Let’s address What We Notice First: This is Reese Witherspoon like you have never seen before
So in the first minutes of the film, you see Reese Witherspoon dressed in not so glamorous clothing, taking off her boot, and revealing a bloodied and blackened toe! The boot falls off the cliff, and she sends the other shoe over the cliff as well. Then you hear her saying, “You f—ing b—ch.”
And then you think about Legally Blonde and you do a double take. This is the same actress?
True Reese has done meaty film roles when she acted in for instance, Vanity Fair and Walk the Line. But, she hasn’t acted in anything so gritty, and unglamorous as Wild. It is a vision to see her in this light.
This film is a feminist film at its height
Perhaps my favorite aspect of this film is that it is a film which showcases feminism at its best. It does show a woman all by herself going cross country to redeem herself after years of spiraling downwards into drug addicted behavior, cheating on her husband a countless number of times, and at one point even becoming pregnant with one of her adulterer’s children. Traditionally women have often been designated to be with someone- a husband, a father, or even among the company of other women. But women, haven’t traditionally been recommended by society to be alone. You are told that you need a man for money, a house, and for protection. What Cheryl does- going out in the wilderness by herself is unheard of.
And there are definitely times, when the filmmakers make sure that people get this message. First, it is when Cheryl goes to check-in at the motel and the motel clerk (For the record, it’s Carolyn from Mad Men- Roger’s secretary) says that you have to list an emergency contact, and Cheryl says that she is here by herself and the clerk, says no you cannot be. You have to have an emergency contact. This back- and forth exchange goes on for a while, until Cheryl finally lists her ex-husband as her contact. But, this exchange showcases to viewers, how society is telling a woman that she must have somebody— how she be totally without somebody? How can she truly be by herself as Cheryl says she is.
Another instance, this film test’s society’s (and possibly viewer’s assumptions) is when Cheryl is picked up by the farmworker and taken to his house for dinner. His wife has made a lot of food, and as the three of them sit down for dinner, Cheryl tells them of her solo journey. The wife says, “Oh my husband would never let me do that.” And the husband chimes in, “You are right, I wouldn’t.” I think the message the filmmakers want us to walk away with are that women still need men’s permission when it is time for them to do something different than ‘wifely’ tasks like cooking.
Perhaps this is the cornerstone of the feminist elements of this film is when Cheryl runs into a man who is a reporter and who works for a paper called The Hobo Times. He says that he would like to interview a female hobo for the paper. And every time Cheryl says, I am not a hobo, he asks her another question about being a female hobo. It’s pretty hilarious! Eventually this conversation prompts Cheryl to say that when can a women ever leave? We are either somebody’s wife or somebody’s mother. The reporter then asks/tells her that she sounds like a feminist. And her response of course is, Yes, I am.
Chery’s story is truly unprecedented. Here is a woman, who fends for herself, makes her own food, and travels in the elements- without much help from others. If this film cannot convince a sexist, that women need men like a bicycle needs a fish- then I don’t know what can.
This film really plays with sexuality
From the orgasmic breathing as Reese hikes to the top of the cliff in the beginning of the film, to when a fellow hiker questions her 12 condoms in her backpack, to the men who eye her ravenously on the trail ( and later even show up unannounced)—this film has a sexual feel to it. Sometimes the sexual feeling which permeates this film- has a predator and prey pull to it.
Disappointments in the movie
I remember reading up on the movie before seeing it on the big screen. I also remember Reese Witherspoon discussing how Cheryl Strayed had sexual experiences with different men and how she (Reese) found this empowering. In fact, Reese went onto explain how these stories’ from Cheryl’s life helped Reese have conversations with her daughter about female sexuality; and how sometimes as a girl/woman growing up, “.. you just need to be with those guys ( sexually). We all have different needs and sometimes you need to sleep with those men at that point in your life. “
But honestly, I didn’t see Cheryl have a lot of “free healthy sex” relationships with many men outside the confines of marriage. Don’t misunderstand me, sex within the confines of marriage is absolutely fine, and with such a caring husband like Cheryl’s that’s even better! But, since sex outside of marriage has been traditionally looked down upon for women, and this film has been hailed as a feminist film—so I guess I wanted to see more of that.
Perhaps, the only twice I saw her have healthy free sex, was towards the end of the movie when she is done with the trail and she has sex with a guy she meets at a concert. And he graciously accepts her physical scars and seems caring.
The other times she had sex, were times in my mind when she shouldn’t have sex. This is because they all seemed to be from times when she cheated on her husband. Her husband in my eyes, was a saint. He stayed with Cheryl for many years despite the fact that she cheated on him; when she was high out of her mind on the street, he picked her up, he dealt with her shouts, and when they were no longer together he was her emergency contact, and even mailed her packages at different rest stops along the Pacific crest trail.
When she worked as a waitress a few times it looked like she took some customers to the back of the alley and had sex with them. And it really bothered me to see this because first of all, we as the audience didn’t know if these men were married or not. So by sleeping with her they could be committing adultery.
Furthermore, WE as the audience know that she is married, so it is really hard to see her committing adultery. But these relationships seemed like snippets of the film. You don’t see her engaging in too many physical relationships, and furthermore relationships which as Reese Witherspoon said, “ Sometimes you just need to sleep with those boys.” Where was that?
Yes, it is a great feminist (and human) journey to take such a bold, unique, and incredibly hard journey through nature’s elements by yourself. At the same time, it would have been nice to see her show snippets of healthy female sexuality-especially when sexual elements like the orgasmic breathing intro or the men who watch her like prey on the trail- make the film a bit sexually charged. To have the environment be sexually charged and not see much actual sex scene tidbits, well makes parts of the film a bit of sexual tease.
Family and Redemption
The fourth and in my opinion, sweetest aspect of this film is family. Cheryl is really close with her mother Bobbie and while she was a child, her brother. Cheryl’s mother is a woman in an abusive relationship while Cheryl was growing up. In fact, from time to time there are flashbacks of Cheryl running into a drug store and running out with cotton pads and rubbing alcohol to wipe away her mother’s wounds. This sad family backdrop probably helped shape Cheryl into the feminist she became. But, it probably made all three of them very tight-knit because that is all they had. Her mother Bobbi (so brilliantly and lovingly played by Laura Dern) maintains her happiness despite what little material possessions and dilapidated house they have. At times, Cheryl resents her mother’s upbeat cheerfulness and questions on her how she can be so happy. Cheryl even challenges her mother’s ideas about the books they both have to read for a class. Cheryl’s source of annoyance at her mother isn’t always clear- but there is a feeling that it could stem from the age old saying which says, “We hurt the ones we love the most.” And it is clear that Cheryl deeply loves her mom. When her mother unexpectedly dies, Cheryl cries as if she is being burnt at the stake.
And at the end of the day, Cheryl feels that she lost her way in life because of the loss of her mother, and says, “I am going to walk back to the woman my mother was proud of.” Her redemptive journey is rooted in the reason of family.
Cheryl also seems to have found a family with her former husband. Even though they decide not to be together anymore, they decide to get tattoos which will connect them permanently in a way. While she is on the road, her only emergency contact and somebody who sends her care packages. He is the only family she has at times.
And at the end of the movie. Cheryl even mentions how after her journey is over that she ends up marrying somebody a few years later and has a son and then a daughter. So, her redemptive journey eventually led her to the reason why she did this on foot journey in the first place: family.