12/19/2020
By: Brooke Bible
Tags: Sexual Assault, Overboard, Stockholm Syndrome, Abuse

Back for entry number two! The thing I wanted to talk about today is how we let the wrong ideas remain in the media… I’ll explain, so last night my sister and I were watching this movie called Overboard and it’s labeled as a romantic comedy. In this movie a very wealthy woman doesn’t pay this man for a service he provided for her. After this woman lost her memory, her husband decided he didn’t want to claim her since no one knew who she was. The man she stiffed ended up picking her up and tricking the woman into believing that she was his wife and that they had 4 sons. He made her into his personal servant for 2 months while she dealt with all of his petty forms of punishment. Over the course of this time he tried to have sex with her on a few occasions, and ended up having sex with her on the day he said was her birthday. To wake her up the next morning he has the kids knock on the door while she is still naked to surprise her with a washer?

Eventually she accepts her role as the mother and wife and loves her “husband” and teaches her kids how to read, defends them, cares for them, etc. Well, after 2 months of the woman’s mother calling the woman’s actual husband demanding to speak to her daughter, the real husband decides to stop partying with all these women and go get his wife. Yes, this whole time the actual husband knew where his wife was. Anyways, she sees him and automatically remembers who she is and her life, and comes to realize that the fake husband deceived her. While on the yacht with her mother, husband, and servants she realizes how out of place she feels being around them, turns the boat around and heads back to her “fake husband” because she loves him.

First of all I would like to say this movie was clearly written by a man because what I just explained there contains a woman with Stockholm syndrome, who was raped, and was surrounded by plenty of men who could have intervened in this “prank” and her returning to him. This woman grew to love the person who she thought was her husband, kids who she thought were her own. he tricked her into believing that they’ve had sex on multiple occasions so that she would have sex with him. Men aided this man along the way to trick this woman. His best friend was aware of what was going on for months, even lied to her face about who’s panties she found saying that he himself cheated on his own wife and she has no reason not to trust her “husband.” His children ages of at least 6–13 could have intervened, all boys of course. The servant could have stopped her from going back to him.

But were supposed to see this as romantic and funny? My sister and I found it absolutely disgusting that they could do that to a woman so long. This movie should be seen as a tragedy as a woman fell in love with her abuser, and the fact that no one helped her. Why would anyone continue playing a movie with such morals? This movie is trying to show that sloppy, trashy men can get wealthy women to have sex with them by tricking them. That men can get rewarded with wealth by tricking and raping women. Not to mention how sick and twisted it was that the da d thought it was okay for all 4 of his kids to see their mom naked after having “sex.” And the man suffered no consequences at all. This can only be seen as romantic, and as a comedy in a man’s eyes because it’s honestly the worst thing I’ve ever seen.

I hope media starts to understand the dangers of putting content like this out there. Men and women raised in this era, the 1980’s when this movie was released, were shown that this abusive relationship is seen as romantic and funny and not concerning. It showed men and women that this type of rape is okay. If anyone views this movie let me know if you agree!

Be safe,

B

Source: Overboard. Dir. Garry Marshall. Perf. Goldie Hawn, Kurt Russel, Edward Hermann. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. 1987. Film.