Rosemary’s baby’s #MeToo message

If there was a Horror Movie Hall of Fame, Rosemary’s baby that would be a boost. It’s on almost every list of the best genre films ever made, and it’s not hard to see why. With some Oscar-worthy performances, a chilling story, and just enough ambiguity to keep you in suspense, this film never gets old no matter how many times you watch it.

On top of all that, I would also argue that part of the enduring appeal of Rosemary’s baby is his astonishingly prescient message about the objectification and exploitation of women. This is a #MeToo film that predates the movement by about 50 years, so it’s more relevant today than ever.

To be fair, this may not be immediately obvious to everyone watching Rosemary’s baby. After all, this movie is about witchcraft and the devil, not sexual harassment in the workplace. But if we take a closer look at the story, we’ll see that it’s actually a perfect metaphor for this kind of abuse and mistreatment. We just need to look beneath the surface, and when we do, we’ll discover that there is much more to this film than meets the eye.

The plot of Rosemary’s baby

To begin, let’s take a moment to get our bearings by briefly reviewing the plot of Rosemary’s baby. At the start of the film, Rosemary Woodhouse and her husband, Guy, appear to be enjoying a storybook romance. They are young, beautiful and very in love. Even though Guy’s acting career hasn’t really taken off, they’re still successful enough that they can afford to move into a new apartment in New York.

However, unbeknownst to Rosemary, it ends up being the worst decision of her entire life. Shortly after the Woodhouses settle into their new home, they meet an older couple, Minnie and Roman Castevet, and these neighbors harbor a (literally!) evil secret. They belong to a satanic cult that is trying to bring about the birth of the Antichrist, and they lure Guy into their fold with promises of fame and fortune.

He agrees to let the Devil sleep with his wife and father a son in exchange for the acting success he has dreamed of for so long, so he and the Castevets drug Rosemary and summon the Prince of Darkness while she is in a state semi-conscious. The ritual goes off without a hitch, and when Rosemary discovers she is pregnant, she is over the moon. She thinks she is carrying a normal human baby, but as her pregnancy progresses, she begins to have doubts.

She soon comes to suspect that the Castevets are witches, and she believes that Guy has promised to let them use her baby in their occult rituals. She tries to save the child from this horrible fate, but despite all her efforts, she cannot escape the clutches of her neighbor. When she finally gives birth, the Castevets take the baby to their apartment and her doctor tells her that the child is stillborn. However, she eventually learns that the truth is even more horrible than she thought, and in the final scene of Rosemary’s babyshe gives in and agrees to raise the child even though she knows his true nature.

Use and abuse

As I said before, it can be difficult to see the connection between Rosemary’s baby and the #MeToo movement at the beginning. The film does not deal with a typical case of sexual abuse or harassment, but if we look closer we will discover that there are important parallels here. To begin, we need to understand something about sexual abuse and exploitation: it’s essentially about objectification.

This implies that men treat women as objects that they can use and abuse for their own selfish pleasure (yes, men can be abused too, but Rosemary’s baby is about a woman, so that’s what we’ll focus on here) rather than people who deserve to be loved and respected. And if you think about it, that’s exactly what Guy does. He doesn’t bother to tell Rosemary about his deal with the Castevets, so he acts like she’s property he can just lend to anyone he wants. He has absolutely no concern for her dignity or autonomy, so he simply uses her as a means to his own selfish ends.

Additionally, this objectification also includes an obvious – and very obviously abusive – sexual element. Guy agrees to let the devil rape his wife, and this serves as a very apt metaphor for the exploitation that the #MeToo movement aims to combat. In fact, it illustrates the evil of these abuses in a particularly striking way. It almost literally demonizes abusers and stalkers, letting us know in no uncertain terms that this isn’t just a minor crime. It is an evil of the first order.

Women of faith

In addition to all that, Rosemary’s baby also highlights another much more specific element of the #MeToo movement: women of faith. Shortly after Rosemary discovers she is pregnant, the Castevets convince her to leave her doctor and see one they recommend instead. He’s a renowned obstetrician named Dr. Abraham Sapirstein, and at first, Rosemary seems quite pleased with his care. However, when she begins to suspect that she is at the center of an evil conspiracy, she turns to her former doctor for help.

During the meeting, she tells the guy her suspicions and he says he believes her. However, instead of supporting her, this man betrays her like everyone else in the film. He calls Dr. Sapirstein and Guy and informs them that Rosemary is in his office, and the two men go there and take the poor woman home.

It’s a heartbreaking scene, and it adds another layer to Rosemary’s horrific mistreatment. She trusts and confides in this doctor, but he lets her down in the worst way possible. He assumes that her abuse allegations can’t be true, so he simply dismisses them out of hand and puts her back in the hands of her abusers.

Specifically, the turning point seems to come when Rosemary mentions Abraham Sapirstein. The doctor raises his head when he hears this name, which therefore implies that he does not believe that such a respected doctor could be anything other than an honest citizen. And again, this fits perfectly into the modern #MeToo movement.

The movement isn’t just about shedding light on sexual abuse and harassment. It also aims to create a culture in which women who claim to have suffered this type of abuse are taken seriously, even when their abusers are respected public figures. Too often people simply dismiss these claims, just like Rosemary’s doctor dismissed hers, but like Rosemary’s baby makes it clear, we must believe women and support them when they confide in us. Otherwise, we will only add to their abuse.

A continuing battle

This surprisingly modern message gives Rosemary’s baby an enduring relevance that most films can only dream of, and it’s not just because the film anticipated the #MeToo movement by around 50 years. It’s also because the issues that this film highlights are still relevant today.

Today, too many men maintain an attitude of objectification within themselves and among themselves, and this state of mind sometimes turns into real abuse. This is an ongoing problem that we all need to be aware of, and while it is, Rosemary’s baby will continue to be not only one of the best horror films of all time, but also one of the most relevant.