Professor Douglas W. Kmiec’s remarks regarding adultery (Op-Ed) as viewed through a Hollywood filter are well taken. However, he hasn’t gone far enough. For with “Bridges,” Hollywood presents a very dangerous heroine. Though she doesn’t carry a gun or utter one vulgarity, she is still the kind of woman who undermines the wellness of any family.
What is it about Francesca Johnson that made me want to throw tomatoes at the screen? She is the type of woman who could never be happy; the type who has inspired countless pop psychology books. In the currently popular “The Celestine Prophecy,” she would be described as a “poor me” personality.
Poor Francesca. Can’t anyone see she needs approval? Does no one in her family care about her feelings? Will no one satisfy her dreams? She’ll whine her way through life, claim to sacrifice her every breath for children and husband, yet never open her eyes to the truth.
What is that truth? What makes Francesca the last woman you’d want your own son to marry? Francesca never learns she is responsible for her own happiness. She must develop new dreams and make those dreams come true by and for herself. She must learn to relish self-approval. For there is no better love than self-love. If she doesn’t master these skills, she isn’t to be pitied but to be scorned.
Anyone who has experienced the ups and downs of marriage knows it takes far longer than four days to build a lasting love. If Francesca had spent the entire summer with her photographer, the story certainly would have ended differently.
Mellowed by the warmth and jazz of “Bridges,” we could be fooled into thinking we should ask for more characters like Francesca. But let us demand better role models–women who actually make a difference in the world because they’ve made a difference in themselves. Women like Norma Rae Webster, Dian Fossey, Anne Frank. Women who are focused on a limitless future, not buried in a nostalgic past.
