Doris Day: Proto-feminist or..?

In My Humble Opinion
1

As I was going through the Internet Movie Data Base (IMDB), I ran across viewer reviews for the first two (of three) Doris Day/Rock Hudson movies. While some decried the Doris Day character as being embarassingly “virginal” and so forth, others were pointing out that in each movie, she was a savvy professional woman, and the reason she didn’t just hop into bed with the Rock Hudson character (apart from the fact that these were late '50s/early 60’s movies) was not that she was naive and was saving herself for marriage, but because she owned her sexuality and had discriminating taste.

The movies in question were Pillow Talk and Lover Come Back. Looking back, I guess you could interpret these movies either way. Or could you?

Anyone have an opinion on this?

~~Baloo

2

Pillow Talk is the only one I’ve seen; and yeah, after a lifetime of hearing about what sexless virginal prudes her characters were, it did come as a shock to realize what a smart, together woman she was playing. No interpretation at all- her character was living life to the fullest and not doing the 1950s conniving-to-win-a-husband (any husband, at any cost) thing.