1945's "Mildred Pierce"

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.

Purpose 3 To provide a TEMPORARY visualrelease:

–an escape into purely romantic love, into sexual awareness, into luxury, or into the REJECTION of the traditional female role (of dutiful wife and/or mother) that might have come in some form of questioning

Why: This is because the character Mildred sees the world beyond her cheating husband and for the time period she worked and overcame to become what few women had in the time, wealth. Veda being spoiled from birth seeks men with money to take care of her and is unfulfilled by her mother who does everything in her power to make her happy. Mildred sees herself responsible for the way Veda has become.

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).

I would place Mildred Pierce in the category of sacrifice. This is because everything she does is for her children. She does everything in her power to make sure her kids get the best of the material world but in the process, she loses her husband, a child,  and has her new husband sell her business behind her back.

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”?

            She is not stern enough with her kids. She doesn’t teach them basic rules of life that no one gets what they want when they want it. She doesn’t show her kids the value of her love instead of materialistic things that really have no value.

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 lighting was done really well my favourite transition is when you see hands holding a newspaper where it shows Beragon and Mildred are getting married and all you see is a disgruntled shadow crumple up the paper and toss it away. And the classic I know what’s going on close up that Mildred gets after she’s realized what Beragon’s intentions are.