Self-centered?

i agree. I dont see how scott is feminized in the story. Perhaps he is is in the roll of being dependant on his wife in a way that women back then were normally dependent on men. I like to think of scott being taken to the doctor when louise says "you know the doctor wants to see you again tomorrow." Wish we had been able to see that scene. Scott would have barked at her as she picked him up and placed him in her pocket or or purse.

"im sorry scott, I dont mean to handle you so roughly, its just hard to lift you without making you wince in pain. And honey where else can i put you so that you will be safe? I thought i was being gentle. Im so sorry"

I love to imagine what it was like for scott and louise when scott lived in the dollhouse. Wonder how it would be if it really happened with a modern family.

jane- you seem as interested in this topic as I am. please check your private messages and perhaps respond!

I love alot of your comments as they show alot of thought and intellegence.
How tall are you anyways? :)

Trauma tends to make people selfish. This is part of the story and it doesn't make Scott Carey particularly appealing. That we don't get to know Carey prior to his exposure to the radioactive mist is, arguably, a flaw in the script, as we never really get to know what kind of guy he is.

As to his "feminization" I'd change to word to infantalization. His shrinking has reduced him to the state of a child and he behaves accordingly. The diminution of his masculinity (vis a vis his wife) is, needless to say, a constant irritant. I think that the film would have been better with more character development, and not just of Carey but his wife, their relationship, how he relates to his brother, friends, assuming that he has friends.

I am surprised no-one (in this interesting, near-3-year-old discussion!) mentioned sex and sexual politics. Those old social mores – domestic domination and relationship equality – are the central themes of this masterpiece film, I reckon. The protagonist's sense of self is initially all about the traditional old-fashioned notion of being protector and provider in a (sexual and domestic) relationship.

It is because Scott's views are so narrow and chauvinist – he talks about Louise looking up to him, physically, into his eyes but of course it is metaphorically as well. He mentions how he's been tall since he was a teenager. It's all male pride and the film gradually shows this to be hubristic. When his wife is taller than him, he can't handle it and that this is sexual frustration can be clearly inferred.

This is an old movie, so references to sex itself are all subtextual rather than overt, but the ring falling off Scott's finger is a key image and the scene where he first notices what's going on (when he's wearing his shoes) is set in the couple's bedroom with the bed forming the backdrop and them in their nightclothes. Most especially, there is a scene much later where Louise retires and asks him if he is coming up (to bed). This is after one of the film's shock time jumps and it's a key moment as we see there has been a degeneration of their relationship – he prefers to stay downstairs and we are left to imagine at what point their sharing a bed (and relations) became impossible for him.

Throughout the story we see Scott obviously having his sense of worth as a man destroyed. He gets it back briefly when he finds a woman his own size again – no, in fact crucially, she is slightly smaller than him, again – and the narrative punishes this moral lapse back into his old, selfish way of thinking (in the book, he sleeps with the dwarf girl, cheating on his wife BTW!) by having the shrinking process begin again. The shock and horror of which sees him literally run away from her screaming – we never see this second woman in the film again.

Both female roles are entirely sympathetic – understanding, practical people to Scott's selfish antihero. The other male characters, by the way, are not terribly positive – neutral doctors and a brother who seems to be moving in on Louise later on, when Scott is out of the way. She is incredibly understanding and loving, even through all her husband's becoming increasingly monstrous as he diminishes – she can't see why it even matters when initially he is only a little smaller then she is (when they don't imagine the condition will not continue). She wants to laugh it off and is encouraging and continually capitulates throughout.

Of course, this is the 50s so the fact she doesn't stand up for herself is damning – I am not saying this is a feminist film! But Scott's male arrogance and pride are eventually shown to be irrelevant and in the, admittedly ambiguous but clearly spiritual ending, he moves on in search of some other meaning.


... because I reappear with tedious inevitability