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Film History and Evolution: 1890-1945, Ban on Miscegenation, Opera…

- - - - Film Noir as a genre carries a deep pessimism in how it depicts the American family as well as the society at large, which makes it an excellent vehicle for critiquing the romanticised and overly-sanitized portrayals of these things. Mildred Pierce is no different in its portrayal of the family unit, as it positions the family as the source of Mildred's strife as originating within her own family. The source is primarily Veda, who not only begins an adulterous relationship with Monte, but also constantly pushes the relationship with her mother toward a breaking point with her greed and materialism. Second to her are both her first husband, Bert, with his heavily implied adultery, and also Monte, who shares Veda's materialistic tendencies, as well as Bert's apparent lust for women who are not his wife.
        
        Furthermore, this pessimism extends into Mildred's professional life when the restaurant chain she's put so much time and effort into building is essentially ripped away, owing to Monte's greed.
  - - - The Passion of Joan of Arc, Dir: Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928
        
        This scene requires two shots to properly explain. Jeanne awaits the continuation of her trial, meanwhile, the judges scheme to trick her into confessing with a fraudulent letter from King Charles. When alone, Jeanne sees the outline of the cross on the floor, a symbol of her faith and the relationship she has with God, but when the one sent to deliver the letter approaches, it disappears. It illustrates the stark contrast between Jeanne's spiritual purity, and the corruption of her persecutors.
        
        Drama, much like comedy, is often a vehicle for social commentary or critique. In the context of historical drama, a critique of the past may also form a warning for the future, or hold up a mirror to the present.
      - Battleship Potemkin Dir: Sergei Eisenstein, 1925
        
        Here, an unnamed character faces down armed Cossacks attempting to subdue the people of Odessa as they mobilize in support of the revolution. In her arms, she holds her child, who has been trampled in the chaos as the people fled. As this is a dramatization, the woman and boy do not represent any specific individuals, but rather they illustrate the grave injustice and brutal costs of the old regime.
        This film critiques a society that had been radically changed within recent memory, which places it somewhere within the area of "a warning to the future" in a very visceral way. As a stark reminder of the horrors of the past, Battleship Potemkin communicates revolutionary ideals as a means of avoiding a return to the past.
    - - Mildred Pierce, Dir: Michael Curtiz, 1945
        
        Mrs. Biederhof calls asking to speak to Bert, and it is heavily implied that Bert is having an affair with her. Here Mildred finds herself victimized by the circumstances of her marriage, as she is put in a position where she must choose whether to ignore Bert's relationship to Mrs. Biederhof, or to make her way on her own and endure the struggles of single motherhood. On a societal scale, this would have been something that many women faced (and still do today), further complicated by the status of many as housewives with little to no personal income.
      - Imitation of Life, Dir: John M. Stahl, 1934
        
        In keeping with the format of melodrama, Delilah is made deathly ill by Peola's rejection of her as her mother, and is therefore the victim of the same societal pressures which have driven Peola to attempt to pass as white, but also by her daughter herself as a more direct cause of her suffering. It is therefore a dual condemnation of both systemic racism, and bending beneath the weight of it in favour of more opportunities, at the cost of the family.
    - - John Sims spends the entire film attempting to make something of himself (read: to become distinct from others in society), but very early into the film this recurring imagery begins to pop up in which no character onscreen is truly distinct from another, and all are nameless, faceless members of the titular crowd. It speaks to the conformity expected in society, particularly in more densely populated cities such as New York City, and to the miniscule chances that an individual could rise above that conformity.
      - The more obvious critique of society that the film makes is on the subject of consumerism through the repetitive use of advertising. This driving need to always have more is not only a driving force behind the character of Sims, who is constantly dissatisfied with what he has (as is Mary), but is also indirectly responsible for the death of his daughter, as she is hit by a car while rushing home to receive her new toys, bought with money from selling a slogan for the advertisement pictured here. It forms a clear message that, no, constant consumption will not improve one's level of satisfaction in life, nor one's situation, and may in fact do the exact opposite.
    - - This still shows the last moments of the doorman's time in his prestigious position before being demoted, with particular regard to how he commands the respect of his neighbours. The loss of his uniform signals a fall from grace, and thus a loss of that respect. One could choose to interpret this film as being a commentary on the precariousness of the individual's social position in 1920s Germany. The doorman does not only loose the respect of his community, but also that of his loved ones, who shun him.
        While the reaction to his demotion comes off as rather extreme, one must assume that this is an overdramatization of a real societal concern. As is stated in Russell Sharman's Moving Pictures, cinema is a cultural document, and cultural norms are what shape the content of cinema.
  - - - Modern Times, Dir: Charles Chaplin, 1936
      - Comedy can often perform the function of social critique. In filtering it through the lens of hilarity, whatever critique is being made is still communicated effectively, but is made indirect enough so as not to come off blunt. This film critiques the encroaching technology of "the talkies" on the artform of silent film, ironically by making use of that same technology within limited contexts. In this scene, it's being used to interrupt the worker (Chaplin) whilst having a short break in the restroom, thereby positioning sound itself as an interruption to the medium.
- - - - One commonly used stereotype of Indigenous people and communities is that they are more violent and/or dangerous, especially when not integrated with white society. In this short film, it is used multiple times for laughs, such as in this scene where Fatty is shot in the rear with multiple arrows, as well as earlier in a scene where he is nearly burned alive whilst tied to a post.
    - - Despite the use of several stereotypes, Minnie is still depicted as a character with a good deal of agency, and defies the more common stereotypes of Indigenous women.
- - - - Shanghai Express, Dir: Joseph von Sternberg, 1932
      - In this scene early on in Shanghai Express, Doc Harvey has discovered that his ex-lover, Madeline, is aboard the train. She soon reveals to him that she is Shanghai Lily, of whom Doc learned mere moments before from an acquaintance seeing him off prior to the train's departure, and whom he'd been told was a "coaster", with the implication made clear that she is a prostitute. Her infamy as Shanghai Lily causes many of the other passengers to look down upon both her and Hui Fei.
        The film subverts the expectations for "fallen woman" characters in that both women end up as heroines over the course of the film.
        
        The film would have been an incredibly tough sell if released a mere two years later, due to the stipulations in the Hays Code surrounding what may lower the moral standards of the viewer. While discussions of prostitution are not explicitly prohibited, there is also the fact that our "fallen women" are the heroines, and therefore may cause their professions to appear attractive or morally acceptable.
        
        In a similar vein, there is a direct stipulation against killings for the sake of revenge, and so multiple alterations to the film's plot would have proven necessary.
  - - - In this scene, Judy scolds the audience at the burlesque club for their propensity toward viewing women not as people, but as objects for public consumption. Miss Olmstead is the first to break the silence by giving her a standing ovation.
        
        The film centers the relationships between the female characters, particularly between Judy and Bubbles, though there are many others, and tends to leave men on the periphery. While there is the love triangle between Judy, Bubbles, and Jimmy, Jimmy is not truly the center of the conflict, but rather a proxy for the competition between the two women on a professional level, and the strain placed on their friendship.
- - - - When Delilah introduces Peola to Bea, her immediate instinct is to explain why she has such light skin. This would have been a necessity for the character, as miscegenation (mixed-race relationships) would have still been widely unlawful at the time of the film's production. Despite the fact that it becomes rather obvious through the unfolding of the plot that Peola is not a product of miscegenation, it serves the film well to introduce the fact early on, as the Hays Code unilaterally forbid depicting mixed-race relationships as being at all moral or acceptable.
  - - - Mildred Pierce, Dir: Michael Curtiz, 1945
      - While it is written into the Hays Code that "crime need not always be punished, as long as the audience is made to know that it is wrong", the simplest method for relaying that message to the audience is, in fact, to punish the perpetrator, and thereby make commission of the crime unattractive. One of a few ways that Mildred Pierce edits the source material in order to comply with the code is by having Veda arrested at the end of the film for Monte's murder.