Staying Home: Shirley Jackson, Don't Worry Darling, and Domestic Horror

Warning: HARK! There are spoilers here, traveler. Take the road less littered with thought.

If mainstream girl-boss feminism was a game of Candyland, critiquing domestic labor, or at least the expectation for one to do household chores, would be the introductory square of the gum drops trailing you toward victory; I'm not at all saying that the image and myth of a traditional housewife don't have its own hand in malicious state violence but it is very interesting (and frustrating) that a lot of popular feminist media won't engage with dismantling the exploitative expectations placed on all workers, and instead put a lot of the focus on "equalizing" themselves with managers, CEOs, and other capitalists, as a way to both distance themselves from devalued and "feminized" labor and to be able to participate, or rather have the illusion, of successfully escaping the jaws of misogyny, with false freedom rewarded, and perpetuate the exploitation further. Maintaining the misuse of power against femmes in smaller roles, as well as anyone outside, or not allowed/able to participate within the laboring world. Even some people in high-up, creative roles can perpetuate the same message, over and over in their movies; The worst thing that the patriarchy can do to anyone is to stop them from being the boss. Is that true? No, absolutely not. And to frame liberation as the pursuit of climbing a corporate ladder is a total misunderstanding of the fact that capitalist violence affects femmes, everywhere. No matter if their bosses are women, they can misuse a shield of identities in order to rationalize sitting behind a billionaire's desk while watching people clock in 18-hour work days.

But capitalism doesn't just sit and wait for you at the office; as our homes, neighborhoods, and general safe spaces, become more welcoming to a commodified existence, so can the expectation for free labor and time stolen by the hours of you mentally preparing yourself for another day of work. Even people, who are either forced or choose to do the necessary labor within the home, can be exploited by capitalistic ideals; Silvia Federici, an activist, and Marxist feminist wrote extensively on how society's negative views on housework affect marginalized femmes with intersectional identities far more financially than another social group. For example, in her book Wages Against Housework, Federici writes that if society valued housework, and compensated it the same way it does with more normalized work, then a lot of freedoms (I.e. families trapped in poverty, the funds to escape an abusive marriage, having queer relationships and their labor recognized and made easier to continue, allow more time to pursue creative passions, and so on) we could possibly see not only a re-imagining and dismantling of the nuclear family, but the transferring of funds could change what qualifies as a "marriage". Thus de-normalizing the idea that the wife, regardless of her work in or out of the house, is expected to do all the cooking and cleaning, out of a manipulative means to affirm her womanhood to both her partner, self, or other community members, and instead possibly revolutionize the once de-valued set of skills. Highlighting how crucial our world needs people who are willing to do any/most crucial acts of care.

Not to mention that this would also free millions of disabled people from forced poverty. Even now, if disabled people want to keep receiving their disability benefits, they have to surrender their rights to work, be married, or find any other means of financial support. If housework or just general acts of care were compensated, this could allow more disabled people to leave an improvised status, while also taking care of both themselves and others. If no defined list of what qualifies as "housework" or not is established, that means disabled peoples would be able to do any tasks (and even tasks doesn't have to be physical acts, but rather listening, accompanying someone, etc.) and still be able to meet the needs for compensation. And, what if, disabled people living amongst other disabled people were able to allocate their funds together and powerfully control the conditions of their community? Having the means to own their advocacy while also restricting the extent to which people have to unnecessarily suffer under society's limitations? I want that world. Right now.

But capitalism, of course, doesn't want to do any of that. This unwillingness is due to the fact that capitalists benefit from people drowning in debt, as well as being reluctant to acknowledge how crucial every "labor of love" act really is, mostly because that would eventually force them to recognize any other self-fulfilling networks of community care, and perhaps have to compensate those individuals as well. The working world wants us to feel isolated, and afraid, and to constantly have fears of scarcity; that is why the "breaking free" narrative is so rewarded. Movies, books, and other media, which focus solely on a singular character escaping the oppressive means of their unique situation, are just another way for society to encourage you to individualize your freedom. To be an "every man for himself" person, mirrors a lot of the ways capitalist feminists will justify having unethical sweatshops, claiming that the patriarchal world demands a sacrifice. Usually resulting in the exploitation of an already disenfranchised group, vulnerable to capitalism's predatory practices. Actively commodifying and stealing their right to have a life. Resulting in those same bosses acting like the oppressive forces that a lot of them complain/are fearful of when watching The Handmaid's Tale and ignore their own contribution to capitalism's extensive use of indentured servitude.

The housewife is just one of the many symbols a lot of capitalist feminists love to make horror about. Don't Worry Darling (2022)(dr. Olivia Wilde), a tribrid of sci-fi, horror, and psychological thriller, is a movie about a trapped woman (Florence Pugh) in what seems like a futuristic replica of 1950's white suburbia. Throughout the movie, you see Wilde and her writing partner, Katie Silberman, try to encapsulate what it means/looks like to fight against conformity, with the illusionary of 1950s housewife-syndrome, yet fail to acknowledge how white supremacy both created and perpetuated this perfect-suburiba-nuclear-family-myth and instead reveal the source of this disturbing hells-cape to be the thought child of a man with a podcast. My problem with Don't Worry Darling is that from the beginning they try to convince us that Alice's luxurious life is oppressive. Yes, we do eventually learn that Alice's career was non-consentingly stripped away from her, but before that reveal, there is a lot of alluding being done; the long shots of us watching Alice cook, clean, and hang by the pool with her friends, is supposed to revolt us working-obsessed peoples! Misunderstanding, and in fact glamorizing, what losing your autonomy could look like; This dark romanticization is not even the reality for most. Especially for disabled home laborers, where suspicious naysayers will use disabled people's ability to do household chores as a means to argue against the conditions of one's disability. Where openly enjoying the flexible nature of staying home could render violent assaults from bootlicking, pull-yourself-up conservatives; well if you don't like it, Larry, then advocate for better wages and working conditions for disabled people! You do something instead of harassing disabled people who do/don't work from home! Organize your ass, and others' asses, locally!

If there was perhaps one writer in horror, who in both their literal life and in their characters, de-glamorized and expresses the negative side of housewifery, is Shirley Jackson. Being an amazing writer in a handful of genres and bypassing any literary limitations or "mold" placed around her work, Jackson was still someone who was routinely doubted, shamed and belittled. Being someone who experienced depressive episodes, people stigmatized Jackson and were frightened of her. It also didn't help that her husband, Stanley Edgar Hyman, was a celebrated literary critic and a professor at a university, where the staff (and social scene, the only one available for Jackson and Hyman in the isolated town) devalued her work. Claiming that Jackson was no more than an emotional housewife, writing her dark feelings and tending to her jealous nature by trying to outshine her husband. It was true that Jackson did spend a lot of time at home, experiencing long periods of reclusion, and perhaps, she could have also been the home laborer while she simultaneously wrote her novels. Truthfully, it doesn't matter whether Jackson took care of the home or not; what's obvious is that she was functioning in a world that devalued homely acts of care. Using the fact that Jackson washed the sheets as a means to have her question and weaken her talents, yet ironically strengthening her writing.

Eleanor from The Haunting of Hill House, Tess from The Lottery, Merricat, and Constance from We Have Always Lived in A Castle are not necessarily "housewives". Yet, all of them inhabit persistent elements present in a lot of domestic horrors and reflect a lot of Jackson's own disfranchised existence: doubt, paranoia, severe loneliness, withdrawing from others, ridicule, attempting to escape conformity, etc. For example, Eleanor is by far my favorite of Jackson's protagonists not only because she is allowed to spiral freely and empathetically (I personally believe that The Haunting of Hill House is just Eleanor realizing that she's gay and how much she truly hates her life outside of the experiment) but she's not consistently seen as a victim, even though people have historically wronged her. A lot of mainstream feminist writers will create their housewives to be "perfect victims", even though in reality, white women are notorious for being accomplices to their racist romantic partners, regardless of how those same men turn around and oppress them in the home. And Shirley Jackson, an imperfect person herself, reflects that understanding of complex victimhood inside each and every one of her characters. Allowing the turmoil of being consistently belittled to twist into a spectrum of sometimes undesirable behavior, showcasing how everyone is capable of harm.

Wanting some domestic horror? Laugh along with Nicole Kidman in The Stepford Wives! I promise you'll enjoy its campy nature a lot more than the stylistic world of DWD.