by their products and a catchy slogan is a sure-win for hooking the crowds. When the discovery is made that Pat's shrinking has to do with her exposure to all of these products, Vance's boss, Dan (Ned Beatty) tries to sweep it under the carpet, anticipating the fallout on his own checkbook, and ambivalent to the public health issue. The Illuminati-like secret society of the O.W.M. acts not only without integrity, but outright menace, a cynical view of what is no doubt an allegory for a government either too indifferent to act on the public's behalf, or worse, complicit in the endangerment of its citizens. Made well into the "Women's Lib" movement, The Incredible Shrinking Woman is conscious of how Pat's immersion in a domesticated world of products and the arms race of keeping the home running like a well-oiled machine, putting on makeup and an attractive outfit for her husband returning from work makes her appear like just another fixture of the homestead. It becomes evident that as Pat shrinks, and her capacity for running the house shrinks as well, even Concepcion cannot keep the house running without Pat. Vance becomes increasingly frustrated--as amiable as he may be toward his wife--at the impact on their sex life, and makes a few "harmless" comments about dieting and getting up on a soapbox--which, to be fair, is literal when she delivers a rant about "another stupid doll" after she has shrunk to the size of a Barbie atop an actual soapbox. Ultimately, these comments are indicative of his perception of gender roles in the household, challenged in the face of irreversible change. As Pat shrinks to the size of a doll, she begins to feel that she is being treated like a toy, an object to be studied, scrutinized, and even stared at like a toy, and not without reason considering her companions change from people of flesh and blood to those made of plastic. Everybody gets in on Pat's "fifteen minutes"; her neighbors of Tasty Meadows become known to the worldwide television viewers--imagine a spin-off with her nosy neighbor, Judith Beasley (also Lily Tomlin)--and Pat appears on talk shows and magazine covers, becoming a media darling in the process. Although Pat professes that she feels that since her rise to stardom, people listen to her now, regrettably, it seems more like the public idolizes her instead, although her message does reach a few key people like Rob (Mark Blankfield), her reluctant and misinformed captor. The Incredible Shrinking Woman is a bit like a dollhouse: a movie strange enough to be artificial, but it resembles a facsimile of the real thing with a subtle bite to it; maybe that should be how they should pitch Cheese Tease?
Recommended for: Fans of a strange comedy which is thought-provoking enough to make you want to double check the ingredients lists at the supermarket in the future. It's a weird comedy, but one with clever moments that also illuminate feminist issues without overwhelming the story, as well as the dangers of rampant consumerism.