| In some cultures a wife is a virtual slave of a husband. In the United States, the days when all women were totally submissive to their husbands are long past. In Surrender Dorothy, directed and written by Kevin B. DiNovis, the protagonist Trevor (played by Peter Pryor) is terrified by the independence of women. A busboy at an upscale Philadelphia belly-dancing restaurant in his late twenties whose sole recreation is drugs, women do not consider him much of a catch, but he still has heterosexual needs. Along comes Lanh (played by the writer-director himself when the actor originally cast for the part backed out). A homeless junkie in his early twenties who needs a safe haven for the night, Lanh has just robbed the same street dealer, Denis (played by Jason Centeno), who supplies Trevor. Trevor admits Lanh into his run-down apartment, but insists that Lanh must either wash dishes or leave. After Lanh washes dishes, following Trevor’s command, he begins a gradual transformation from a free spirit to a domestic slave, cooking and cleaning for Trevor in exchange for free drugs. One night Trevor picks up the discarded apron of a waitress named Dorothy and decides to force Lanh to wear the apron when he returns home after work. Soon, Trevor buys women’s clothing and makeup for Lanh, whom he renames Dorothy. Trevor even kisses his new Dorothy on the lips, though both he and Lanh deny that they are gay. Lanh, nevertheless, submits to the gradual brainwashing. Next, Trevor decides to turn Lanh into a woman. He buys hormone pills from Denis, free of charge because he also wants revenge on Lanh, and reads up on castration. At the end of the film, Trevor is pointing a gun at Lanh, insisting that he cut it off, since girls do not have them; as soon as the dick is removed, Trevor promises, he will have a loyal husband, teacher, drug supplier, and love. Lanh hesitates, then smiles serenely as if to realize that all his problems will be over as soon as he uses scissors on himself. The movie then ends to the tune of the wedding march. Although many filmviewers will be shocked by Surrender Dorothy, the film is a paradigm of how dominant-submissive relationships can be cultivated. With culture no longer supplying cues as in the past, the fantasy can indeed become a reality because some persons aspire to dominate others, and others find solace in being dominated. Weaker partners, thus, suffer physical and psychological abuse because they are so emotionally and financially dependent on stronger persons, though the film focuses on psychological domination and does not deal with physical abuse or even with the way in which Lanh seems so eager for drugs that he will submit to a loss of identity. In test screenings, DiNovis was himself surprised that some filmviewers were repelled by the apparent homosexual element and would have been more accepting of the film if Lanh were indeed a woman. DiNovis based his story on a footnote in a college text on Roman history in which the Emperor Nero killed his wife and replaced her with a slave boy whom he castrated. However, many Southern Baptists now urge wives to literally submit to their husbands, so the days of culturally sanctioned psychological sadism are still alive and well. And the movie may well become a cult film for macho men who want to learn how to dominate who are eager to be their slaves, male or female. MH |