Word: daughters
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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Herman's feminist perspective suits her subject matter perfectly. The major biological, psychological and social theories of incest (she deals with them one by one) fail to account for the vast contrast between the sexually abusive behavior of fathers and mothers. According to Herman, father-daughter incest ultimately finds its best explanation in the male-dominated structure of society...
ALMOST immediately, the word "incest" brings to mind the word "taboo." American society, like most others, has strong cultural and legal prohibitions against sex between members of the nuclear family. No one likes to talk about incest, but the ugly truth is that men sexually abuse their own daughters far more commonly than most people would guess. Mother-son incest is nearly non-existent by comparison. By writing Father-Daughter Incest. Judith Lewis Herman proposes a solution. In effect, she says for the crimes to end, the facts must be known...
...title is obviously symbolic, but it is also quite literal, the name of the auto-salvage company run by a race driver Al Shaw (Bruno Lawrence, a strong actor who also worked on the script). His wife Jacqui (Anna Jemison) and his daughter Georgie (Greer Robson, a child of uncommon appeal) must attempt to create their small domestic civilization among the rusting reminders of the larger civilization's discontents. When Jacqui cannot get Al to stop tinkering with his cars, she starts tinkering with his best friend. One cannot help sympathizing with her; it is clear that...
...dissolves into vintage Simon schmaltz. If Simon had stuck to his original theme on the value of dreams and ambition, then he might have had a success on his hands. He chooses instead to deal with another important, but less interesting, subject: the rather hackneyed relationship between father and daughter. This story has been told many times before, and often in much more satisfying ways. Simon brings no originality to his approach of the subject...
Simon's screenplay restricts the direction as well as the actions. Even the set design is bland and tiresome: the first father-daughter confrontation is filmed in an annoyingly dull light. The audience's attention is directed away from the screen and toward the repetitious soundtrack. Director Ross ignores the fact that film is a visual medium--more so than the stage on which I Ought to be in Pictures was originally performed: he seems to put his own work on a secondary level to the screenwriter's. This is not a Herbert Ross film: the opening credits...