Rosemary's Baby, Citizen Kane: Film Papers

Roman Polanski's tale of modern Satan worshippers in New York City in Rosemary's Baby is generally considered one of the better horror films ever made, though the horror is all in the imagination and not from blood and gore. Most reviews of the film comment on the innocence factor of its initial setting or in the characterization of its title character, Rosemary, a woman who loves her new husband but as she experiences pregnancy with him must come to think the most sinister things about him. Time Grierson (2008) is one critic who refers to the innocence factor in the film in his one sentence summary of the film's plot: "An innocent woman whose career-conscious husband arranges to have her impregnated by Satan and is then forced to suffer at the hands of patronizing neighbors who secretly view her as little more than a baby incubator" (p. 1).

In the film, Rosemary makes the transition from innocent young woman to experience young adult who learns the horrifying knowledge that her husband is culpable in rendering the services of her womb to their Satan worshipping neighbors. In this manner, we see a Christian parallel in Polanski's interpretation of innocence and experience. A survivor of WWII Polanski knows firsthand the loss of innocence from gaining experience of an often horrifying world. Similarly, like Adam and Eve eating from the tree of knowledge, Rosemary's experience leads to such knowledge of a horrifying world of sin and bet

Related Essays

Marketing a European Suntan Product .... slowed after years of increases, marketers appealed to aging baby boomers with .... Proctor & Gamble Co.'s Bain de Soleil has changed its marketing .... Ellis, Rosemary. .... (6986 28 )

The use of animals in scientific research .... For example, a baby chimpanzee might be taken from its mother .... As Rosemary Rodd puts it, "The use of animals is only .... 2.Gendin, S. The use of animals in science. .... (2294 9 )

Use of Animals in Scientific Research .... For example, a baby chimpanzee might be taken from its mother to provide .... As Rosemary Rodd puts it, "The use of animals is only justified if .... Gendin, S. (1989). .... (2352 9 )

Government Intervention in the Health Care Industry .... for many Americans as the baby boomers age .... As Rosemary Stevens notes [1989, 269], "The advent of .... administration's proposed legislation (HR 6575/S. 1391) sought .... (9411 38 )

Movement, it is no coincidence that Rosemary is an innocent young woman devoted to and willing to sacrifice for the man she loves. That he betrays her and exploits her sexually to advance his own career is a comment by Polanski that innocence is also under threat from the experience or knowledge of evil in society as much as it is from the epic battle between God and Satan. As Tim Grierson (2008) comments on this aspect of the film, "Rosemary's Baby forces us to see the world as it appears from one legitimately frightened woman's perspective: claustrophobic, intimidating, and wearing a smile on its face when, really, it's out to get you" (p. 1). This description of Rosemary's perspective can just as readily apply to women determined to success in spite of the patriarchy as much as it does the action or events of the film. By the time Rosemary figures out the full experience in which she is involved, she is trapped. There is nobody to help her, despite her screams for help. She accuses everyone of lying when they tell her that her baby died in childbirth. Her husband is still diabolical and his ambition still comes first. He maintains she has gone temporarily insane from the pregnancy, and he urges her to think of

Category: Film - R