Cheating Women in Film

Something Borrowed Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qlMqqc7YdE

After Professor Velasco's lecture yesterday about women who cheat in the context of Sex and the City and Ravages of Vice, I was reminded of an example within a movie that I had seen where two women cheat on a man and how the film's portrayal of the action attempts to evoke two separate reactions about the women from the audience .

The film that had such an interesting portrayal of a cheating woman was Something Borrowed, which involved a woman named Rachel who becomes involved with her best friend Darcy's fiance, Dex. The catch is that Rachel and Dex have had a very close friendship for years and Darcy is not portrayed to be a very likable character as she frequently manipulates and insults Rachel just for the heck of it. So from the outset the idea is created that Dex and Rachel are meant to be together, while Darcy is an annoyance who is unfortunately soon to be married to Dex. As the movie carries on Dex and Rachel continue to sleep with each other and go out together while hiding their romance from Darcy. The audience is put in a tricky spot since they are not sure how to think of Rachel because she is, after all, destroying a relationship by sleeping with Dex, but since Darcy is such a terrible person she almost becomes vindicated. This problem is eventually fixed at the end of the film as Darcy tells Rachel that she cheated on Dex, allowing Dex to break up with Darcy and pursue a relationship with Rachel. I found this resolution very perplexing since the only way for Rachel's problem to be solved was if Darcy committed an act that was morally just as bad. In the end, both characters became portrayed as trashy and horribly unqualified to be in a relationship. However, the film's message seemed to try and push the audience to feel as if the cheating that Rachel committed was not as bad as the cheating that Darcy committed, as if saying that because Rachel is single and has loved Dex forever then it is morally accpetable for her to do what she did, while Darcy is a terrible person for cheating because she was engaged and never truly loved Dex in the first place. The film makers essentially validate a woman who cheats if it is out of an act of true love, which I find interesting since many people find cheating unacceptable on any level. Unfortunately, this message was poorly executed, making it very hard to see their point.

Additionally, it was funny to see how Dex was caught in the middle and really wasn't portrayed in any light whatsoever. While the film seemed to focus heavily on Rachel's honest-to-goodness struggles with her feelings for Dex and Darcy's trashiness throughout the film, Dex just went along with the ride. I think this also highlights the acceptability of the thoughtlessness many still have for men that cheat. This isn't to say that I think society is accepting of men who cheat, but I feel as if there doesn't really have to be a reason for a man to cheat, it's just kind of expected. Women however have to be in complete and utter love or a terribly unclassy person with an insatiable libido in order to commit such an act. All in all, watching Something Borrowed was something awful, but it was certainly interesting to see how the portrayal of cheating women within the film brought some insight into societal views on such beings.