talk about blaming the woman...

i love love bette davis (who wouldn't??) & her movies too of course but this one always riles me a little...well a lot actually... as do other movies that have an unconventional, opinionated, headstrong woman in them because you know they will be made to pay at some point for their feistiness either through somehow being subdued or worse still their spirit broken or death...(elizabeth taylor butterfield 8/don't even get me started on the 'taming' of the 'shrew'!)

in jezebel it almost amounts to misogyny - ted saying preston will have to keep her (julie) on a tight rein. literally meaning rein her in, like she was a horse he had to break-in, i think he actually says keep her on a short rein.
preston rushing up to see her with a stick/cane in hand the implication being in the eyes of aunt belle & her guardian that he's giving her what she has been asking for or deserves...i could go on.

anyway what bugs me is that at first julie is so determined to show them all that she doesn't give two figs for their stuffy conventions & we the audience are right behind her, applauding her...but then she starts to lose faith in herself & begins to accept the guilt that is imposed on her, until finally she too believes she is bad, wicked...so much so that she is even prepared to sacrifice her own life to look after preston in possibly his last days as a way she tells his new wife of making herself clean again like she is??

no one mentions the spiteful acts that preston inflicts upon her...
julie is insistant on wearing the red dress to the ball (scandal!) & just when we/she think he is supporting her statement we realise he is actually relishing the fact that she feels uncomfortable in the end & wants to leave. he forces her to stay on the dance floor, to endure the looks she is getting & then unceremoniously dumps her! if that wasn't enough he then flaunts his new bride (who nobody knows about) at julies party in front of their friends. though of course for the writer (male...go figure) that isn't merely enough humiliation for our heroine to take; no before that we have to see her humble herself wearing the white dress for preston begging for his forgiveness...

still not enough...our little 'jezebel' has to be blamed for the death of a man too. despite her real 'crime' being only a little flirting with a man she knows already...& what self respecting woman wouldn't in the face of the ex with his new bride?? the fact that she implores the two men not to be so pigheaded is given no credit at all...as apparently they can't help themselves (poor little loves) once she/the jezebel has set things in motion. but then that's the 'curse' of the jezebel isn't it? they are supposed to be so adept at manipulating & leading men to their doom...please!! come to think of it then the males in question are made out to be no better than mindless fools.