The movie makes huge proclamations about the importance of being true to yourself and not being forced to go along with blind conformity. The women are forced against their will to eventually become ‘bland conformists’ void of personality, a strong statement of just how awful it would be if everyone was alike and how it is everyone's individuality that makes them so wonderful and special. This idea is further enforced by Joanne's husband; he goes along with the whole idea due to peer pressure, and all the while attempts to drink the pain away with tears in his eyes because he doesn't want to do it and can’t to say "no" due to his desperately wanting to fit in with the ‘in’ crowd.
Many changes occur in the women of Stepford once they have conformed. Once the women have conformed they all have immaculate blonde hair, their dress sense changes, they obey their husband’s orders and their houses become extremely clean. An example of conformity amongst the Stepford wives is the author. Before she conformed her house was the messiest one, she never cooked and she never listened to her husband. After she conformed she was the exact opposite. Her house was very clean, she always cooked and she always did what her husband told her to do.
In the movie ‘The Stepford Wives’ I believe that there are more disadvantages than advantages. The advantages of conforming in my opinion are that they are not in the outer group, they get to relate with other women, their houses are perfect and they make their husbands happy. The disadvantages of conforming in my opinion are that they get told what to do, they are not being themselves, they spend to much time impressing their husbands, they don’t get to express themselves and they do not get to spend much time on themselves.
Some factors that contribute to Joanna’s conformity are the fact that she feels left out by the other wives. As she desperately wants to fit, she conforms in order to get along with the other wives of Stepford. Joanna wants to make her marriage work and she thinks that if she is like the other wives her husband would be a lot happier.
Some of the social norms of the people of Stepford are the fact that they are have the same things in common, they all enjoy doing the same things. They all act in the same manner and they all spend lots of time together.
In the beginning she was considered a member of the out-group because she had brown short hair, she did not spend her whole time impressing her husband. She always asked questions about Stepford and the other wives. She would always snoop around and she did not spend all her time cleaning her house.
Joanna is influenced by the people of Stepford because they seem to be happy and living in a happy household. She wants to live a happy life because she feels her family isn’t happy. I also think she fells pressured to be like them because she is in the outer group when they have their little exercise group or in their book club. She wants to fit in amongst her neighbours.
