Seriousness Behind Almodovar Film

While watching Pedro Almodovar’s film, I realized many aspects of camp instilled in it. The idea of sexuality is extremely over-exaggerated and made into a humorous form of entertainment for the audience. I found it ironic that Pepi wanted revenge from the man that “raped” her, when she was the one who tempted him in the first place. But just like any campy work, there is an underlying aspect of seriousness behind the humor. I realized that there is a repeated theme of women’s dependence on men in the film. Although Pepi and Luci have different personalities, they are both depicted as dependent on men. Pepi, after being “raped” by the police officer, wants revenge on him. Even though she tempted him, her revenge stems from the fact that she could not control her own temptation to have sex with the police officer, and she wanted to have her independence from him. However, the mere fact that she becomes satisfied by his defeat shows that she is dependent on him. Her desire to be an independent woman is shown through her role as the leader in her group of friends (Luci and Born) and from the fact that she wants to make a movie about herself and her life.
On the other hand, Luci is not one to speak out on her behalf. She is portrayed as the “good wife” who obeys her husband by staying home, cooking, and taking care of the house. We can see that she’d rather be obedient than be outspoken as she sits in between her husband while he argues with his brother and tries to mediate the argument. This obedience carries through to Luci’s relationship with Born, as she does not even complain when Born pees on her. She says to Pepi, “I’m so grateful to you for introducing her to me. I’m a new person.” She feels that she’s broken away from the desire to be obedient to her husband, but now she is being obedient to Born.
Another example of women being portrayed as dependent on men is conveyed through the scene with the woman who is shown complaining incessantly to the man for not satisfying her desires. The entire scene shows the woman yelling, without any response from her husband. This points out that the woman is the one who creates all the tension inside herself for no logical reason and feels controlled by her husband even though she really isn’t. She thinks she resolves the “problem” when she shaves and finally has sex with her husband. However, even then her husband is not engaged in the activity. This shows that she naturally feels controlled by her husband and dependent on him even when he does not act as the authoritative figure.
Finally, the small scenes revolving around women’s insecurities about peeing and farting while around men, although humorous, suggests another reason why women are dependent on men. The voice that comes up with the solution (Puton panties) for the problem is that of a mans. This suggests that women cannot come up with the solutions to their own problems and have to rely on men for their own satisfaction.