event The Watching Hour: The Incredible Shrinking Woman

In Joel Schumacher’s The Incredible Shrinking Woman, suburban housewife Pat Kramer (Lily Tomlin) starts to shrink, nearly uncontrollably, after being exposed to an odd mix of household chemicals and perfumes. And though her size eventually renders her helpless—to herself and to her family—she becomes an overnight celebrity, baffling scientists and captivating daytime television audiences. The 1981 comedy, which preceded the bold materialism that the latter part of the decade would be known for, has been noted for its overtones of anti-consumerism. Which, sure, sounds like a film-school student’s dissertation, but the movie nonetheless seems a lighthearted commentary on the wiles of American spending and star-making. 

In Joel Schumacher’s The Incredible Shrinking Woman, suburban housewife Pat Kramer (Lily Tomlin) starts to shrink, nearly uncontrollably, after being exposed to an odd mix of household chemicals and perfumes. And though her size eventually renders her helpless—to herself and to her family—she becomes an overnight celebrity, baffling scientists and captivating daytime television audiences. The 1981 comedy, which preceded the bold materialism that the latter part of the decade would be known for, has been noted for its overtones of anti-consumerism. Which, sure, sounds like a film-school student’s dissertation, but the movie nonetheless seems a lighthearted commentary on the wiles of American spending and star-making.