The other night, in a fit of nostalgia, I watched Romancing the Stone. Imagine my excitement when I realised that Kathleen Turner’s character was not just a romance novelist, but was published by Avon!
Not having seen the movie since childhood – when my critical faculties were not as finely honed as they are now and I thought Xanadu was a masterclass in storytelling – I was fuzzy on the plot details. To sum up, Kathleen Turner is Joan Wilder, a successful but lonely romance author who fantasises about her fictional hero, Jesse. When her sister is kidnapped in Colombia and it turns out that the treasure map the kidnappers are after was mailed to Joan, she must swap the streets of New York for the Colombian jungle. Of course, she gets horribly lost and meets adventurer Jack Colton, a very young-looking Michael Douglas, who turns out to be far more irritating and selfish than any romantic hero ought to be. They team up and after assorted shenanigans, including a quick break for dinner, dancing and sexy times, they rescue Joan’s sister.
Apart from the awesomeness of the combination of Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and Danny de Vito, what I found so interesting about this movie is how feminist it is. It came out in 1984, when arguably the battle for equal rights was not yet won (is it now?!), and yet the movie spends a solid half an hour setting up Kathleen Turner’s character before we even meet Michael Douglas. Even then, the focus is all on her journey; he is not much more than a cardboard cutout. And in the final battle at the end of the movie, [SPOILER ALERT!] she’s the one who defeats the bad guy. He’s too busy chasing after the giant emerald which has been swallowed by an alligator.
All this put me in mind of the excellent blog post by Nicole Murphy which we shared the other day, talking about how romance as a genre is actually a bastion of feminism. Who knew my trip down movie Memory Lane would be so empowering? Now, maybe there was something to Xanadu after all …
For a fun zip through Romancing the Stone in the form of screen grabs, click here.
Peer closely and you can see the Avon logo!
Snap! I watched this film again the other day for the first time in a very long time. I loved it just as much particularly the fact that she was a romance writer and yes, a young Michael Douglas – le sigh! Talking about young, ever see him in The Streets Of San Francisco?? But I digress….
I too love that the story is Joan’s and that she saves the day.
Fav scene – when Jack machetes the heels of her shoes and she shrieks – they’re Prada and he says, now they’re sensible.
did you also notice the awards from Romance Writers of America Joan has on her wall at the beginning? Awesome!
Funnily enough, I’ve just watched this movie again, too.
When I’m running workshops about heroes, I nominate Jack as the classic ‘reluctant hero’, always on his way somewhere else but has to stop to help the heroine. But your point is a good one – it’s Joan who trounces the baddies, and Jack is around more for his own quest than hers.
Maybe Jack does a bit more rescuing in the sequel, The Jewel of the Nile? I shall have to watch it again and find out.