The Stepfather

By Michelina Haralson

A theme present in The Stepfather is “the Oedipally defined ‘Law of the Father'”. This is shown through Jerry’s constant want to “repress [his family] into being conformist products”, the product being a perfect happy loving family. Anyone that goes against this idea of family hood is seen as a threat and a monster. For example when Dr Bondurant attempts to go undercover and look into Jerry’s psyche he is killed due to his apparent threat to the ideal family. Even the Dr Bondurant’s comments about being ‘bachelor’ manage to get under Jerry’s skin. Another person that is seen as a monster due to their lack of family love is Stephanie. Stephanie’s constant repression of Jerry’s presence/”love” is seen to be a constant aggressor for him. This again ties back to “The Law of the Father” and how often “the children become conveniently designated as monsters.”.

The idea of the Final Girl is also somewhat present within this movie. However, Stephanie’s Final Girl goes against the outline previously set up by Carol Clover. Tony Williams points out how often the “Final Girls are never entirely victorious at the end of certain films” due to the fact that they require a man to save them in the end. This of course goes against the feminine empowerment being pushed throughout most of these certain films. Luckily in The Stepfather this is not the case. Even though a man does attempt to show up and save the day it’s Stephanie in the end who remains triumphant as she herself stabs Jerry and saves herself and her mother. This helps to push the idea of feminine empowerment. Even at the end of the film Stephanie topples the masculine patriarchal family ideal which is symbolized through her sawing down the birdhouse made by Jerry earlier in the film.

Even though Stephanie helps to portray feminine empowerment she herself is not often seen as feminine. Throughout the film Stephanie is dressed in the color blue with her hair tied back. Blue of course is usually male gendered. As the film continues and Stephanie briefly slips into the mask of a perfect daughter her color pallet changes and she begins to wear colors such as reds and pinks. These of course are colors seen as more feminine. This is done to portray the perfect feminine daughter that Jerry idolizes.

Consequently even the dining room set up is done to represent the current family standings. In the beginning of the film Jerry and Susan are always sitting across from each other at the head of each table with Stephanie at the side. This helps to show how Stephanie is excluding and closing herself of from the perfect family ideal. However, at the end of the film when even Susan starts to doubt Jerry the seating is changed. Susan is now seen at the side of the table rather than at the head. Her and Stephanie now face each other while Jerry is the one alone and excluded as he sees his perfect family plan slipping out of his fingers.