According to mainstream media opinion pieces, women have been oppressed by men since the beginning of humanity. The 1960s were the first time, at least in Western civilization, that women started to inch out from under the patriarchal thumb. This narrative is persistent amongst leftists, but it completely disregards proof to the contrary in art and literature from the past.
Today’s moment of movie wisdom is from “Two Weeks with Love” (1950). The scene I’d like to discuss takes place 45 minutes into this 110-minute movie. At the turn of the century, a father of four children (Louis Calhern) realizes that he doesn’t approve of some of his wife’s (Ann Harding) choices in how to raise their offspring, particularly in how she dresses them. He realizes that he has to take a stronger role in guiding his children as they mature.
In “Two Weeks with Love,” the Robinson family heads to Kissimmee in the Catskills for a two-week summer vacation. All the children are excited except the oldest daughter, Patti (Jane Powell), a 17-year-old who thinks her mother still treats her like a baby. She has an ardent admirer in Billy Finlay (Carleton Carpenter), the hotel owner’s gangly 16-year-old son, whose father (Clinton Sundberg) still makes him wear short pants. Patti isn’t interested in the younger boy, but her 15-year-old sister, Melba (Debbie Reynolds), is crazy about him. Meanwhile, their younger brothers (Gary Gray and Tommy Rettig) have fun getting into plenty of mischief.
Patti develops an infatuation of her own when a handsome Cuban, Demi Armendez (Ricardo Montalban), arrives at the hotel with his mother (Melba Meredith). Although he is significantly older, he and Patti quickly become friends after an embarrassing collision in the dining room. However, Patti’s older friend, opportunistic actress Valerie Streseman (Phyllis Kirk), has also set her sights on Demi, the only mature, eligible man at the hotel. She uses some unethical means to hurt her younger friend’s chances with the handsome Cuban. Meanwhile, Patti is terrified that Demi will learn her terrible secret: her mother won’t let her wear a corset until she’s 18!
The Scene
This is a coming-of-age story, of sorts, but it’s about the parents’ growing pains as much as their children’s. One of the main subplots in the movie is the fact that Mrs. Robinson won’t let Patti wear a corset for another year. She makes her daughters wear shorter skirts, frumpy silhouettes, hairbows, and juvenile hairstyles. Although her daughters are young women, she refuses to let them appear mature. Her husband implicitly trusts her judgement in all such matters.
Mrs. Robinson’s attitude is very unusual for the era in which this film is set. In the Victorian Era, mothers would corset their daughters as young girls to ensure that they had fashionable hourglass figures by the age of eligibility. By the same token, most families wanted their daughters to find suitable husbands as soon as they were marriageable. Mrs. Robinson is the exception to this rule.
Like most fathers, Mr. Robinson still thinks of his daughter as a little girl. Nevertheless, he doesn’t want his children to be social outcasts or objects of ridicule. Patti generally complains about her juvenile wardrobe to Melba or even her mother, but she is somewhat resigned. However, this summer, she just can’t take it anymore. Everyone else seems to have grown up, but she still is forced to look and act like a child. She wants to be taken seriously by the older set, especially Demi, as her “friend” Valerie is.
Patti’s frustration reaches its peak when the family goes swimming at the resort’s lake. While the other girls look like young ladies, Patti and Melba have to wear frumpy, sack-like bathing suits. Melba doesn’t care, since the object of her affection, Billy, is in a similar situation because of his father. Patti, however, begs her siblings to bury her in the sand lest Demi see her thus attired. When Mr. Robinson finds her like this, she bursts out that she’s tired of being dressed like an orphan and wearing a potato sack. Her father takes a good look at her swimming costume and has to agree, so he goes over to his wife and complains about his daughter’s attire. He tells her, “That’s not a bathing suit; that’s a potato sack. My daughter is not a potato!” His wife replies that he must want her to put up her hair and pull in her waist, so some silly young man will want to marry her. Immediately, Mr. Robinson changes his mind, stammering, “Why, of course not! She’s just a child! She’s a baby!” He laughingly concedes that his wife knows best how to raise their children.
Its Significance
That isn’t the end of the clothing discussion, however. In a later scene, at bedtime, the two Robinson boys are jumping on their bed and having a pillow fight. As he tries to settle his sons down, Mr. Robinson notices that their nightshirts look rather frilly. Recognizes them, he asks his wife, “Why are they wearing their sister’s nightgowns?” Mrs. Robinson cheerfully responds that the girls outgrew them but that they still have plenty of wear in them. She argues that it doesn’t matter, since no one will see them, but her husband clearly isn’t pleased to see his boys wearing female clothing under any circumstances.This movie’s title may be “Two Weeks with Love,” but that doesn’t mean that it’s nothing but hugs and kisses; for instance, Mr. and Mrs. Robinson get into a serious argument over parenting problems. Mr. Robinson declares, “My girls are dressed like babies. My boys are dressed like girls. I don’t think you know anything about how to raise my children!” Naturally, Mrs. Robinson is greatly offended by this remark, so she retorts that perhaps a former sweetheart he mentioned earlier could have done a better job!
This is a funny line, but it marks an important turning point for Mr. Robinson. He realizes that he hasn’t taken an active enough role in his children’s upbringing. He has loved them, of course, but he’s left much of the disciplining and decision-making to his wife. Now, he realizes that his children need him, so he takes it upon himself to help them. He starts by buying Patti the thing she wants most, a pair of corsets. Being ignorant in such matters, his efforts have almost disastrous results! However, this incident makes Mrs. Robinson realize that Patti has grown up.
