Release, I wonder if the film is not guilty of the same thing. Viewing Mommie Dearest today, so many years after its
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Of child abuse, which should have been my focus from the start. I was one of those so shocked by Mommie Dearest’s unmasking of little-miss-perfect Joan Crawford as aīit of a nutjob, that I failed to pay much attention to the not-so-funny issue Portraying themselves and their lives as perfect. To rejoice when cracks are found in the façade of public figures who insist on I’m guilty of whatever human frailty it is which causes people William Inge…consistently fall short of tapping into the pain at their source. Which may explain why the mother-daughterĬonflicts in Mommie Dearest…scenes of familial dysfunction worthy of Was years away from seriously addressing the issues of parental abuse,Īlcoholism, and possible bipolar disorder (the success of 1981's Arthur still pivoted Are we seeing Joan as Christina sees her (in which case Christina's psychological perspective gets incredibly short shrift), or is this a "behind the facade" look at a famous actress (which leaves us wondering, what's the point?). The risk by failing to find a dramatically viable means of adapting the material.įor starters, the film can't really decide whose story it is. But director Frank Perry ( Diary of a Mad Housewife, Last Summer) and a battery of screenwriters only compounded Shoulders, mannish eyebrows, smeary lipstick, and mannered acting style) had longĪgo made her a camp gay icon and favorite among drag queens, impressionists,įierce comes to mind). Motion picture about an actress whose extreme sense of glamour (padded Perhaps it was misguided to even attempt to make a serious The audience that crowded the Chinese Theater that openingĭay in 1981 was abuzz with that rare kind of anticipation born of knowing you wereĪbout to see a film that promised a rollicking good time whether it was a Had become an instant punch line (no pun intended, but see how easy that was?). Virtually overnight the name of Joan Crawford However the memoir was received, the one thing everybody agreed upon was that Mommie Dearest had wreaked irreparableĭamage to Joan Crawford’s hard-fought-for image. Rich and famous, but there was just something about Mommie Dearest that many readers found irresistibly satirical.īeing screamed at by your mother: Traumaticīeing screamed at by your mother who's decked out in a sleep mask, chin strap, and night gloves: Priceless Was Crawford’s grand diva posturing or society’s deep-seated resentment of the Joan Crawford movies (specifically Queen Bee, Harriet Craig, and Mildred Pierce) crossed with The Bad Seed. Headlong into being a book enjoyed as a Jacqueline Susann- esque hybrid of old To this latter group, the events of Mommie Dearest somehow bypassed sympathetic analysis and barreled The rod, spoil the child” era, the behavior described in Mommie Dearest wasĬonsiderably less shocking than who was engaging in it: Mildred Pierce herself, For those of us who grew up in the "spare
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Legend Joan Crawford-I was among those who had no problem believing theĪllegations made against Crawford to be true. The physical abuse she suffered at the hands of her adoptive mother, screen This is one reason why, when I first read Mommie Dearest-Christina Crawford’s bestselling memoir detailing Of a worthless juvenile delinquent, or a contributing member of society. Held at the time to be the single ingredient marking the difference between the raising No one bothered to question such behavior for the administering of strict parental discipline was widely ‘til your father gets home!”) our parents did it to us because their parentsĭid it to them. It be corporal punishment, verbal abuse, or psychological intimidation ( “Wait