  urlLink New 'Stepford Wives' Fuels Old Anti-Career Views : "Most striking about the re-make of 'The Stepford Wives' movie--other than the irony that women now willingly dress much like the original Stepford wives--is the difference in the central character Joanna.
The movie has changed from thriller to farce, making for plenty of audience laughs but also sacrificing the heart of the original movie and book. 'Rosemary's Baby' author Ira Levin wrote the book as a thriller. The appeal of a good thriller, of course, is that the protagonist is an everyday person, such as Jimmy Stewart in 'Rear Window' or Cary Grant in 'North by Northwest. ' As in a good Hitchcock movie, Joanna is our everywoman in a small, safe town. We sympathize with her because it could happen to us.
In the 1975 movie, Katharine Ross' Joanna was a very likable everywoman who wanted to resume her career in photography now that her children have started school. Seeing none of the other women in town shares her desire to pursue interests outside the home, Joanna thinks she's going crazy and eventually fears for her life..." 
