Mothers in U.S. Film

Abstract

Mothers struggle against a range of patriarchal environments and punishments in Hollywood and American Film. In the book Issues in Feminist Film Criticism (1990) E. Ann Kaplan writes “Hollywood has failed to address the complex issues that surround mothering in capitalism” because she is limited to paradigms (128). What Kaplan meant by this is that films often place Mothers into boxes. These boxes then not only limit a Mothers’ perspectives, but also view her own needs as selfish and destructive. To be fair, mothering in capitalism has indeed never been an easy undertaking. This is because although America is a democracy all branches of government, finance, and media have been typically controlled by men. As a result, onscreen Mothers – even the bad ones we love to hate – not only suffer capitalist issues, but other patriarchal encumbrances too. Kaplan also states that in addition to her boxes, Mothers are frequently punished for having patriarchal ideas and desires (128). These facts do appear evidence in the research which shows that older women are portrayed more negatively than older men in films (Lauzen & Dozier, 2005). Therefore, it is worthy to weigh samples from Kaplan’s own four Mother paradigms against any patriarchal struggles they face, as well as to examine some punishments she receives.

The Good Mother

Stella (Barbara Stanwyck) is historically viewed as a good mother who sacrificed so that her daughter can have an affluent life with her father. However, she is actually punished with an estrangement from her child for an attempt at jumping classes to rise above poverty. In Imitation of Life (1959) black actress Juanita Moore is Annie; a maid whose light-skinned daughter wants to pass for white. Throughout the movie Annie’s daughter constantly rejects her mother’s doting love because she does not want a racist society to know she is black. In the Joy Luck Club (1993) flashbacks reflect upon Chinese-American Mothers’ struggles in pre-1949 communist China, as well as their patriarchal and capitalist struggles here in America. This movie contains many matriarchal sacrifices and miseries throughout; Suyuan (Kieu Chinh) must abandon her twin daughters while fleeing war-torn China. Lindo’s (Tsai Chin) mother (Xi Meijuan; 奚美娟) begins emotionally detaching from Lindo when she is betrothed at the age of two. Later, Lindo is forced into the arranged marriage with an immature man who does not like her. An-mei’s mother (Vivian Wu) is disowned by her own mother Popo for disgracing the family, is tricked into becoming a fourth wife, and then later commits suicide to spare her daughter shame. Ying-ying (France Nuyen) is submissive and allows her American husband to control her. Lena (Lauren Tom) is Ying-ying’s daughter who begins to follow in her mother’s footsteps by forfeiting control of her marriage, career choices, and finances over to her husband.

The Bad Mother or Witch

As Kaplan explains cinema often deliberately “presents the Mother from the position of child or husband” (128) to thwart the possibility that she has her own desires and needs. This paradigm is where Mother is most often misunderstood, exploited, or made to suffer either direct or indirect punishments. The following samples are offered as examples to illustrate this point. Since Scarlett (Vivian Lee) is manipulative, vain, seductive, greedy, controlling, unsatisfied, and more, her child dies and her husband leaves her. However, was she not placed in control of her entire family’s estate in the middle of being on the wrong side of the American Civil War (Gone With the Wind, 1939)? Mrs. Bennet (Mary Boland; 1940, Brenda Blethyn; 2005) is a foolish snob, whose only goal in life is to marry off her daughters. However, this was and is a widely accepted patriarchal practice to ensure the survival of females (Pride and Prejudice, 1940, 2005). Mrs. Windle Vale (Gladys Cooper) controls her unwanted daughter (Betty Davis) and suffers a heart attack and dies when her daughter talks back. However, Mother does mention twice in the film that she was widowed soon after giving birth at an old age. Also in the movie Betty Davis bonds with a young girl over the fact that she too is unwanted by her mother (Now Voyager, 1942). In Hitchcock’s 1960s thriller Psycho the main character Norman was based on the real life murderer Ed Gein. Although his Mother Norma is never seen onscreen a range of knowledge is offered about her via internal diegetic sound as Norman is plagued and controlled by her warped maternal influences (King, 2015). Even in this case, rarely does anyone look − nor even care to − at the socioeconomic miseries the family endured in the early twentieth century. Moreover, viewers do not take into account the abusive alcoholic husband of the real Mother Hitchcock used for his film. Nevertheless, Ed Gain’s atrocities attributed only to his bible touting, controlling Mother go on to spawn dozens of films including The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974, 2003,2013), Ed Gein: The Butcher of Plainfield (2007), Silence of the Lambs (1991), and many more (Johnson, 2013).

Kaplan also writes that the Bad Mother can be either be viewed as “absent”, or “present but resisting” citing Kramer Verses Kramer (1979) as one example (135). In this 1979 drama Mother (Meryl Streep) ‘abandons’ her child to “find herself”, and then suffers a character assassination in a court when she attempts to regain custody. Ultimately, she forfeits custody of her son over to his father for no good reason also. This theme where Mother is punished for choosing career over family is found in other films such as Mary Stevens M.D. (1933) where Mother’s child dies, and The Great Lie (1941) where Mother is obsessed with her career and ultimately leaves her child. In 2009, Mary’s (Mo’Nique) cruel abuses and sanctioned incestial rape of her daughter elevate her to a Monster Mother along with Margaret (Piper Laurie) in Carrie (1976) (Regester, 2015; King, 2015), and Pamela (Betsy Palmer, 1980, 1981; Paula Shaw, 2003) from the Friday the 13th franchise. However, most are unsympathetic to Mary’s poverty, ignorance, reliance on the U.S. welfare system, and deep pain stemming from her own unmet needs for patriarchal love and support.

The Heroic Mother

Many Heroic Mother’s in film are often pitted against a male(s) antagonist. For example, in the drama Not Without my Daughter (1991) Betty (Sally Field) daringly escapes with her daughter from an abusive husband and Iran – a country so deeply rooted in Muslim fundamentalism that Mothers’ rights are virtually nonexistent. In the thriller The Panic Room (2002) Meg played by Jodi Foster explodes a gas tank and uses a gun and syringes to protect her daughter from several male home-invading burglars. In Enough (2002) a Mother (Jennifer Lopez) fights back against her abusive husband, while The Bride returned in Kill Bill II (2004) to reclaim the daughter stolen from her womb by a murderous, controlling ex.

The Silly, Weak, or Vain Mother

From classical Hollywood film right up until the present day many Mothers have played the silly, weak, or vain Mother. For example, in 1944 Frances (Bette Davis) is a neglectful mom who pays for her disturbing vanity with diphtheria and social ostracization (Mr. Skeffington, 1944). In the screwball comedy Life with Father (1947) Mother (Irene Dunne) is subordinate and accommodating to her “tight wad” controlling husband. In the 2004 comedy Mean Girls Amy Poehler’s character with breast implants, pink valor jumpsuit, and small dog in toe introduces herself as the “cool mom” with “no (mansion) rules”. Here, we are so busy laughing at the stereotype that we fail to register the dangerous ideals that this Mom is endorsing. To explain, a 2007 study found that beauty ideals and practices are associated with the oppressive beliefs of sexism and hostility towards women (Forbes, Collinsworth, Jobe, Braun, & Wise, 2007).

Conclusion

Mothers are not simply Mothers – they are also fallible human beings, daughters, wives, and citizens. This means that Motherhood and Mothering is much more complex than the life-long sacrifice and devotion to one’s child(ren). First; Mothers are completely reliant on the opportunities available and supports given from the society in which she lives. It is from this environment that she must procure her safety, food, shelter, physical and mental health needs, and education. Second; a Mother is often religiously, culturally, or civilly bound to a man who limits her needs for love and support along with an innate drive to self-actualize. This concept refers to the need for one to express themselves spiritually, creatively, and to contribute to society in a meaningful way. Therefore, she is not always fulfilled by the solitary role of being a Mother. In closing, when measuring any real or onscreen Mother it is fair to ask ‘was she loved and supported by everyone around her, and was she placed at any societal, religious, cultural, or economic disadvantages?’

References

Erens, P. (1990). Issues in feminist film criticism. Print. Bloomington, Indiana.

Forbes, G.B., Collinsworth, L.L., Jobe, R.L., Braun, K.D., Wise, L.M., (2007). Sexism, hostility towards women, and Endorsement of beauty ideals and practices: Are beauty ideals associated with oppressive beliefs? Springer Science + Business Media, LLC., 56:265-273.

Johnson, G. (2013). Ed Gein & his cultural legacy: movies inspired by Ed Gein & Psycho. Retrieved fromhttp://faculty.cua.edu/johnsong/hitchcock/pages/gein/gein4.html

King, R. (2015). A regiment of monstrous women: Female horror archetypes and life History theme.American Psychological Association, 2330-2925/15.

Lauzen, M.M.; & Dozier, D.M. (2005). Maintaining the double standard: Portrayals of age and gender in popular films. Sex Roles, 52, 437-446

Register, C. (2015). Monstrous Mother, Incestuous father, and terrorized teen: Reading precious as a horror film. Journal of film and video, issue 1, p30-45, 16p.