American Heroes Essay

Joan Crawford's life appeared to mirror the characters that she portrayed on film in several ways. By analyzing the 1945 film Mildred Pierce, in which Crawford plays the titular character, one can see how Mildred's character is designed to reflect American perspectives of women.

For example, in the film and in real life, Crawford was able to reinvent herself and become more successful as time went on. However, despite her successes, society still maintained that in order for a woman to be complete, she had to have a man in her life, thus propagating the social stigma that a woman could not be independently successful. Allen writes, "in many of the woman's films what the heroine strives so hard to achieve is given up at the end of the film in favor of the 'happy ending'; a chance to be a traditional wife and mother." Another example is that women could be successful and climb the proverbial social ladder by marrying the "right" man, thereby raising her status in social circles and in the public's eye.

Question 2.

The trailer for Mildred Pierce does not accurately represent the film because it makes it appear as though Mildred was a femme fatale in the classic film noir sense and also that her actions as an independent woman were undesirable because society expected her to be nothing more than a sexual object.For example, the trailer states that she paid for a love that she could never have, however, the film shows that when she did get married to Monte Beragon, she was in love and that eventually their marriage disintegrated. Moreover, Wally, in the trailer, appears to insinuate that Mildred is a tease, while in the film, she continuously spurns his advances and never appears to lead him on.

Question 3.

Jessica Hope Jordan argues that the women in Kill Bill, Vol. 1 refuse the gaze and….....