Rosemary’s Baby was a groundbreaking horror film released in 1968. This is the exact year that the United States introduced a ratings system for film and television. The importance of this time owes itself to the divide in cinema that began to occur; for the first time, writers and directors were not forced to create motion pictures that were appropriate for most (if not all) audiences. Finally, there was a divide in expectations dependent partially on genre. Children’s and family films were expected to confine themselves to a PG rating (PG-13 perhaps, as time went on). This is not to say that directors did not think outside of the box prior to this ratings system – only that it became easier to release mainstream products for a specific subset of the population. This slowly gave birth to more sexualized renditions of art within film, and less concern regarding ‘protecting’ the everyday viewer from certain concepts.
As was argued by many critics at the time, Rosemary’s Baby certainly belongs filed under the genre Horror, but the movie maintains a sense of comedy throughout its plot. At many points, the cast seems to be over-dramatizing their role – perhaps the result of cheesy directing, more likely a purposeful theme underlying the main message.
1968 was a relatively calm time – with exceptions. Regan was president, North and South Korea were engaged in active military coups against one another, MLK was assassinated, Apollo 5 landed on the moon and 2001: A Spacetime Odyssey was released. At this same time, Satanism was being introduced in a negative and fear-ridden manner – by open opposers, not followers. This fear in combination with the strained Catholic relations throughout the world contributed to the creation of several films surrounding Satanism as a theme – Rosemary’s Baby being by far the best known of those produced at the time.
Negative critical reception surrounding the film was centered around the feeling of predictability that plagues the plotline. There are many moments where one “face-palms” at a mistake a character makes that is clearly meant to call upon dramatic irony. Roman Polanski, the film’s director, is regarded highly, however, for his ability to instill fear in everyday tasks – such as mealtimes, neighborly attitudes or laundry.
Rosemary’s Baby paved the way for modern-day horror films and contributed greatly to the style in which they are both told and shot. It features cast members from nearly all walks of adult life and withholds excessive gore or violence. The most “difficult to watch” scene of the film is still mild by today’s standards, with limited nudity and aggression as Satan’s child is conceived. Critics acclaim the film’s ability to stay so close to the original plot played out within the novel, with whole narratives being derived directly from the book’s text. Following the release of Rosemary’s Baby, a string of other films surrounding Satanic worship were released. None achieved the same fame, but similarities can be found. With the newfound ratings system in place to provide strict t guidelines for filmmakers depending upon the intended audience, filmmaking changed forever and in the case of Rosemary’s Baby – for the better.
Rosemary’s Baby (Novel) Analysis
Hi Aisha,
I thought that this blog post was really well written and easy to follow! I liked how you talked about the environment during the time that Rosemary’s Baby came out- it was interesting to learn that movie played on the fears of people during that time: satanism. It was useful to have a little historical background of the politics during the time, I also gave historical background in my post about the movie Head by Bob Rafelson. I also liked how you talked about the reviews of the movie during the time came out and why they weren’t very good- this is something I’m going to try and do more in my future blog posts.
Hi Aisha,
I felt that your response on Rosemary’s Baby was well written and very informative. I had never previously thought about a history of film without ratings. It is interesting to think that many films were meant to be family oriented and the director had to think outside the box to create something more unique. I really appreciated the knowledge of not only the development of the film but also history of the world outside of the industry. I was also very interested to find out that the film paved the way for modern horror films and the contribution to camera style. Lastly, it was also very interesting to find out that the rating system opened up new doors for filmmakers to develop a film for an intended audience without having strict guidelines.
Hello Aisha,
I thought your post was incredibly enjoyable to read. The plethora of information contained in your post about both the movie Rosemary’s Baby and the year 1968 was very informative. Although I was unable to post to the course blog this week, I did do my own bit of viewing of films that were released not long after the TV ratings system was introduced. You are right in that there is a sharp difference between Hollywood films released before and after this time – largely contributable to the simple fact that producers and directors were finally able to mold a film and Its content (both explicit and non) to the target audience.