I watched Rosemary's Baby for the first time this summer, and since then it's quickly become one of my favorite films of all time. I loved the film so much that I also decided to read the novel by Ira Levin. Roman Polanski's faithfulness to the novel is amazing, exact dialogue, scenes, even Rosemary's dramatic Vidal Sasson haircut all in the novel are featured in the film. Although a film like this I probably shouldn't use the word love. A helpless women being raped and impregnated by the devil is never a storyline to love. But it's a great film.
The main argument that is presented in Rosemary's Baby, Gothic Pregnancy and Fetal Subjects by Katryn Valerius, is the reference to abortion in the film. When first viewing the film, I never thought that abortion and abortion laws could be the true motive for writing the novel and then making the film. Though there is a scene in which Rosemary states that she won't have an abortion. I do think Valerius makes her interpretation of the film very convincing. When you think about the time period abortion was, and still is, a very controversial topic. Children were born with severe birth defects due to taking a tranquilizer called thalidomide. Several examples of highly publicized abortion cases are presented in the article including a women named Sherri Finkbine. Finkbine was given thalidomide but was unaware until reading an article of it's effects. Finkbine then attempted to obtain a legal abortion in Arizona, but due to telling her story to local press, the abortion was canceled. Finkbine eventually had the abortion in Sweden due to the controversy in the United States. The obstetrician in Sweden said that the child had such severe birth defects, that it wouldn't have survived even if Finkbine decided to go through with the birth.
Valerius also references other parts of the film that could relate to the abortion debate. Terry Gionoffri, a young women in the film living with the Castevet's, commits suicide by jumping from the Brampton. Valerius believes that Terry was originally pregnant with the devil's child. Aware that the child was the devil's and fearing she had no other choice, she kills herself. Though Terry's situation was obviously fictional, young women around this time also feared they had no choice. It was still looked down upon to be an unmarried pregnant woman. Many women may have gone to extremes as Terry did to not go through with the pregnancy. When viewing the film, I never thought that Terry would be pregnant, but just far too wrapped up with the coven and the Castevets which would lead to her suicide. Valerius's argument is very convincing. You could even view Rosemary as a women like Sherri Finkbine. Married, middle class, wanting the child your carrying, but then finding out that the child is in danger and perhaps shouldn't be brought into the world. Not that a child born with birth defects should ever be or could ever be compared to the spawn of satan, but the circumstances of a wanted pregnancy being dangerous could be compared. Terry could represent the women who were unmarried and found themselves pregnant and fearing no other choice but suicide.
There are many references to Catholicism in the film. During Rosemary and Guy's first dinner with Minnie and Roman, the Pope's visit to New York is discussed. Roman speaks unfavorably of the Pope which makes Rosemary uncomfortable. While she states that she was raised Catholic, she doesn't practice anymore due to her marriage to Guy and estrangement from her Catholic family. It's discussed more in the novel that Rosemary was disowned for marrying outside of her Catholic faith. The night that Rosemary is drugged, she has an odd assortment of dreams. A couple parts of the dream reference Catholicism. One features Rosemary on a boat asking the captain why her friend Hutch cannot come aboard. His reasoning is that Hutch is not Catholic. The Pope also appears in the dream and Rosemary apologizes for missing his television appearance. The dreams reflect her ambivalence towards religion. While she still respects the Pope and the sanctity of the religion she still feels that the religion unfairly excludes others who do not share the same beliefs. Not directly stated but that's my opinion on the dreams.
What do you guys think? Was the true reason for writing the novel/making the film strict abortion laws during the 1960's? Was Terry pregnant and were her and Rosemary both made to represent women within the abortion debate? How do you feel about the references to Catholicism?
