Her entire role within this film is dictated by her husband. She stays at home, cooks and prepares to have children. “The particularly severe repression of female sexuality and creativity, the attribution of passivity to women and the preparation of her for her subordinate and dependent role in our culture” (Wood, 198). Detective Mills needs Tracy's submissive role to support his dominant role because in ideology “men represent to themselves their real conditions of existence in an imaginary form” (Althusser, 16). In short, by objectifying it, it becomes the imaginary representation of man: dominant and masculine. This embodiment of the typical submissive woman who must be placed on a pedestal and protected supports the film's theme of dominant male influence within the social structure. Without her, he would not be able to represent his dominant role in society. Living in a patriarchal, capitalist society, John Doe and his proletarian status give him few opportunities to communicate his message. Wood states: “Basic repression creates us