Is John Krasinski’s Hit Horror Piece ‘A Quiet Place’ Secretly Sexist?

The new horror flick, A Quiet Place, was more than first-time director, John Krasinski, of The Office fame, could have ever hoped for. Scoring a whoping 95% on Rotten Tomatoes, the film has earned its rank among the latest mainstream horror hits like Get Out. But underneath all the success and fame, one element of the film has been missed: it could easily be deemed sexist for its celebration of the traditional family.

The Abbot family lives on a remote farmland in a post-apocalyptic world ruled by monsters that kill anything which makes a sound. In some ways, their lives resemble that of a family of American pioneers in the old west (minus Krasinski’s control center in the basement, which would be creepy in any other circumstance). Emily Blunt, who plays mother and wife, Evelyn Abbott, even dresses the part with a long, tattered skirt and apron. Throughout the film, we find Mama Abbot hanging up laundry outside, cooking for the family, homeschooling the kids and fulfilling other household duties, while Papa Abbot ventures into the dangerous woods to bring home the bacon. (Well… actually, just fish. Maybe a dead bird or two). The daughter, Regan, brilliantly played by young, deaf actress, Millicent Simmonds, dresses like a modern Laura Ingles Wilder and isn’t allowed on her father’s trips until her much younger, most more venerable little brother learns the ropes. He will, after all, be the man in the family, should Krasinski get killed. The audience should know what kind of family they’re dealing with long before they hold hands and pray over dinner. They’re a blandly traditional and conservative family.

This wouldn’t be so unusual if it wasn’t for years of hard work by women’s interest groups to erase the traditional family from pop culture. There once was a time not too long ago when husbands were assured by advertisers that their wives would love kitchen soap. They even painted images of women smiling happily as they clean the dishes while the men sit in their armchairs, smoking and reading newspapers. In reality, dishes are not fun. It doesn’t matter if you’re a man, a woman or a dog, no soap on the planet can make you that happy. (Unless, it’s that weird, off-brand passion fruit stuff. That’s delicious.) Obviously, women got sick of their poor treatment and demanded equality. But equality started to look a lot more hostile as the 70s rolled around. Some political activists concluded that women could only be free through the abolition of marriage and the promotion of lesbianism.

So, bye, bye, Little House on the Prairie. Hello, The Fosters.

The ironic dilemma with this cultural shift is that it assumes women who choose to be stay-at-home moms are weak. A Quiet Place disagrees. While Evelyn fulfills the traditional mother role, she is also just as hardcore as any other character played by Emily Blunt. In one scene, she manages to give birth with a hole in her foot and with monsters surrounding her house, most of the time in total silence. And while we're talking about strong female characters, it is Regan who leads her younger brother, Marcus, to safety in harrowing circumstances, not the other way around. By the end of the film, it is left to Evelyn, armed with a shotgun, and Reagan, with a high frequency radio, to kill each of the horrid monsters one by one; no men required. By no means does A Quiet Place deem its leading ladies as helpless damsel. It's very much the opposite.

The reality is that the traditional family isn’t a threat to feminism or lesbianism or anybody. Nor does a women’s choice to stay at home and raise children indicate weakness. In a culture of acceptance, it appears people are becoming are becoming more accepting of those who feel this way. The fact that critics didn’t tear A Quiet Place apart may be one of many signs of this.

Anyway... I got to go.

They might hear me typing…