The idea that the original The Stepford Wives can be used as a metaphor for media censorship and growing authoritarianism in the 2000s (or Nixon's 1974) America is certainly not new with me. The Stepford Wives have been frequently used in recent political dialogue as a metaphor for supremely obedient political party loyalists. For example, some Democratic commentators described the 2000 Republican Convention, which heavily included minority delegates for the first time, as "The Stepford Convention." In this metaphor, the minority delegates were supposedly acting robot-like in their promotion of conservative policies supposedly bad for minorities.

It's been used more recently, again in connection with the Bush Administration. Using Google, I found one blog that said simply, "The Stepford Wives are real: they vote for Dubya." There have been other recent references in the media, all connected, not surprisingly the metaphor's anti-conservative bias, with the Republican rather than the Democratic Party. Matt Drudge of The Drudge Report political blog, for example, described the "Stepfordization" of the GOP in one of his columns. Under political advisor Karl Rove, the Bush Administration supposedly responds to political crises not primarily by trying to solve the underlying problems, but through political spin and public relations carried out by an army of "Stepford-like" robot spin doctors that spin the national media. (They supposedly robotically attempt to justify the unjustifiable, such as describing the crimes in the recent Iraqi prison torture scandal, as "just like a fraternity hazing." Their stock phrases are then repeated, "Stepford-like," not only on vandalized washroom walls but also in movie titles, such as Michael Moore Hates America, the title of the forthcoming anti-Moore documentary.).

Machines and machine-like people have traditionally been used in film cinema as subtle metaphors for growing authoritarianism in society, especially in times of perceived censorship. It's not clear whether the charges of growing media censorship and authoritarianism in America represent something beyond the usual election-year politics. But I am concerned when robotic, "Stepford-like" Americans place these conservative talk show slogans on vandalized walls (photo here) might just be the "Stepfordization" of America.

The must-see 1975 cult classic original, The Stepford Wives, with Katharine Ross, is available on DVD and VHS from Amazon.com, as are films and titles on roboticism as a political metaphor in early cinema. The 2004 remake with its timely, subtle political metaphors, is coming to theaters near you. It stars Nicole Kidman.