Response #3: The Conquering of Cat People

I had a very strong reading of Cat People after the discussion in class and after reading the chapters in the Worland book. The major aspect that I thought was most prevalent was the idea of immigration to the United States and the attempt of assimilation or conquering the immigrant, whether it be forced or wanted.

In this case, I would say that it is mostly forced onto Irena by Oliver, Alice and Dr. Judd. This is shown throughout the film as they all try to convince Irene to give up her fear of the cat people and the stories that she heard when she was at home in Serbia. These stories represent her culture and traditions before coming to the United States. Oliver tries to make Irene give up her culture by forcing her to go to Dr. Judd. Irene only agrees because she loves Oliver and is scared of not being able to be his wife if she can’t get over her fear of her countries stories. Alice and Dr. Judd to their part to try and convince Irene that she should not believe this stupid stories and forget them and her homeland so she can be fully assimilated into the American culture.

Not only do Oliver and Dr. Judd want Irene to be assimilated into the American culture, but for them, it is about conquering her. Both desperately want her to kiss them or more. Oliver wants to consummate their marriage even though he doesn’t know if he is in love with her. Oliver says how he is just drawn to her. I think this is because she is not American and considered somewhat exotic and mysterious. Dr. Judd want to kiss her so that he can say he has cured her of her fear not to actually help her. Both men in this case represent American trying to conquer another country purely for their own benefit.

Alice represents the ideal of American femininity and beauty as well as America itself. Irena is jealous of this because she knows that she will never be that. When Alice and Oliver start to get closer, Irene becomes jealous because she also knows that she will never be what Oliver wants even though she is married to him. This is represented when Irena thought she had overcome her fear and was finally assimilated into the American culture, but Oliver had moved on to Alice. She knows that if she is against Alice she will never be good enough because she is not American. American conquers all other cultures and that assimilation is very hard or almost impossible for immigrants to achieve completely.

Assimilation is especially hard for Irene because she has constant reminders of her culture everywhere. This includes the panthers that she sees in the zoo and the statue and pictures in her apartment. The “woman like scream” of the panthers that can be heard from the zoo into her apartment is another reminder of her culture. Other people (Americans), like Oliver find the sound annoying when they hear it because it is foreign to them and represents Serbian Culture, but Irena said she finds comfort in it because it is from her homeland. Oliver also tries to get Irene to throw away everything in her apartment that reminds her of the Cat People, which is all of the items that represent her culture.

I thought that over all, Cat People’s main reading was about forced assimilation and the attempt to conquer Irena for their own benefit. It is easy to see how Oliver, Dr. Judd and Alice represent American while Irene represents the “othered” in American society. In the end, Irena suffers the ultimate fate at the hands of an American because she was unable to be conquered by him and she was also attacked by the symbol of her culture (the panther in the zoo) which is just emphasizing how her inability to let go of her culture made her unable assimilate into the American culture.