“The Beautiful, Unattainable Trophy and Beast” by Haley Ecker

Pretty? Check. Skinny? Check. Successful and smart? Check and check. This criteria makes up the modern day “trophy wife.” The term was coined in Fortune Magazine in 1989 as, “a woman who is a decade or two younger than her husband, sometimes several inches taller, beautiful, and very often accomplished” (Friedman, par. 11). For the average man, attaining a woman like this seems impossible. Getting a woman extremely out of his league would be a massive achievement and elevate the man’s status.

This pursuit becomes the goal for Gennarino, a communist, Sicilian deckhand who gets trapped on a deserted island with a beautiful, wealthy woman in Lena Wertmüller’s film, Swept Away. The object of Gennarino’s desires, Rafaella, comes from a life of leisure and luxury as opposed to his lower class background. When stowed away on the island, Gennarino abuses and assaults Rafaella multiple times in an attempt to make her want him as a potential partner. He does not do this out of love, however, as he, like many lower-class men, wants her as an object to boost his prestige. Obtaining her affection is nothing more than a way to increase his confidence and status rather than pursuing her for love.

At the beginning of the film, Gennarino is a servant to Rafaella and her husband while on their yacht. She bosses around Gennarino while she and her rich friends lounge, swim, and eat on the deck of the boat. Rafaella has complete agency over the deckhand, at this point, and does not consider him to be anywhere near as impressive as her own wealthy, intellectual husband. Gennarino complains about Rafaella behind her back, irritated by the fact that a rich woman has the audacity to boss him around, and there is nothing he can do about it (Wertmüller, 00:08:50). He loathes the pretentious, political conversations Rafaella has with her husband and shows no fondness towards her whatsoever, since she represents something he knows he can never attain.

There is a change of power, however, once the two are swept away to an abandoned island in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Gennarino finds himself in power since he is the only one who knows how to perform manual labor and feed himself. Whenever Rafaella demands help, he rejects her and forces her to do demeaning tasks to earn her food. He is able to get away with things he would never have been able to do had they still been on the yacht, such as forcing Rafaella to clean his pants (Wertmüller, 00:53:00) and kiss his hand (Wertmüller, 1:00:51). Although these are traditionally flirtatious actions, Gennarino’s demand for such actions comes off as him getting Rafaella to no longer consider him as a servant but rather a master. He wants her to feel the way he felt when she was bossing him around on the boat, such as when she complained about his pasta not being edible for her (Wertmüller, 00:12:32). He does, however, eventually go on even further than the point of just getting back at her for the mistreatment. Anna Rudegeair compares Gennarino’s taming of Rafaella to be resonant of Katherine in The Taming of the Shrew. Both Katherine and Rafaella are considered challenges for their male counterparts to pursue, with love and power being the prizes at the finish line. Petruchio, Kate’s partner, “insistently flatters and threatens Kate despite her protests” (Rudegeair, par. 3). Petruchio tries to tame Kate for the purpose of winning her affection while Gennarino just wants to make Rafaella his subordinate and elevate his status by getting her to do demeaning tasks.

Gennarino’s poor treatment of Rafaella is out of frustration since she represents everything he detests about upper society. While he beats her, he screams, “that’s for causing inflation and not paying taxes and hoarding your money in Swiss banks instead… That’s for the hospitals where the poor can’t even get in… That’s for raising the prices of meat and cheese” (Wertmüller, 1:09:18). By putting her in her place, he is able to gain revenge for the lower class and feel successful in his status as a man by dominating her. There is a purpose to this domination, however, as it not only allows for Gennarino to get revenge for his lower class but also get Rafaella to look at him as a macho man rather than just a lowly deckhand.

He continuously beats Rafaella like a broken toy to the point of submission so that she wants him more than her wealthy husband. In normal circumstances, Rafaella would never bat an eye at Gennarino. On this isolated island, he finally has the opportunity to express his masculinity and dominance without any repercussions. He believes that breaking her down to the point where she sees how much bravado he has will show Rafaella that just because he is some poor Sicilian deckhand does not mean he cannot satisfy her. He is trying to prove that he is more competent and masculine than her wealthy Milanese husband. Earning her affection would boost his confidence and show the world that he is capable of wooing one of the most unattainable and untouchable women in the world.

Gennarino is trying to add another trophy to his collection, and he is aiming for the most difficult trophy in all of Italy. She presents a challenge to Gennarino because she is the kind of woman someone like him would never be able to have. Turning her into a quasi-trophy wife would allow Gennarino to feel that “he has been able to snag, in a sense, a spouse or a wife that other men are envious of” (Friedman, par. 26). No one amongst Rafaella’s rich socialite friends would be able to imagine her with someone as grimy and plain as Gennarino, which only further motivates him to get her to fall in love with him. She is unlike his ordinary Sicilian wife back home because Rafaella is “highly educated, self-assured and able to hold her own financially.  She’s also not afraid to intimidate any male” (Houghton, par. 7). These are qualities that modern day men search for when hunting for their trophy wives; they do not want just some plain Jane who does whatever he wants.

Women such as Amal Clooney, Michelle Obama, and Melinda Gates are like Rafaella in their elite status amongst society, intelligence, and ability to speak their minds. Rafaella’s verbal skills become apparent in her debate with her husband and his friends about the legality of abortion (Wertmüller, 00:04:18). She is able to carry any intellectual conversation and defend her opinion without any worry (that is, until Gennarino starts chasing her across the island). Dr. Dion Metzger, a psychiatrist and expert in couples therapy, states that “powerful men [search] for a trophy wife to accompany their wealth and prosperity” (Dixon, par. 4). On the island, Gennarino finally gets to be the “powerful man” (finally something prosperous for him) and claim Rafaella as his. The reaction he would receive back in Italy should they remain together would flabbergast his and Rafaella’s family and friends. The pursuit of Rafaella as a personal trophy serves as a way for Gennarino to exert agency over her. She represents everything Gennarino could never attain. Assaulting her and getting her to refer to him as her “master” would prove to him that he is as valuable and capable as all the elites who Rafaella associates with (Wertmüller, 00:59:44). The island is the only place on Earth where the tables are turned and she is found begging to be with him. 

Leaving the island together was supposed to be the final test to prove to the aristocrats of Italy that he is just as masculine and desirable as they are by returning home with Rafaella. He calls this the “ultimate proof” to have her show how much she wants him (Wertmüller, 1:37:58). The journey home would be the official confirmation for Gennarino that he is as good, if not better, than the elite men that Rafaella surrounds herself with. She is simply a tool for him to show the world how much of a masculine, domineering man he is. For Gennarino, having Rafaella tell her husband she prefers the Sicilian deckhand rather than her wealthy husband would be the ultimate middle finger to the upper-class folk he has been oppressed by for so long. It would put him on equal footing with the wealthy men who treated him poorly in the past.

Rafaella has the opportunity to give Gennarino the validation he craves should she leave her husband for him, but she rejects him in the end. This rejection denies Gennarino of the satisfaction and power he would have received if she chose to stay with him. Love was never the end game for Gennarino – it was all about leveling his status with the wealthy elites that have mistreated him for so long. It is understandable to empathize with him for wanting to get back at the upper class, but Gennarino’s conquest of Rafaella as the hunt for the most valuable trophy around is all for his own selfish reasons.

Works Cited

Dixon, Carole. “The Modern Day Trophy Wife Is All About Goals, Not Gold.” Bravo TV Official Site, 13 Oct. 2016, www.bravotv.com/blogs/the-modern-day-trophy-wife-is-all-about-goals-not-gold. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.

Friedman, Emily. “Blond and Beautiful? What Really Makes a 'Trophy Wife'.” ABC News, ABC News Network, abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=3372209&page=1. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.

Houghton, Kristen. “The New Trophy Wife.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 25 Jan. 2015, www.huffpost.com/entry/the-new-trophy-wife_b_6207364. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.

Rudegeair, Anna. “The Same Old Story: Tamed Women and Their Misogynistic Counterparts.” Blogspot. N.p. 28 Feb. 2018, http://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-same-old-story-tamed-women-and.html. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.

Wertmüller, Lena (Dir.). Swept Away. Perf. Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. Romano Cardarelli, 1974. Film. Accessed 1 Apr. 2019.

Horribly Evocative, Grossly Inspiring: All Too “Swept Away” by Sofie Ramirez

Horribly evocative---these are the words I first used to describe Lina Wertmuller’s Swept Away. Watching the film elicited a very harsh emotional reaction and evoked some painful memories that I would have rather avoided, but Swept Away was created for that very reason. What I once took as the romanticization of a horrible issue was actually the opposite; Wertmuller made this film so that people could no longer hide in the silence of issues such as sexual abuse and rape. It feels as though she had accessed all of these negative feelings for the sake of change so that, instead of staying trapped in fear, I felt a call to action. She showed such inhumanity in her film so that we could strive for humanity in our everyday lives.

I realize now that the film was an attempt “to force [the audience] to think critically on societal issues with an objective morality, without romanticism or hatred of different concepts in their entirety, and by union of the most beneficial aspects of each system to create an objectively better world” (Hoffman, par. 7). However, I have to admit that my original reaction was not so comprehensive. Upon first seeing the movie I was devastated; I sat there with tears streaming down my face wondering why I needed to watch such graphic things. Some memories that I had been denying, things that I pretended never happened, were fighting their way up to the surface, and I blamed the movie for causing me so much pain. Clouded by anger and disgust, I was willing to accept the film’s criticism as an insult to women everywhere, pushing the feminist movement back for years to come. But more importantly, I was ready to sit in silence once more, thinking I could go back into my bubble, to lie to myself and say that things as horrible as this did not really happen to people and that it never happened to me. But then I was faced with a question, “What are you going to do: stay shocked or use those emotions to empower yourself to make change through your writing?” (Gottwald). So now I look at Swept Away with the new lens of social reform. I want to be a part of the conversation that Wertmuller has started. I went from seeing Swept Away as horribly evocative to grossly inspiring.     

It was not an easy feat to go from being absolutely disgusted by this film to using it as a catalyst for both personal and societal change. This issue became especially apparent during class discussions as the only things I would ever discuss were the scenes of graphic violence and rape. The nuances of the film were not lost on me; I understood the hypocrisy and sanctimony of it all. It was “incredibly ironic that the communist, who ostensibly fights for a classless society, sets up a diminutive sexist hierarchy as soon as the reigns are his to snap” (Hoffman, par. 5). I understood that through throwing away the shackles of society Gennarino and Rafaella could give into more primitive desires and live with no restrictions. I saw this, I truly did, but no matter what angle the class presented, my mind was ever fixated on the rape---but more so than that, the denial that rape had ever occurred. After days of class discussion, I had heard many people say that the scene in which Rafaella was chased, beaten, stripped, pinned down and eventually has sex with Gennarino (while unfortunate) was consensual because she technically agreed to it (Wertmuller, 01:06:00). Some argued that Rafaella was given a choice and did not have to sleep with Gennarino, but she did so repeatedly so it could not be counted as rape. The illusion of free will makes it so easy for people to deny that rape has occurred, but there is a danger to taking the word yes at face value and refusing to see everything that was manipulated in order to elicit that response and this manipulation has a name. It is called sexual coercion and it “is unwanted sexual activity that happens when you are pressured, tricked, threatened, or forced in a non-physical way” (Office on Women’s Health, par. 1). Rafaella faced the threat of starvation, physical abuse and even murder (Wertmuller, 01:32:00). When thinking about her options and the freedom she possessed in her situation, she tells Gennarino, “I feel like that rabbit you killed” (Wertmuller, 01:15:00). She saw herself as nothing more than prey that was hunted down and slain by a predator, a pitiful creature with no autonomy whatsoever. “Swept Away is not portraying the love between a tamed woman and the dominant man who puts her in her place; rather, it is a story about a cold mockery of love born from fear and abuse meant as a means of survival, not affection” (Knight, par. 2). Someone who has sex under these conditions does not do so out of genuine consent but out of a feeling of helplessness.

Wertmuller succeeded in her task to spur a homeostatic upset which forced me to come to terms with the reality of my own situation as well as the injustice of the world. Her film was powerful not only due to the vivid portrayal of issues of domination and sexual abuse but because of the social climate that she drew upon as a model for her story. Wertmuller created this film during the cinematic movement of Commedia all’taliana, “the genre [that] came in response to political unrest (legalization of divorce, abortion, etc.), poverty after WWII and other social issues…  as a way to talk about serious topics without creating something that felt like a lecture” (Garber, par. 2). Even though Wertmuller’s work served as a criticism of Italy in the Seventies, it also serves as an accurate commentary on today’s society.

One issue plaguing society that not only allows but encourages violent actions like those committed by Gennarino is the mentality of toxic masculinity. This idea that “men had to be tough, had to be strong, had to be courageous, dominating — no pain, no emotions, with the exception of anger — and definitely no fear; that men are in charge [and] women are not” (Porter 0:11)” is the reason sexual violence occurs. Toxic masculinity is not a natural mindset; it is a learned behavior, “a sturdy, poisonous branch on a tree built from social constructs” (Marking, par. 6) and it is constantly reinforced. While some men are taught to put masculinity “on the chopping block” as they know “its culture attempts to disguise dominance as benevolence… [that] has normalized values that debilitate not only men but women as well” (Gottwald, par. 9), these men are few and far between. The majority of “men are taught to… view [women] as property and the objects of men… an equation that equals violence against women” (Porter 09:20). This perception does not say that all men are doomed to commit such atrocities as the ones that were done to Rafaella or the ones that were done to me; it is to say that men are much more likely to commit these acts if society constantly encourages the mindset that men must dominate, regardless of the consequences. Toxic masculinity takes the blame off of men, as it is their right to control, and in some cases even shifts the blame onto women. When confronted with the horrifying reality of rape, some people will say things that echo the mentality that the woman “asked for it,” as “if these women [had] acted as society dictates a proper lady should, perhaps the men would not feel the need to break them down and build them back up again” (Rudegeair, par. 3). This “taming of the shrew” creates a vicious cycle of enablement, as men are encouraged to be sexually aggressive and submission, as women are taught to be meek and obedient.

Demanding social change and reformation is not enough when one does not have the complete knowledge of the systematic oppression that needs fixing. That is why, though it is shocking, it is important to “represent the decades of damage done by previous generations that lived in the shadow of ignorance all their lives. [So that] young people are forced to ask themselves the question: if it were up to me, how would I repair the broken heart of the world?” (Storms, par. 7). It is easy to stew in anger and point fingers at Wertmuller, to claim she is not a feminist and that her film is just an actualization of the male fantasy or a romanticization of rape (Ebert, par. 2). It is much harder to accept that Swept Away is something that we need to see in order to wake up and see how we have been socialized so that we may take back the narrative of sexual abuse. Wertmuller’s film is a testament of strength and shows that “victims have the ability to leave their abusers and regain their freedom, and that women do not have to be tethered down by men that wish to control them” (Knight, par. 8). Watching the film provides the audience a chance to shed light on the dark chasm of rape and to help pull people out of it; it is a chance to say “I am in pain and that’s okay; I need help and that’s okay. I don’t need to keep what happened to me a secret, and I don’t need to be ashamed. I was victimized but I refuse to be a victim, and I will not let this hold me back for the rest of my life” (Ramirez). This film gave me a realization that now is the time to take back my power and to live my life free from the fear of victimization. I will not be swept away by empty promises, but instead demand real change. Regardless of whether or not it is proper, I will be grossly inspired to find my voice and never let anyone take it away from me again.

Works Cited

Ebert, Roger. "Swept Away Movie Review (1976)". RogerEbert.com. Romano Cardarelli, 20

Feb. 1976. Web. 13 Apr. 2017.

Garber, Cerena. Class Discussion. 29 March 2019

Gottwald, Benny. “Putting Masculinity on the Chopping Block”. 06 February 2018.

https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2018/02/putting-masculinity-on-chopping-block.htm

Gottwald, Benny. Personal Communication. 11 March 2019.

Hoffman, Isaac. “Interpreting WALKABOUT and SWEPT AWAY”. 05 March 2017.

https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2017/03/interpreting-walkabout-and-swept-away.html

Knight, Lindsay. “Swept Away: An Illusion of Affection Stretched Too Thin”. 18 October 2018.

            https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2018/10/swept-away-illusion-of-affection.html

Marking, Alexis. “‘Boys Will Be Boys’ Until They Turn into Abusive Men”. 04 February 2019.

https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2019/02/boys-will-be-boys-until-they-turn-into.html

Office on Women’s Health. “Sexual Coercion”.

https://www.womenshealth.gov/relationships-and-safety/other-types/sexual-coercion

Porter, Tony. "A Call to Men." TEDX. TedX Women 2010, Washington DC. 30 Mar. 2017.

Lecture.

Ramirez, Sofie. Journal Entry. 27 March 2019.

Rudegeair, Anna. “The Same Old Story: Tamed Women and Their Misogynistic Male

Counterparts”. 28 February 2017.

            https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2018/02/the-same-old-story-tamed-women-and.html

Storms, Samantha. "Passion’s Dark Side: Roeg’s Walkabout vs Wertmüller’s Swept Away.” 08

December 2016.

https://giantstepspress.blogspot.com/2016/12/passions-dark-side-roegs-walkabout-vs_6.html

Wertmüller, Lina (Dir.). Swept Away. Perf. Giancarlo Giannini and Mariangela Melato. Romano

Cardarelli, 1974.