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
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