Adam's Rib

            The 1949 classic Adam’s Rib was a film that was ahead of its time.  Directed by George Cukor and starring Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn as Adam and Amanda Bonner.  The Bonners are a married pair of lawyers that tackled issues of women’s equality and raised the question of who really “wears the pants” in a relationship. 

The characters in Adam’s Rib play pivital roles in addressing public opinions on the sexes in society, and with mainstream players such as Tracy and Hepburn, the film is obviously set up to bring more liberal views into mainstream society and set up the path of American ideals for the 1950s.  Amanda Bonner is meant to be received as successful, especially for a woman.  As a lawyer alongside her husband, Adam, she is a fighter for women’s rights and equality.  Amanda can be seen as a role model for the women of the time, most of whom were longing to escape the “quiet concentration camp” lifestlye of the postwar suburban housewife.  After the boys came home from fighting and reclaimed the jobs their women had filled, many women lost the sense of independence and strength they had aquired during the war.  Seeing a woman like Amanda Bonner on the screen reassured them that they could perhaps have it all- a college education, a successful career, and a perfect marriage.  Even Adam Bonner can be seen as an open-minded man.  Even though he was on the side of the male defendant, Warren Attinger, during the trial, he is very supportive to his wife’s career and listens to and supports most of her ideas and opinions. 

Adam Bonner is not afraid to call his wife out on some of her hypocrisies on wanting equality when some of her opinions favor women and he holds an unbiased view of the law in regards to sex.  Today, the Bonner’s marriage would be considered ideal, though very common.  However, even though in most marriages today both spouses are employed, it is often portrayed as rare that the union can last without a divorce due to the strain employment can often put on marriages.  Their marriage can be viewed as more of a partnership than a traditional marriage where the man calls the shots, such as in the case of the Attingers.  In today’s society, a marriage such as the Attingers seems very ustable and abusive, though many turned a blind eye to such issues such as spousal abuse in the time this film was made.  The ideals and behaviors of the Attigenrs contratsts sharply with the Bonner’s, presnting the idea that socioeconomic status influences the view of the “new woman”.  Adam, though he disagrees with his wife and still occassionally demeans her (“You get cute when you get causey.”), he  still seems to accept his wife as more of an equal than Mr. Attinger treats his wife.  He is a crude blue-collar man, a cheat and a poor husband and father.  He trates Doris as property moreso than a companion.  However, with Amanda and Doris winning the trial, this film clearly shows the beginning of the wave of more liberal opinions towards the role of women in society.