Chicago Tribune du lieu suivant : Chicago, Illinois • 61

(Thicap (Tribune Thursday, April 10, 1986 Section 5 Ellen IfT A Goodman Feminism takes heat for stress generation ometimcs I think that American women have been the subject of more research than i the entire species of white rats. If even' rr r-rn I 1 if c- I '4Y if 1 iJ I f't i 1 1 J' grant, every publisher's advance, every fellowship devoted to the problems of American women had been used to build day-care centers, they would stretch from coast to coast. This spring there is yet another bumper crop of cover stories, articles and books about women trying to stretch their energy over children and jobs and coming up short. These pieces are the predictable offspring, if you will excuse the expression, of the baby-boom generation of mothers. In the words a friend used at her 40th birthday, they arc "suffering from too much of a good thing." The most heralded, or huckstered, of these tracts is "The Lesser Life" by Sylvia Ann Hewlett, who is currently making the circuit from Time magazine to Donahue.

Her premise is that, "Unless women get some relief from their domestic responsibilities, they will continue to fare badly in the labor force." This is not, despite the cover blurb by Liv Ullmann, "shocking and eye-opening." One generation exchanged depression for stress. Now the stress generation is looking for help. Hewlett has been there, but her book wobbles intellectually: a ping of truth here, a disappointing thud there. At best she rehashes much that has "A The argument that feminists are 'anti-family' has been around since the late '60s. But there have been feminists behind every parental-leave bill, every child-care bill, every flexible-work plan.

Richard Wright-Starred in his 1949 'Native Son' New film's racial message as valid today as in 1949 By Patrick Reardon Ot was a scene that was meant to shock. It did. It still docs. In 1940, it was the dramatic center of Richard Wright's classic American novel of racism in Chicago and throughout the nation, "Native Son." Now nearly a half century later, it is the central scene of the first major movie to be made of Wright's story, which, despite the civil rights movement and the progress of integration, is still very much a modern drama. The scene is the moment of truth for Bigger Thomas.

Through a scries of circumstances beyond his power, Bigger, a newly hired 20-year-old black chaufieur, finds himself, against his will, assisting the very drunk 22-year-old daughter of a rich, white Chicago real estate magnate to her bedroom in the early morning hours of a winter night. All evening, the daughter and her boyfriend had shattered convention by acting friendly to their chauffeur, eating with him, drinking with him, talking to him as if he was a social equal, blind to the intense discomfort and deep resentment they were causing in Bigger. Now, in her stupor, the daughter sways forward and kisses Bigger. The young man lifts her onto her bed, and then, about to leave, leans over, kissing her and fondling her breasts. Suddenly, the floor creaks, and the woman's blind mother is at the open doorway, calling for her daughter.

The daughter mumbles all but inaudibly. And Bigger, fearing discovery and its certain consequences for him, covers her face with a pillow. The mother, confused and suspicious, calls out again and again. The daughter struggles silently under the pillow. Bigger pushes down ever harder.

Finally, believing the girt asleep in drunken insensibility, the mother says a prayer and leaves. Bigger lifts the pillow and relaxes. He is safe. Then, stunned, he realizes that the daughter is not moving. She is dead.

He has killed her. He has killed a white woman. The film of "Native Son," parts of which were shot last month on the South Side of Chicago, is set, like the novel, in the winter of 1939-40, but for all its old-fashioned hats and antique cars, it is not a period piece. "This is a morality play in a lot of ways," says Victor Love, the actor who, in his first cinematic role, is portraying Bigger Thomas. "What makes it hard for people to read the book or Continued on page 3 Victor Love above portrays Bigger Thomas in the current movie above right that was filmed on the South Side of Chicago.

Starring role a labor of Love By Robert Blau Entertainment writer Dn Victor Love shaved off the beard he had grown to play "Othello" so that he could audition for the lead role in the film adaptation of "Native Son." Then, he recalls, the producers told him they couldn't use him. Love had been refused roles before, but this was especially painful. As a college student in California, his teachers told him he didn't have enough talent for the stage. In Los Angeles, after he had completed acting school, agents told him he didn't stand a chance in the film business because he didn't look like a "street black." This time, a major with major stars and a major budget, a film Love was certain would require some real acting, was going to rely on another young actor, Courtney B. Vance, to fill the role.

And then the filmmakers changed their minds. Vance, a student in his final year at the Yale School of Drama, decided not to take the part and Love was tapped instead, thrusting the 28-year-old actor into the spotlight for his movie debut as Bigger Thomas, the central character in Richard Wright's 1940 novel upon which the film is based. Suddenly, the success of "Native Son," which is scheduled for release this fall 1986, rests largely on Love's ability to portray one black man's descent into murder and violence. Love is an arresting figure. He is 6 feet 5 inches tall and has a voice a bassy Shakespearean bellow that can blow walls out.

His calm manner, his politeness and his well-honed responses all stand in marked contrast to the desperation of the character he must portrav. But it is Love's personal history that differs most Continued on page 3 already been said about the basic economic plight of women. Divorce, an unbending workplace, inadequate day care, wild insensitivity to pregnancy round up the usual suspects. The hook is that after recycling much of the feminist analysis and most of the its agenda, she turns around and names feminism as a chief culprit. Up go the television lights, out come the pens.

Many of the recent books and articles include this sort of ritual whack at the women's movement either for "creating" the Superwoman myth or for "forcing" women to turn in the baby carriage for the briefcase. Hewlett charges that the feminist emphasis on equal rights with men caused them to neglect or deny the very family supports needed by women. The argument about the best route to change through equal or special treatment has been around for a century and it's a meaty one. The argument that feminists are "anti-family" has been around since the late '60s when radicals were giving karate lessons in lofts in lower Manhattan and talking about the cybernization of child-bearing. But in life, as opposed to lofts, there have been feminists behind every parental-leave bill, every child-care bill, every flexible-work plan.

Hewlett looks abroad for her role models, convinced that women have it better in Europe. Sweden, I'll buy. But Italy, Britain, Greece? It's news to them. It is easy and sexy to focus on an intra-gender battle, first between traditionalists and feminists, now between feminists and post-feminists. The culprit is not feminism, not even what Hewlett describes as the cult of motherhood, but the cull of rampant individualism.

In America we still regard each worker as disconnected, each child as private property, and child-raising as an issue for each family to resolve on its own. If you read an edge of impatience in my words, it's because 1 have been a working mother for more than 17 yean. In all those years, almost a generation, the need for a more responsive workplace and for social supports has been crystal clear. Progress has been a whole lot muddier. Many of us calculated, or hoped, that when women formed a critical mass in the work force, things would- finally change.

We now have this mega-gencration. Many are trying to have it all by doing it all themselves. Others are struggling to keep their heads above water. Still others are burning out. The problem isn't the women's movement but the lack of movement.

The next few years will determine whether this generation produces massive change or massive disappointment. I admit to a vested interest in this. Right behind the baby boom is my daughter's generation, young women growing up with assumptions. They assume their lives will include work and family. They assume that the workplace will adjust.

They don't need the problems researched; they need them solved. One child-care center is worth a thousand studies. Wa3tWKton Post Writets Gump Tribune photo ot Victor Love by Vai Mazzenga; photo aoove right by James Spmx Expatriates abroad pack in the goodies from home By Patrick Oster I exico City One American I II AnntViorV Kino Ii uivuiwi a ait iiiicu Willi California UinP TTlA minonnr familiar by bringing in or sneaking in a little something that says "home." English tea, Cadbury's chocolate and Weetabix cereal are some things Pamela Ibarrola, press officer for the British Embassy, admits to putting in her suitcase on trips back to Mexico from England. "My friends who are cooks also stock up on currants and sultanas yellow raisins, which you just can't get here." "You'll also find quite a few suitcases full of female underwear from Marks and Spencer a British department store," she said, "especially the 100 percent cotton kind. It's very hard to find here." "Australians mostly bring in booze," said that country's ambassador, Jack McCarthy.

"We get it cheap is the main thing. Some people fancy a toast spread that's famous in Australia called Vegcmite," he said. "I can't stand it myself." McCarthy sees some foreign residents as refugees from spoiled societies especially Americans. Australians, he insisted, tend to adapt more to being away from home because home is so far away. "It's a lot easier to re-create U.S.

life with the border so close," he said. "If an Australian can find meat, a bit of alcohol and, er, ah, some exercise, he's pretty happy." "We French tend to concentrate on things to eat," said Pierre Henri Guignard, a French diplomat. "We'd like to bring in meat or vegetables, but the Mexican customs won't allow this. So we settle for wine, pate and cheese, although we have a hard time getting cheese through. Every time an Air France flight comes in, the Mexican customs seems particularly vigilant." Americans are no slouches when it comes to food, bringing in sweet cream butter, imported olive oil, peanut oil, cheese, breakfast cereal, spices, champagne, wine and Oreo cookies.

"The main thing we bring down is lamb, leg of lamb and lamb chops," said Continued on page 2 -t niv, a iv IIIIUIUKV1 JI a Japanese restaurant regularly stuffs his valises with seaweed, fish eggs and the makings of sushi dishes. This trio may sound like a gang of contraband smugglers, but despite the fact that they sometimes bend customs rules, they're really only engaging in one of the most common but little-noticed activities of expatriates in Mexico or any foreign country. They arc trying to make life abroad seem a little more VOU CAN A ffl lF VOU SINK THISd PUTT, YOU'LL WIN THE TOURNAMENT IT'S HARP TO PUTT WHEN YOU'RE BLEEPING IWTCPKlAl I I ran i'm not Inside While the Rockettes continue to be a mainstay of Radio City Music Hall, changing times have forced management to diversify its fare to attract a more disparate audience. An update on the Manhattan institution that's faking a comeback. Smile "Now I kno why they call coffee a pick-me-up.

I see the price and they have to pick me Up. Quote H9R.