An Indecent Proposal (桃色交易)caused much discussion back in 1993 when materialism was rampant in American society. Today, it still remains a powerful criticism of market values. It is significant not only because it predicts the irresistible invasion of money in life, but also it caters to the ideal romantic sentiment. Altogether, the movie attracts the audience with two immortal topics: money and romance.
First, let’s explore the money issue. Here is the climax when the proposal was offered:
David: [while playing pool] I guess there's limits to what money can buy.
John: Not many.
Diana: Well some things aren't for sale.
John: Such as?
Diana: Well you can't buy people.
John: That's naive, Diana. I buy people every day.
Diana: In business, maybe, but you can't buy people not when real emotions are involved.
John: So you're saying you can't buy love? That's a bit of a cliché don't you think?
Diana: It's absolutely true.
John: Is it? What do you think?
David: I agree with Diana.
John: You do? Well let's test the cliché. Suppose... I were to offer you one million dollars for one night with your wife.
David: I'd assume you're kidding.
John: Let's pretend I'm not. What would you say?
Diana: He'd tell you to go to hell.
John: I didn't hear him.
David: I'd tell you to go to hell.
John: That's a reflex answer because you view the question as hypothetical. But let's say that there was real money backing it up. I'm not kidding. A million dollars. The night would come and go but the money could last a lifetime. Think of it. A million dollars. A lifetime of security... for one night. Don't answer right away. Just consider it; seriously?
David: We're positive, okay?
John: Well then you've proved your point. There are limits to what money can buy.
When John (Robert Redford) made the proposal, the couple Diana (Demi Moore) and David (Woody Harrelson) rebuffed it without a second thought. But that night, they wavered. The interesting part is once they consented to the proposal, they tried to legitimize it, finding specious excuses to support this decision. Each related his/her sex experiences with someone else before marriage, trying to separate sex from true love. They seemed to overlook a glaring truth---marriage requires faithfulness, physically and mentally. Even a temporary breach, say, one night with a wealthy stranger, wrecks the meaning of marriage. Contrary to their firm belief that they are invincible, they are too fragile to resist the invasion of money.
In What Money Can’t Buy, Michael Sandel indicates that the encroachment of market values corrupts good things in life. When money can buy more and more things, including human body, prestigious school seat, or the priority of seeing a doctor, it devalues the sanctity of these things (9). When John says that he buys people every day, he is echoing Michael’s point. He embodies the pervasive market values in the contemporary world. In this proposal, he is trying to buy not only sex but also love. And it works!
Money can buy sex, however morally unacceptable. The reason is obvious---when we sell our body, we devalue it as a commodity. When Diana decides to sell her body, she doesn’t consider it degrading but a heroic, sacrificial act to save the financial fiasco in her marriage. There seems nothing wrong with the deal, for both parties get what they want. John gets sex with a woman of his dream; the couple gets one million to solve their financial problem. All goes well but for one thing---the essence of marriage is corrupted when the wife sleeps with another man. Extramarital sex will call forth jealousy and distrust, which are detrimental to love and marriage. The most subtle part of this film lies here. David should have loved Diana more after she made the sacrifice, but, no. He began to suspect that she loved John more and enjoyed sex with him. As he later admitted, his suspicion was aroused by his jealousy. And the jealousy was rooted in his sense of inferiority, the fear that his wife favored the man with a lot more money than he. Only when he realized that all his fear was baseless could he forgive what they had done---the fatal decision to sell his wife’s body for a night.
Given that money can buy sex, it cannot buy true love. This is what the couple believes; so do most of us. But in this film, John, the billionaire, seems capable of buying Diana’s love. What began with a business deal ended with true love. John fell in love with Diana and passionately courted her. Diana left her husband and accepted his love. We can see that John uses not only money but heart to win Diana’s love. No wonder when some female audience was asked if she would sleep with the billionaire if offered one million a night, she immediately answered “yes,” even at the cost of $1000. But notice here, the condition is that he must be a guy like Robert Redford, handsome, considerate and wealthy. The female audience’s reponse brings forth the second issue to be explored in this paper: romantic love. What makes the devil a charm to the female audience? For the role played by Robert Redford is a devil, a seducer who mocks the sanctity of love and marriage. But still, we cannot deny his fatal attraction.
In discussing the essence of romantic love, Janice A. Radway observes that the ideal romantic hero is the one “strong but gentle,” “masculine but caring,” “protective of her and tender” (130). Not only are they wealthy, but they are also active and successful participants of worldly affairs. Most importantly, they are morally pure, so they can command and receive the loyalty and commitment of other men. Back to our hero, John Gage. He exemplifies the aforesaid qualities without missing a single one. Gentle, caring, protective, and wealthy---yes, he has them all. What about morally pure? The last scene with Diana shows his nobility. He would rather let her go without a sense of guilt than implore her to stay with him. That’s why he tells the lie about the one million club, about how he enjoys promiscuity with other women. All this is to ease her burden of leaving him. And all this displays his consideration and his servant’s loyalty to him. In the real world, who wouldn’t dream of such an impossible lover?
An ideal romance requires not only a perfect hero but a perfect heroine. Without exception, the heroine must be in full-blooming womanhood, intelligent and independent, and most importantly, unaware of her beauty and its effect on others (126). About the female beauty, Janice further illustrates its link with sexuality in the romance. It’s always the heroine’s beauty that triggers the hero’s uncontrollable desire for her. When the hero forces his attentions upon her, she is awakened sexually and in turn overcome by her own sexual pleasure (126). Diana cannot deny that she enjoys sex with John. That means, she responds to John’s passion and gets sexual pleasure despite her repression of it. John falls in love with her at first sight, enamored of her beauty and then forcing his attentions on her. The way he watches her and relates his sad first love encounter touches her heart. Here, Diana shows another romantic heroine’s quality---compassionate and understanding. A perfect heroine must be unusually sympathetic and nurturing, capable of understanding the hero’s past and then embracing him, loving him and nurturing him. That’s the role Diana assumes in this film. After hearing John’s sad story of missing his first love, Diana accepts him and gratifies his desire. All goes well for a perfect romance except that the heroine already has a loving husband, too loving to avoid jealousy and suspicion. So, what should the ending be? Morality, after all, has the upper hand. However perfect the romantic hero, he is a destructive power of love and marriage. He shall not triumph despite his temporary victory. We may well claim that Diana’s return to her husband gives the market value a final twist!
To sum up, the movie gives us a valuable and costly lesson. It’s not “forget” but “forgive” that sustains true love. Also, never overlook the erosive power of money; we are not so “invincible” as we imagine ourselves to be!
Memorable quotes:
Diana: If you ever want something badly, let it go. If it comes back to you, then it's yours forever. If it doesn't, then it was never yours to begin with.
David: I thought we were invincible. But now I know that the things that people in love do to each other, they remember. And if they stay together, it's not because they forget. It's because they forgive.
References
Radway, Janice A. Reading the Romance: Women, Patriarchy, and Popular Literature. North Carolina: U of North Carolina P, 1991.
Sandel, Michael J. What Money Can’t Buy. New York: Farrar, Strauss & Giroux, 2012.
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