Question One: In her article, “The Genre”, Jeanine Basinger says there are three main purposes of the Women’s Film. Which purpose do you think best describes the messages in Mildred Pierce? Explain why. 

      Mildred Pierce fits into the third purpose, “to provide a temporary visual liberation of some sort, 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” (Basinger, n.d., p. 13).

      Mildred Pierce was a traditional motherly housewife, who after marrying Bert Pierce, had two daughters, and devoted her entire life to providing an ideal home environment for them. Mildred said in the beginning, “I’d do anything for those kids. Those kids come first in this house, before either one of us. Maybe it’s right, maybe it’s wrong, either way that’s the way it is. I’m determined to do the best I can for them” (Mildred Pierce, 1945). This shows that Mildred was fulfilling her role as the typical motherly figure. She cooked and cleaned all day long at home. She baked pies and cakes for extra cash in order to buy beautiful dresses for her daughters. The extra money was also used to provide Veda with piano lessons and Kay with ballet lessons. The producer wanted to portray Mildred as a woman who was trapped inside the traditional female role of being a desperate housewife. Mildred was the typical woman; when challenged or offered the opportunity to explore the option of the male’s role, she would appear to be eager and fearless because her desires to abandon her social obligation as a “female” would be a relief on her behalf. 

      The reason for Mildred’s rejection of the female role was due to a sense of personal contradiction. In the article, “The Gendre”, by Jeanine Basinger, she describes the contradiction that most women battle involves “telling a story in which women are shown to live in society in one role while secretly preferring another” (Basinger, n.d., p. 12). Mildred’s role encompassed being a loving housewife and devoted mother, who provided everything for her children, but when her husband chose to continue his extramarital affair with his mistress, she realized that she longed for independence and freedom in order to provide for her daughters. She did not enjoy the typical role of relying on a man for security; she already tried that once with Bert and when the real estate failed him and the family was no longer stable, she realized that with no work experience she would not be able to get a job to pay the bills. She realized that depending on a man was unreliable both emotionally and financially because men can easily be distracted by another women. Therefore, when Wally Fay discovered that Bert had left the family, he wanted to make a sexual advancement towards Mildred, but Mildred refused, knowing far well, that he was only in it for the sex. Instead, she searched desperately for a job and landed one at a restaurant, which eventually led her to open up a franchise of successful restaurants. This is consistent of the behaviour of a male role.

Middle-class Mildred Pierce working hard
to support herself and her children

      Basinger proposes that there were two concepts, “the way women ought to be and the other way” (Basinger, n.d., p.10). When Mildred went out to make a living to support her children, she chose the other way. This was the unconventional way that caused her to reject the female role. She became sick of having to confine herself to social norms and having to wait for someone to take care of her; instead she used her most remarkable capability, and that was to cook and bake. She turned her ability into a talent and subsequently into a business. The purpose of this was, “ it held women in social bondage and released them into a dream of potency and freedom. It drew women in with images of what was lacking in their own lives and sent them home reassured that their lies were the right thing after all” (Basinger, n.d., p. 6). Therefore, when Mildred’s business failed at the end, the purpose was to show all desperate housewives seeking for a way out of being entrapped in the household performing mundane activities day in and day out, that to take on a male’s role in a patriarchal society was an inevitable failure. Due to the fact that this movie was released in the fall of 1945, after World War II ended, it sent a message to women who had the temporary chance to work outside the home, that working outside the home was a transient and short-term event. Men should be awarded the job positions; whereas, women are only secondary backups when men cannot fulfill the roles. Any kind of fantasy to take on a man’s occupation was not favoured by society and women who did not follow the traditional female role of being an obedient housewife and mother will be reprimanded harshly. Any women who had experience outside the home, enjoyed the experience, and wish to pursue it, would not end up with a satisfying outcome because working so much in the work force led to a breakdown in the nuclear family, as depicted with Mildred Pierce. Her family dissolved as a result of her working outside of the home. Her husband left her because she did not conform to the typical societal requirements of her being submissive and accepting of her husband’s cheating ways. As a man, he was supposed to be allowed to cheat on his wife, and her role was to keep quiet and accept it. Her transition from the female to the male role was initiated when she kicked him out and she decided to start a new life. Due to her work life, the film suggested that her youngest daughter, Kay fell ill to pneumonia and was taken to the mistress’ home, where she eventually succumbed to her illness and died. Veda, the eldest daughter, became disobedient and rebellious. She was spoiled and asked the waitresses at her mother’s work place for money without repaying them back, leaving her mother to settle her debt. She conned a millionaire into marrying her, then took him to court, so that she could reach a settlement of $10,000 through a divorce because she lied about being pregnant. Veda eventually goes to jail for murdering her mother’s husband, Monte Beragon. The film’s message was: women who chose to reject her purpose in society by unfulfilling her role as a compliant wife and dedicated mother and voluntarily took on the role as a male will result in disastrous outcomes. The transition can only be temporary before the male comes back and has to rescue the woman from being overwhelmed from the stresses of choosing to crossover to participate in the male role. This is seen when Bert returned at the end of the film and walked away with Mildred from the police station. This left the audience to believe that Bert was coming home, after his mistress married another man, to care for Mildred. Bert became the “hero”; he would become the man that could “save her”. He is a man, so according to patriarchal rules, his adultery was not punishable, and his return is always deemed a heroic act, even though he was the one who broke down the entire family to begin with, not Mildred. 

Oscar winner Joan Crawford as Mildred Pierce

Question Two: Into which Women’s Film category (Molly Haskell’s four categories) would you place Mildred Pierce? Why?

      In the riveting 1945 film “Mildred Pierce”, portrayed by Joan Crawford, it is a film that focuses on the sacrifice category from Molly Haskell’s theory. Throughout the entire film, Mildred Pierce was a devoted and diligent mother, who prioritized her husband and children’s needs before herself. When her husband was unable to meet the financial demands to maintain the household and pay the bills, she used her special talent of baking pies and making cakes to support the family. In order to support her two daughters’ extracurricular activities (Veda’s expensive piano and vocal lessons and Kay’s dance lessons), she was willing to slave in the kitchen all day, even though she clearly detested it. This is evident when one day,  Bert Pierce, Mildred’s husband, returned home, and got into an argument with her, she said, “I was always in the kitchen. I felt as though I’ve lived in a kitchen all my life, except for the few hours to get married. I’m just cooking and washing and having children.” (Mildred Pierce, 1945). Bert looks down on Mildred because she does not have the education and work experience in order to obtain a job outside of the house to support financial needs. Mildred knew about his affair, but her focus was her children. Just when Bert was about to leave the house, she said, “I’m determined to do the best I can for them, if I can’t do it with you, I’ll do it without you. You go down to that woman’s house and you’re never coming back here; I mean it!” (Mildred Pierce, 1945). When he smirked and arrogantly said to her that she could not dictate the rules around the house and order him what to do, she lifted her chin and bravely looked him in the eyes and said, “then pack up” (Mildred Pierce, 1945). This shows that Mildred sacrificed her failing marriage to an unfaithful husband in exchange for her own physical independence and emotional integrity. Mildred also sacrificed the potential for love for her career. As soon as her husband left, Wally Fay, her husband’s previous business executive made several sexual advances towards her, she could have easily taken the convenience of marrying a wealthy man and settle with life as a rich housewife. Instead, Mildred sacrificed that option in order to prove to herself that she was indeed self-sufficient.

      Mildred Pierce ended up working as a waitress and eventually opened up her own restaurant, where she worked as a waitress during the day to earn tips and came home to bake pies and make cakes all night long. Her insomniac habits were fuelled by her goal to ensure that her children would attain the best education and luxurious materialistic goods. In the beginning of the film, Mildred purchased a dress for Veda, only to her disappointment, Veda does not like the dress and revealed to Kay that it was below her expectations. Mildred had secretly overheard her daughter voice out her disgust towards the dress, but instead of scolding her daughter for her unappreciative comment, she went downstairs to sift through the bills and decided to go search for a job. She was determined to provide her children with the things she never could have because she grew up in a blue collared family with little extra cash. When she succeeded in the restaurant business, and it franchised to a multi-chained business line, she went and purchased Veda a car. Even when her daughter betrayed her, left home and married a wealthy man for his money, underwent a divorce, and later became a singing showgirl at a club, she still begs for her daughter’s safe return. Even though Ida and everyone convinced her to forget the spoiled and narcissistic Veda, Mildred believed it was her duty to be a devoted mother and regardless of what her children have done wrong, she recognized that above all things, she was still a mother and she hoped that she could help her child whenever she was in need. When Veda refused to come home, she sacrificed one third of her business shares to Monte Beragon by marrying him, in order to provide the life that Veda demanded before she was willing to return home. Originally she loved Monte Beragon, but when she realized he was influencing Veda in a negative way, she sacrificed her love for him in order to ensure he did not interfere with her plans of providing a perfect life for Veda. She knew that Monte Beragon was taking advantage of her for money, but she continued to allow that because she wanted to sacrifice her love for Monte in exchange for her daughter’s affection, which she regarded with greater significance. Even though Mildred made multiple sacrifices in order to get into the restaurant management business, her biggest sacrifice was to ensure Veda got everything in life that she could not have. Mildred came from a blue collar family and she wanted her daughter to have the white collar life, even if it meant sleepless nights and being looked down on by society because she was a full-time divorcee. The true sacrifice took place at the end of the film, when it was revealed that Veda killed Monte Beragon. Mildred sacrificed herself, and tried to take the blame for her daughter. She would rather go to jail and take her daughter’s place because she loved her own child so much, that there wasn’t anything she wouldn’t sacrifice for her, even life.

Mildred Pierce and Daughter Veda

Question Three: 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”?

      In the melodramatic film, Mildred Pierce, Mildred’s character was unmistakably a hardworking and selfless mother, who wanted to provide her two daughters with the luxuries that were unattainable to her as a child. Contrary to what most contemporary feminists would say about her parenting choice; Robin Morrison clearly 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 judgment. This is an indictment of the woman who works to support her family, because if she makes the attempt at both, she can have neither. Mildred, at the conclusion of the film, has lost both her children and the business that she built up for herself. She is left with virtually nothing, except the possibility of going back to the role of the unhappy housewife, with the man who was unfaithful to her and could not provide for her and her children. She has no options left.” (Morrison, 1998, p.3).

      Due to the fact that this film was released just when World War II concluded in March of 1945, Mildred Pierce became a threat to the status quo. Because men were finished battling it out on the frontlines and ready to return home, women who had previously been working outside the home to support financial burdens, were forced to return to their suburb homes to take back their roles as housewives. Mildred was an exceptionally strong woman, who was able to make ends meet and become a successful restaurant manager and entrepreneur of her own restaurant franchise chain. Her efforts were not applauded and when her daughter, Veda’s mother-in-law, Mrs. Forrester, came to approach her about not allowing her son to marry Veda, she clearly stated, “that any discussion of marriage between them would be most undesirable” Mildred snapped back by saying, “having you in my family is a pretty dismal prospect” (Mildred Pierce, 1945). Although it does not explicitly say that Mrs. Forrester despised Mildred of her role as a working single mother, the fact that she was a wealthy housewife who relied on her husband to support her financially, she most likely questioned Mildred’s role in the workforce and her parenting skills. She immediately jumped to the conclusion that Veda would blackmail her son for money because she viewed Mildred as a woman who cannot satisfy her husband and as a result of her inability to provide her role as a wife; he abandoned the family, leaving her to support the family financially. Due to long hours at work, Mrs. Forrester most likely believed that Mildred cannot be a good mother because she does not have the time to teach her daughter. She probably believed that Mildred has attained the patriarchal role of the father, where she is the parent that provides the “materialism” and “fun”. In Mrs. Forrester’s eyes, Mildred is a “father” not a mother, and because of this, her daughter turned out to be spoiled and demanding. It was apparent in Mrs. Forrester’s nonverbal cues that she blamed Mildred for her poor parenting; as a result, her daughter turned out to be a spoiled brat who was money hungry because all Mildred has been producing for her daughter is money, and not the typical providence a classical mother would have given her children. According to women like Mrs. Forrester, they believed Mildred should be the one at home to provide nurturing care. In Mrs. Forrester’s eyes, it was because Mildred has been sacrificing the prospect of remarriage and taking care of the children at home to succeed in the restaurant business, she has failed as a mother and provided a poor example for Veda to ensue. In a patriarchal society, independence in the labour force was not applauded, regardless of what the woman’s true intentions are. As a result, despite the fact that Mildred was selflessly sacrificing her own time and sleep in order to make the money to give Veda the perfect life, other women despise of it because it threatened the idealistic image of fathers as the breadwinners and fun parent and mothers as the strict parent at home who cooks, cleans, and provides all the needs for the family.

      Not only does Mrs. Forrester look down upon Mildred’s working life, but Monte Beragon also believed so as well. She compared Mildred to Veda and claimed that Veda would never be caught dead as a waitress or a blue collared person. Veda wanted to be in the upper class society without ever offering a hand. Mildred says, “Alright, I work! I cook food, sell it, and make a profit on it”. (Mildred Pierce, 1945). 

      According to Morrison, Mildred was constantly being punished because she does not assume the role of the motherhood. “She is punished for being a good wife with a philandering husband, she is punished for working hard to provide her children with a life free of financial worry by having a daughter who comes to hate he, she is punished by the death of her youngest child, and she is punished for being a stereotypical mother by loving too much.” (Morrison, 1998, p. 3). Even though her intentions were self-sacrificing, it unavoidably led to her unhappiness and loss in the end. “Mildred Pierce is a fable that gives a picture of what women’s lives would be like if they did not let men do their wage earning, if they did not embrace their traditional role, if they did not learn their lesson and stay at home. Mildred had no choice but to search out employment, relying on only herself to support her family” (Morrison, 1998, p. 4). The author contended that Mildred was committing an offense when she did not regress and assume the role of the mother at home. When she decided to venture into society and take on the role of male, it was karma that led to her punishment. “She did more than just earn a living, she prospered, and to let that image remain with American women could have been disastrous to the American economy. She could not be allowed to succeed, because she was trying to play too many roles, to achieve in every aspect of her life, and that, according to the American way, from a woman is not allowed.” (Morrison, 1998, p.4). Morrison’s analysis of Mildred’s loss in the end, and her eventually going back to her cheating husband, showed that society believed that because Mildred is a woman she is destined to fail. If she pursued independence and wealth; traits that are only consistent with men, she would never succeed. The workforce was reserved for men, and any attempt that disrupted the traditional roles in the nuclear family, where the father was the breadwinner and the mother was the one who stays home to care for her children, would be punished severely. At the end of the film, Morrison saw it that due to her bad mothering skills, it led to the death of both her daughters. Kay died because she was not there to supervise and ensure her daughter is constantly in good health. Veda left home and became a problematic and spoiled child, who commited murder out of rage and greediness because Mildred was not there as a mother to teach her from right and wrong. She was too busy doing her husband’s role and neglecting her own. Her husband left because she should not participate in providing an income when the family was in financial dire straits and using that money to buy beautiful dresses for the daughters. Eventually, she left the police station at the end with her ex-husband when Veda is arrested. This showed that Mildred was predestined to fail as a multi-tasking woman, and she must go back to relying on Bert in order to have a fulfilled life.

Question Four: Kathryn D’Alessandro describes how many of the visual images (cinematography, lighting) in Mildred Pierce are reminiscent of film noir. Explain how.

      The film, Mildred Pierce, was both a crime thriller and melodrama. These two genres of films focuses heavily on the “hopelessness, cynicism, pessimism and darkness reflect in American films of the 40’s and 50’s” (Danilovic, 2012, p.1). The entire film focused on downgrading the hope that American women who wanted to enter the workforce could successfully master parenthood and professionalism. It was set to induce a sense of disappointment for women, so that they would believe that their role in society was to fulfill the female role and be the stay-at-home-housewife, who relied on her husband for financial necessities. Any attempt at defying the female role would result in punishment and failure. Hence, the entire film was defaulted in a dark and bleak background.

      In the film, Mildred Pierce, the film begins with a darkly lit room where a murder takes place. Only the victim’s face was revealed, but the murderer’s identity remains mystified until the end to create suspense. A distressed Mildred shows up on a moonlit and rainy pier, looking into the prospect of suicide. Mildred was then revealed as the female protagonist who described the story of her troubled and complicated life at the police station through a series of “flashbacks and voice-over narration” (D’Alessandro, 2002, p.1).

      The opening scene took place at night, when the murder took place, as did most of the terrible situations that took place, for instance, when Kay died of pneumonia. The darkness invoked a sense of mystery and insinuated that something terrible was about to unveil in the plot. Often times, prohibited and crime-ridden milieus are portrayed in the dark because it represents something that cannot be normally visible to others in daylight; such as murder or sex. When Mildred engaged in a sexual rendezvous with Monte Beragon, it took place at night, in front of a firmly lit fire place. When bad deeds are about to occur; for instance when Wally Fay made the deal with Mildred Pierce to purchase Monte Pierce’s property, in order to renovate and change into a restaurant business. They appeared as shadowy figures, insinuating that what they were doing had immoral implications. Even though opening the restaurant was a selfless act on Mildred’s behalf, it was deemed as immoral because it challenged societal norms. When Kay died of pneumonia, it took place at night because the filmmakers’ idea was to probably give the idea that because Mildred was not at home to tuck in her child like most mothers do, Kay became ill, and her death was a result of Mildred’s negligence.

      The darkness also created a sense of mystery. At the very end, when Mildred left with Bert at the police station, after Kay had been charged with murder, it left the audience with the mystery of whether or not she and Bert will truly reconcile. At the same time, the darkness evoked a sense of sadness; audiences were likely to feel sorry for Mildred. She was a hardworking individual and in the end, she had nothing to prove for it. Everything she dreamed of, a successful and happy daughter, a well known and prosperous business, and an opportunity to provide luxurious materialistic goods for herself and her family were taken away.

Question Six: Mildred Pierce is representative of a mix between the “male gaze” and the “female gaze”. Explain how. “Mildred Pierce” has one femme fatale. Who plays the femme fatale and how does she fit this stereotype?

      In the movie, Mildred Pierce, it was a combination of the “male gaze” and the “female gaze”. The “male gaze” is a feministic conjecture proposed by Laura Mulvey in 1975. The male gaze occurs when the audience is viewing the film from a heterosexual male’s perspective. This was the mainstream expectation; where women were objectified as sexual creatures. The male gaze emphasized that females were supposed to be beautiful, soft, subservient, and eye candies for a man’s sexual fantasy. As a result, men developed fetishisms. Mulvey also stated that the female gaze was equivalent to the male gaze. Women tended to look at themselves from the perspective of a male viewer. Women that accepted the male gaze may be conforming to social norms dictated by a patriarchal society; therefore, reinforcing the power of the “male gaze” was basically reducing women to sex symbols. A woman who chose to conform to the “female gaze” would be an exhibitionist.

Ann Blyth as daughter Veda Pierce

      Throughout the entire film, Mildred was seen as the object of a lot of men’s affection. Wally Fay looked at her beauty and wanted to take advantage of her loneliness when her husband left her. He viewed her as a sexy, beautiful, and an emotionally and financially vulnerable woman, in which he expected she would accept his seduction in return for familial and financial stability. He made several advances towards her, but she refused him. When Mildred encountered Monte Beragon, she knew that he was struck by her beauty, as evidenced by his invitation to go to his beach house. He wanted to show her that he was wealthy and owned a beautiful home. From a “female gaze”, she knew that by dressing erotically in a swimsuit and going swimming with Monte would turn him on. 

      Undoubtedly, the femme fatale in this movie was Veda Pierce. From an early age, she was manipulative and selfish. She knew exactly how to coax her mother into buying everything she ever desired. Veda was the classical beautiful and predatory woman who was narcissistic and would stop at nothing to ensure that everything she ever desired came above everybody else’s. Veda was fascinated by money and no amount could ever satisfy her constant need for materialism. Veda wanted to be part of the upper class society. She wanted everyone to cater to her needs; she doesn’t want to have to lift a finger in order to have things completed in life because she believed that through manipulation, she could easily find someone else to do her dirty work for her. As a result, Veda used her physical attractiveness and caught the attention of a millionaire named Ted Forrester; this was an example of a combination of the male and female gaze. Ted Forrester was fascinated by her beauty and lusted for her, which explained why he wanted to marry her so soon. He enjoyed looking at her beauty and disregarded the fact that she did not come from a wealthy background; this is an example of the “male gaze”. As a result, Veda wore beautiful outfits to attract Ted Forrester because she knew it would make him continue looking at her with intrigue and desire. She knew that through this, she could easily manipulate him and deceitfully make him fall head over heels for her sexually objectified exterior. This was an example of the “female gaze”. In the end, it was revealed she was a genuine femme fatale, when she filed for a divorce and teamed up with Wally Fay after feigning to be pregnant for a settlement of $10,000. She not only broke his heart, but she evoked a lot of disputes within the family because the family disapproved of her. A femme fatale always enjoys creating conflict and disruptions amongst other people surrounding her; consequently her appetite for money grew far more than just getting men to splurge on her materialistic demands, she even caused her own mother great despair.

      Veda was a conniving and calculated individual, who totally disregarded other people’s feelings; her actions were all premeditated with ill intent. Typically a femme fatale would lead the male hero into danger or complete financial ruin; however, in this case, she targeted her own mother. When her mother asked her to return home, she refused, demanding that the life her mother provided for her would not satisfy her expectations. She proclaimed, “no one tells me what to do. I do what I think best, and I like it that way” (Mildred Pierce, 1945). As a result, her mother redecorated the house with new furniture and appliances. She even purchased a new piano for her. She sacrificed one-third of her business to Monte by marrying him and moved into his lavish dream home. Prior to all this, Mildred purchased a brand new car for her. Despite her mother’s previous efforts to satisfy her, Veda had a history of borrowing money from the other waitresses and never paid them back, resulting in her mother having to settle the money discrepancy with them. Veda was very manipulative and when asked to come home, she told her mother, “this isn’t the life that Monte taught me” (Mildred Pierce, 1945). She said this because she knew her mother did not approve of Monte’s negative influences on her; however, she used this to provoke her mother into believing that Veda idolized Monte and needed Monte to be an integral of Mildred’s life in order for Veda to be happy. At the end, it was revealed that Veda was having an affair with Monte because her intention was to take Monte’s one-third of the share profits and run away with him. She only used her mother to loop Monte back into the business, so that he could have his name on one third of the profit and then leave with him and the money; abandoning her mother.

      For most femme fatale’s, the victim, is more likely to be a male because femme fatales use the “female gaze” to think of methods to trap the men. Veda not only exhibited this characteristic with Ted Forrester, but Veda’s conniving and sly nature, made her manipulate her mother because she knew she was the apple of her mother’s eye. She was the object of her mother’s affection. The main person she intentionally manipulated and inflicted harm to was Mildred because usually femme fatales aim to hurt those that love them most. She knew her mother had an unconditional love towards her, and as a result, when she was short on cash, she would always have a roof covering her head, clothes on her back, and money in her pocket.

      In most Hollywood films, the femme fatale usually commits a capital crime, and in this case, Veda shot Monte after he confessed that he had no intention on spending the rest of his life with her. She felt betrayed and angered that he had been using her the entire time for sex, and was not in love with her. Monte claimed that she was too spoiled and dominant; she did not fall into the psychoanalytical female sexuality of being submissive, passive, and subservient to a man’s sexual, emotional, and physical needs. Veda’s willingness to provide sex in exchange for money; her active sexuality is the true reason that psychoanalytical theorists found femme fatales to be such a great threat to the male gender.

      Due to her ill treatment to Ted Forrester, it was inevitable karma, that she encountered Monte Baregon, who refused her proposal of a life together. It served as a punishment; a taste of her own medicine. She was also punished because in the past when her mother helped her pay back for her wrongdoings, such as borrowing money from the waitresses and refusing to pay them back, at the end, she eventually got caught for murdering Monte. Even though her mother voluntarily wanted to take the blame, the femme fatale eventually gets caught; typically of the greater and more severe crime, such as murder.

Femme fatale Veda Pierce

      Even though Veda was a sinister character who never cared about those around her, her character was very intelligent and mysterious. She was a very talented woman; she played the piano and had excellent vocal talent. She created a lot of mystery behind her because even though she refused to go out and work herself to the bone like her mother did, when her mother kicked her out, she went out to Wally’s bar and wore skimpy showgirl outfits to please the crowds of men hooting and applauding to her sexuality. This created a sense of mystery because viewers cannot fully comprehend Veda. Veda came from a home where both parents were loving towards her, her father took her on trips and her mother worked diligently and provided her with materialistic goods. She appeared to have a close relationship with her sister, Kay, as well. Mildred appeared to be moral and hardworking, even her grandparents were blue collared workers. So how did Veda develop that sense of hatred towards being in the working class? Was it because her mother worked too hard and provided things too easily for her, so she was never asked to work hard to attain things? Was it because she was a beautiful girl and she encountered boys at a young age that fell for her instantaneously and she could get them to do whatever she wanted with a sexual innuendo attached to her conversations with them? Or was it because of the influences that Monte instilled in her; the psychoanalytical theory of feminism, where women are seductive and submissive to men’s sexual desires?  Basically, what motivated Veda to become the femme fatale? Was it nature or was she nurtured into becoming one, if so what sequence of events led her to become one? This is part of the mysterious side of a femme fatale; a woman that can come from a wonderful family background, be extremely gorgeous, yet thrives on endangering people around her for personal gain.

References

Basinger, J. (n.d.). The Genre. Women in Film GHUM 1024 Course Pack. Toronto, ON: George Brown College Bookstore. (Reprinted from Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood. Ed., 1999, New York, USA: St. Martin’s Press).

D’Alessandro, K. (2002). Linking Styles: “Mildred Pierce”. Women in Film GHUM 1024 Course Pack. Toronto, ON: George Brown College Bookstore. (Reprinted from Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood. Ed., 1999, New York, USA: St. Martin’s Press).

Danilovic, S. (2012). Film Noir & Psychoanalytical Theory. Women in Film GHUM 1024 Course Pack. Toronto, ON: George Brown College Bookstore. (Reprinted from Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood. Ed., 1999, New York, USA: St. Martin’s Press).

Danilovic, S. (2012). The Woman’s Film. Women in Film GHUM 1024 Course Pack. Toronto, ON: George Brown College Bookstore. (Reprinted from Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood. Ed., 1999, New York, USA: St. Martin’s Press).

MacDougall, R. & Cain, J. M. (Writers) & Curtiz, M.  (Director). (1945). Mildred Pierce [Motion picture].USA, California: Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios.

Morrison, R. (1998). Mildred Pierce and His Girl Friday: Portrait of Working Women in the Pre-and Post-World War Period. Women in Film GHUM 1024 Course Pack. Toronto, ON: George Brown College Bookstore. (Reprinted from Complicated Women: Sex and Power in Pre-Code Hollywood. Ed., 1999, New York, USA: St. Martin’s Press).