Introduction
There have been significant cultural trends in which artworks convey the role of women. Focusing on the feminist discourse, various social groups and individuals have presented it in popular settings, especially the conventional media. Social media’s role in feminist expatiate shows that women’s liberation is portrayed negatively because the Internet seems to favor the opposition. It primarily places women against men, creating the negative roles that characterize the female gender. The Woman Next Door is a play created by Omotoso Yenwande. It presents two neighbors named Marion Agustino and James Hortensia, black and white females (Omotoso 9). They are portrayed as being successful and pursuing excellent careers. The women live with disappointments and hidden experiences that have ashamed them. Omotoso asserts that these women possess unique characteristics that every woman next door would deeply admire. One day, the two women meet in an unprecedented event, collapsing their physical barriers. This paper analyses Omotoso’s The Woman Next Door from a multiperspective approach utilizing sexuality, feminism, representational analysis, gaze theory, and rhetoric.
Research Method
This project focuses on researching and analyzing the comedy The Woman Next Door, which was also featured in South Korean television shows. It primarily uses a multiperspective approach to present the role that media plays in incorporating feminism in various television shows. A wide range of literature was utilized to view the messages that the drama The Woman Next Door and the sociocultural scenarios surrounding it.
Play Analysis
The Woman Next Door was a live stream in the past decade, presenting a reversal of the traditional gender roles that define women’s domestic responsibilities. This context is seen in the feminism theory, which advocates women’s rights because promotes gender equality. The Woman Next Door portrays Hortensia and Marrion with economic power that makes them liberal and outgoing whenever they expressed their sexual desires (Tew). The film presents self-assertive characters that provoke social debates during political rhetoric that favored them.
Most novels do not include parental characters in dirty affairs, but Omotoso attempted to depict an important message through them. Marion and Hortensia are the elderly in The Woman Next Door, but they are conflicted, revealing that women have problematic characters that easily compromise peace. Marion is white, while Hortensia is black, and they have faced hardships together in their life (William 101). The former ignores her endurances, and she contributes to them in various ways because she is self-assertive. She is also vindictive and tyrannical, making others suffer regardless of the pain they undergo. These are the characters of the outgoing women, which make them more complex, earning higher scores in a film.
Feminism in South Africa emerged when the country joined the international monetary fund’s managerial regime (IMF). This period favored women because the government enacted policies that advocate gender equality. Moreover, the country saw a pervasive national economic downfall that reversed the traditional responsibilities, compromising a stable nuclear family system. The Woman Next Door represents many cultural films that relate to the changes. The artwork challenged ideologies that prevailed during those periods by presenting liberal women, apart from advocating gender equality through extramarital affairs. The characters portrayed by Hortensia and Marrion oppose the conventional norms of the nuclear family system.
African traditions emphasize purity, and it is among the women’s virtues. The same culture views remarriage and divorce as stigmatizing women, calling those who undergo the processes immoral regardless of the circumstances that put them in such situations. Television shows continue to adopt the theme of extramarital affairs, presenting women as suffering from their spouses’ behaviors. The affairs are platforms through which female sexuality is expressed, making people question the present family system. In The Woman Next Door, Omotoso presents content with diverse attitudes ranging from acute anxiety to reproof (9). The reason follows the moral damage perpetrated by those who love Hollywood drama. Characters in The Woman Next Door embody independent, self-confident, and never-reserved figures. The editorials of the period, it was live-streamed, and it was argued that self-assertive female characters had damaged South Korean society. Therefore, feminism portrayed in The Woman Next Door is viewed in some societies as a sign of moral decay.
Peter is seen having extramarital affairs despite being married to Hortensia. The woman is bitter, and she allows her furry and resentment to obsess her. The couple was initially married in the church, but infidelity encroached with time, leaving Hortensia in regrets and despair. In the relationship, a lack of satisfaction and a feeling of faded love towards Peter made her fall into another man’s arms. The Woman Next Door makes clear that her husband was long committed to her despite facing betrayal. In chapter twenty, Marx quotes Peter about his feeling for Hortensia, “Towards the end of his second Scotch, he told me this, and I couldn’t forget it, although I feel bad to repeat it. He told me: My wife, I love her very much, but that is the easy Part (Omotoso 204).” This message implies that Hortensia’s infidelity pushes her husband away from her.
Moreover, various television shows, use luscious background music and detailed visual images, which are appealing to many female audiences. The films also elaborate on the lover’s obsession through various notions. For example, homemakers in the scenes imitate female protagonists in different hairstyles and accessories (Omotoso 11). The drama causes social repercussions, which portray specific discourses on television. The situation is detrimental because they glorify immorality through extramarital affairs, which could aggravate unusual behaviors. In the end, society can become unstable due to the collapse of marriages, which form the community’s basic unit.
With time, the language and topics in The Woman Next Door television show changed. They began informing the public about the appearance of female characters who can successfully handle employment and extramarital love affairs. Society views them as being self-assertive and professional. For instance, in this context, The Woman Next Door portrayed the dominance of infidelity as a reflection of social reality that encroached on Asia during the 21st century.
The people engaging in infidelity are more concerned and fascinated with the reason they are in love than each other is. The love is not simultaneous, as the perpetrators seem to be uncoordinated. Their self-proclaimed characters force them to reject each other to chase their passions. It is written in the first chapter of The Woman Next Door Hortensia had the habit of leaving their house whenever Peter was critically unwell. She was not leaving due to hunger or any serious issue, but her selfish reasons. It is written,
“The habit of walking was something Hortensia took up after Peter fell ill. Not at the beginning of his sickness, but later, when he turned seriously ill, bedridden. It had been a Wednesday. She remembered because Bassey the cook was off on Wednesdays and there were medallions of lamb in Tupperware in the fridge, meant to be warmed in the convection oven, meant to be eaten with roasted root vegetables slathered in olive oil. However, she had not been hungry. The house felt small, which seemed an impossible thing for a six-bedroomed home” (Omotoso 9).
She shouted at the banister, “I am going out” (Omotoso 9). Her sentiments reveal that Peter received no attention from his wife, Hortensia, despite knowing that Peter needed her care during his sickness, revealing their uncoordinated affair.
Comparing the Woman Next Door to other television shows relates to immoral affairs. The male authority’s refusal in the film lovers the woman next door reveals a man who took a female’s position remaining at home. At the same time, his wife goes to work and acts as the breadwinner. The woman, Hortensia, and others of the same caliber are in open relationships, with an unreserved expression of immoral behaviors. On the contrary, it presents only one couple struggling with infidelity. Television content acknowledges the reality of sexually liberated female traits as well as the existence of infidelity in marriages. Thus, The Woman Next Door contradicts the conventional tone of female sexuality, which emphasizes a reserved presentation of female characters.
Furthermore, gender inequality has been depicted to affect women, and it is evident as most societies invest in chastity with positive impacts relating to females. Some communities regard their sexuality as being passive. However, The Woman Next Door does not portray them in this position. They are self-confident in their careers, warranting their extramarital relations ‘realistic’(Gagiano). Applying this notion to the gaze theory implies that professionalism creates a retrogressive class to social norms. A jobless and illiterate woman would be seen within the boundary of homemaking while the independent ones, such as those in The Woman Next Door, have left their roles and engaged in immorality under their self-reliance.
Towards the end of the scene, Marion’s experiences begin eye-opening her to the region’s tragic past, apart from other people’s encounters. Omotoso presents Marion researching through many dusty pages about their history. She notices in her study that the region was known for slave mistreatments, and she finds evidence to accept her character and inform Hortensia that she is a miserable parent. Her allegations explain the reason her children never wanted to see her. Therefore, she depicts the character of professional women who focus on selfish endeavors at their families’ expense.
Conclusion
Extramarital relationships had not dominated in the past as they have done today, but The Woman Next Door depicted women who used economic superiority to live extraordinary lives and express their sexuality without limitations. The women are referred to as self-confident, professional, and outgoing female figures, engaging in ‘realistic’ extramarital affairs. Characters in The Woman Next Door live with affairs that are not based on true love. The relationships and other life endeavors have forced women to neglect their families, as seen in Hortensia, who leaves the house when her husband is critically ill. The character is also depicted in Marion’s behavior towards her children. Comedy is instrumental in teaching the consequences of immorality. It also features some instances of racial cruelty and other upsetting life experiences. The gloomiest part is when the audience feels hopeless about the protagonists’ future. The Woman Next Door depicts a life that which an individual grows old, their partners stop loving and abandon them, leading to lifetime heartbreaks.
Works Cited
Gagiano, Annie. African library: The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso. Litnet, 2019. Web.
Omotoso, Yewande. The Woman Next Door. Chatto & Windus Publishers, 2016.
Tew, E. Caroline. ‘The Woman Next Door’ Subtle but Effective. The Crimson, 2017. Web.
William, W. Hagen. “Amazing things are Happening Here.” World Literature Today; Norman, vol. 93, no. 3, 2019, pp. 101-102.