Although the film is being marketed by Paramount and Scott Rudib Productions as a "light comedy," from the point of view of men, particularly divorced men, it is far from amusing, and the history behind it is particularly disturbing.
The film "The First Wives Club" and the Goldsmith novel it's based on are exercises in male-bashing at its worst. The plot: a group of ex-wives get "comical" revenge upon their ex-husbands through various underhanded and illegal means.
The book-and presumably the movie-are stridently antimale, portraying the genders in extremely one-sided terms: the men are all shown as insensitive jerks who deserve what they get, while their ex-wies are portrayed as wronged women fully justified in their actions.
If an ethnic, racial, or religious group had been shown in the poor light that men are portrayed in this book and movie, there would be at the very least substantial protests, even rioting, at the unfairness; this is particularly true at some of Ms. Goldsmith's "humorous" comments about ex-husbands and second wives.
Both the film and novel are also inaccurate in putting the blame for divorce on the husbands: studies have repeatedly shown that approximately sixty percent of the time, the wife is the partner actively seeking the dissolution of a marriage.
What makes this even worse is a "contest" which went along with this book. Called, "The First Wives Club Consumer Contest," the publishers- Poseidon Press (a subsidiary of Simon and Schuster) invited ex-wives back in 1991 to "write us a letter describing in 3000 words or elss just what a cad your ex-husband is." These essays were later published, exposing the men-who were not give the opportunity to respond to the often-reckless charges against them-to public humiliation.
Besides the insult nature of this "contest," it also serves to increase hostility between divorced couples, and further damaged the already strained relationship between the genders.
In view of the above, I urged those men who are on this network to contact Paramount Pcitures and Scott Rudin Productions at the addresses below. We must not allow the media to continue to engage in male-bashing, but instead let our protests be known!
Paramount Pictures
590 Fifth Avenue, 11th Floor
New York, N.Y., 10038Scott Rudin Productions
120 West 4th Street, 10th Floor
New York N.Y., 10036
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