In 2018, on Mother’s Day, during the Donald Trump era, the retro movie channel showed Rosemary’s Baby. The timing speaks to a cultural view of mothers and motherhood which could provide countless doctoral dissertations in psychology and sociology. Strangely, the issues portrayed in this film, released 50 years ago, also provide a roadmap for dealing with Donald Trump’s presidency.
The film’s plot is bizarre. A young couple, surrounded by Creepy (creepy neighbors, creepy doctor), celebrates their pregnancy. As the story progresses, the mother (Mia Farrow) slowly pieces together a puzzle unfolding around her and realizes she’s carrying the devil’s baby.
Mia Farrow’s character knows that a Satan-driven conspiracy, resulting in her womb’s housing the devil’s offspring, is entirely absurd. Reluctantly, she gradually accepts that this crazy idea is actually her reality. She desperately doesn’t want to see what she sees, believe what she believes. She is repeatedly told that her perceptions are off, reassured that all is well. As her fear grows, she holds her eyes wide open. She will not allow herself the luxury of closing her eyes to the truth.
Early in the plot line, Rosemary is drugged by a cult neighbor (whoa…drugged?) and raped (wait a moment…raped?) by the devil. Her husband reassures (reassures?) her that while she was unconscious (unconscious?), he had sex with her so as not to miss their monthly window to conceive (sexual assault much?). No way around it, this film has Twisted and Damaged leaking out of every pore.
As I watched, I found no comfort in the usual it’s-just-a-movie or it’s-retro-days-gone-by. The truth is that these issues are chillingly relevant right here, right now, in our country. Looking at our president and his policies, people don’t want to see what they see, to hear what they hear, to believe what’s in front of them. An eyes-wide-shut approach put Donald Trump in the Oval Office and in the onslaught of our president’s transgressions, our natural, human inclination is to desensitize ourselves.
However, we’ve reached an in-your-face-disturbing point where Eyes-Wide-Shut will be no longer be sustainable. This realization is especially scary if your vote helped put Donald Trump in office. Still, we all make mistakes (I mean, c’mon, even Rosemary, a strong woman with a rock solid sound mind, chose one hell of a husband). Yeah, voting for Donald Trump was a mistake, and any mistake is painful to admit — but this mistake is a zinger, which means that owning it is proportionally tough. As difficult as I may find it to forgive people who supported President Trump, I have to try, because the problem in my country is much bigger than I’ll ever be and I see no other option.
So I want to broker a deal. Regarding everybody who chooses to rethink their support for Trump, I’m reaching across the aisle. Even though you can’t take back your vote in the 2016 presidential election, we can still work together to rewrite our future. But there’s a price to pay. The eyes-wide-shut mentality has to go. Racism is racism. Hatred is hatred. Cruelty is cruelty.
The path forward is complex and even though I’m a liberal democrat, horrified by the Trump Regime, I’m quite aware that this issue can’t be reduced a simplistic equation such as Trump Supporter = Bad. Think about Rosemary’s Baby. In the last scene, the conspirators gather in the neighbors’ living room, and Rosemary finally has confirmation that her worst fears are true. So what does she do? Call 911? Run to the nearest church for an exorcism? Nope. Instead, she rocks her baby.
You might react in many ways (starting with What The Hell???). You might say that this is a reactionary film, because it illustrates that motherhood is so strong an urge that a woman will suckle the devil’s spawn rather than be childless. Or you might say that this is ultimately a progressive film because it’s about Rosemary (originally entitled and coddled in the way that many men try to infantilize beautiful women) resolutely overcoming every contrary force to discover some ugly realities, and then achieving independence and agency by choosing to embrace them. Or you might say that it’s alarmingly anti-parenthood because the ending claims that choosing a traditional role — being a wife and mother — is literally a pact with the Devil. Whatever you choose, it’s debatable and complicated.
As I’m watching how people reconcile their approval of Donald Trump with the ugly enormities of who he is and what he does, I’m looking to Rosemary for guidance. Whatever my interpretation of the underlying messages in Rosemary’s Baby, I can follow certain guidelines as I try to navigate this terrible chapter in my homeland. Like Rosemary, no matter how disturbed I feel at what I see, I’ll hold my eyes wide open. I won’t allow anyone to tell me that I don’t know what I do know. When my president acts irrational, I won’t accept his crazy as my normal.
In Rosemary’s words, “This is not a dream! This is really happening!” Actually, it wasn’t really happening. It was a movie with a fictional plot line. Donald Trump, however, is extremely real.
Amy Kaufman Burk's Blog 