Mildred Pierce Assignment -- Huan Zhang & Maksym Bezukh

1. In her article, “The Genre”, Jeanine Basinger says there are 3 main purposes of the Woman’s Film. Which purpose (choose one) do you think best describes the messages in Mildred Pierce? Explain why.

According to Jeanine Basinger’s (1993) 3 main purposes of the Woman’s Film ; 

• To place a woman at the center of the universe
• To reinforce the stereotype that a woman’s true calling is that of tending to the home, the family, children, her man as his wife, a job she can’t escape from no matter what else she does!!
• To provide a TEMPORARY visual release

In our opinion, the last one purpose is exactly describes the messages in Mildred Pierce: “to provide a temporary visual liberation of some short, however small—an escape into a purely romantic love, into sexual awareness, into luxury, or into the rejection of the female role that might only come in some form of questioning (“What other choices do I have?”)” (p.13). Basinger (1993) points out that “Every movie female has to confront the major action of the woman’s film: making a choice” (p.19). In Mildred Pierce, Mildred made so many choices: decided to go outside work as a waitress to make living for family, took risk to open her own restaurant for support Veda’s pompous requirement, got married with Monte to promote her family’s social status and made herself became a scapegoat for protect her daughter in her daughter’s murdering case. These choices could liberate her temporarily, but not for long run. In the end of the movie, Mildred went back to her first husband, Bert, it signified that it doesn't matter which choice a woman makes, it will only provide a temporary liberation and couldn't change the immutable outcomes: she has to go back to her original position, give back the workforce to men.

2. Into which Women’s Film category (Molly Haskell's four categories) would you place Mildred Pierce? Why? (Use the Woman's Film Lecture notes for this question). 

According to Molly Haskell, there are four categories for women’s film – sacrifice, affliction, choice and competition. In our opinions, Mildred Pierce would best fit the sacrifice category. In fact, the whole movie is about the sacrifices: she sacrificed herself for her children, her children for their own welfare, also got married respectability for her daughter. Firstly, she could have continued working as a waitress, but she risked and decided to start her own business, in order to make her daughter feel  not embarrassed about her social status. Secondly, she did everything possible to keep her daughter close to her, look up to her, including marrying a  person who is one of the aristocrats in decline, also she doesn't love him. And finally the most important, Mildred even chose to be the scapegoat for her daughter about her husband's death. Actually, beyond we definitely consider that Mildred Pierce falls into the sacrifice category,  we would rather say she sacrificed for her own vanity and created a femme fatale-her daughter.

3. Robin Morrison contends that Mildred cannot be seen as a “good mother” because she’s working outside the home – in what ways is she shown to be a “bad mother”? Please differentiate here between YOUR personal opinion and critical analysis; you want to employ critical analysis and situate Mildred Pierce as a representative icon of patriarchal structures and sexist ideologies. Try to disengage here from what your personal beliefs are on this matter.  

In the reading "Portrait of Work Women in the Pre- and Post-World War Period", Robin Morrison states that "A woman cannot be an effective mother while being self-employed, for a number of different reasons. If she is a working woman, she cannot properly take care of her children, but also if she is a mother, her business decisions are negatively affected by that role, and she lets consideration of her children cloud her judgement" (Page 3 of 5). As the story takes places after the war, the time when men returned home and went back to work. Women were no longer needed in the workforce and were suppose to go back to their traditional roles within the home. Although it seems Mildred sacrificed herself to her daughter's life completely, we would consider she is not a qualified “good mother” because of her motivation of life is totally wrong. If she couldn't bear the social status changed because of her own vainglory and aimed her life goal at enjoying luxurious lifestyle of respectable society. Finally she created a snake by parenting as a bad model. How kids can be kind-hearted and grateful if the mom only focus on material life, neglect spirit life, just try to make up to kids by money?Even Mildred tried her best to meet Veda’s material requirement, the mother-daughter relationship was getting worse. Ironically, in the money oriented people's eyes, the family is not worth a farthing. She lead her daughter's life to a wrong way. Therefore, in our opinions, Mildred is a bad mom.

4. Kathryn D’Alessandro describes how many of the visual images (cinematography, lighting) in Mildred Pierce are reminiscent of film noir. Explain how. (You can also refer to notes from 1940's FILM NOIR Lecture notes). 

The following are visual images in Mildred Pierce that are reminiscent of film noir:

• Majority of scenes take place at night (in the city)
• Light falls on walls and surfaces in odd shapes (blinds + shapes reflected)
• Use of dramatic lighting (heavy shadows, faces shrouded in darkness)
• Use of flashbacks and voice-­over narration
• Themes of murder, intrigue, despair, crime, corruption
• Ending is bleak
• Femme fatale and private detective characters

In Mildred Pierce:

• The movie's opening breaks by an murder at beach house during the night time. In the very beginning, the story was confused, Mildred seems the only suspect of the murder because of her attempt of suicide after she run out from the crime scene.
• Most of the scenes expressed by Mildred flashbacks and voice of everything that actually exposed key details.
• The dramatic black & white lighting projected shadows of the characters and objects in the rooms.
• Mildred's daughter Veda is portrayed as a femme fatale, she is selfish and ruthless, also seduced and took away her mom's lover.
• The ending is a dismal: Mildred finally went back to her original woman life without daughter, business and money. She fight for her life, but in a wrong direction, in the end,the happiness life leave her away.

5. Sybil DelGaudio defines the racial stereotype of the "Mammy" role in the "Mammy in Hollywood" article in your course reader (also available online). What character is shown as a racial stereotype in Mildred Pierce? How does she fit the Mammy role? 

 "The Mammy's image in inexorably linked to either the slave-society image of surrogate materialism and domestic service (in the rearing and socialization of white children)" and "usually appeared as, the dark-skinned Aunt Jemima, whose physical largess seemed capable of enfolding a substantial portion of white Southern society's children in her loving, maternal arms."(DelGaudio, 1983)

In our opinion, Lottie, Mildred’s maid, is shown as a racial stereotype of black Mammy because she was a black woman who worked for a white wealthy lady and she was loyal, loving, respectful, skilled gentlewoman. In the article "Mammy in Hollywood", Sybil DelGaudio a mentioned that 
“Hollywood films presented two, essential, garden-variety Mammy images. One was of slave society’s historical Mammy. The other was her “liberated,” domesticated sister…In fact, the post-emancipation Mammy’s domesticity does not differ markedly from that of her slave sister” (DelGaudio, 1983, p. 23-25). In Mildred Pierce, Lottie reminded me Prissy (Butterfly McQueen). According to DelGaudio, Prissy was a good example of black Mammy in slave society and Lottie was a good example of her “liberated” sister. However, no matter what time they were in, these two characters show us a same racial stereotype of black Mammy on the screen: simple-minded, lack of education, skilled in kitchen, lack of social graces and so on. Lottie is definitely the Mammy role: she spent most of time in kitchen, provided personal service to Mildred's family, especially take care of Mildred's daughter. She is a typical traditional example of black Mammy.

Referance:

Basinger, Jeanine (1993). A woman’s view: how Hollywood spoke to women, 1930-1960. New York, NY: Alfred A. Knopf, Inc.
DelGaudio, Sybil (1983). The mammy in Hollywood film I’d walk a million miles for one of her smiles. Jump Cut, 28, 23-25.
Morrison, R. (1998). Mildred Pierce and His Girl Friday: Portrait of Working women in the Pre-and Post-World War Period.