Celebrity Moms

An interesting aspect of this week’s material is the variety of “mothers” that the reading and film deal with. Joan Crawford herself expressed two distinct types of mothers throughout her time in Hollywood. In the film Mildred Pierce she can be described as both a submissive mother who led her bratty daughter to an untimely demise and selfless mother who, despite her daughter’s horrible attitude, would do anything to protect her. The article “Too Much Guilt is Never Enough for Working Mothers” by Mary Beth Haralovich conveys Crawford from the perspective of her daughter’s memoir Mommie Dearest; in real life Crawford was said to be a crazy working mother whose behavior borderlined on abuse.
Dyer’s Stars explains the “superfemale,” which can be applied to the mother figure in today’s culture. Some audiences may have seen Crawford as a superfemale, femme fetal in Mildred Pierce. She plays as a woman that is “too ambitious and intelligent for the docile role society has decreed she play” (Dyer, 54). Monte’s death is shown as an example of the damage that can be done when someone with great abilities is confined. In order to succeed after she and her husband divorce, Crawford’s character must resort to adopting stereotypically male characteristics, like starting her own business, to make ends meet. Crawford’s persona as seen in Mommie Dearest may also be seen as “superfemale.” The treatment of her children and her hunt to find work in Hollywood were ruthless.
Celebrities in today’s popular culture who are identified as “mothers” are almost never known as “superfemales.” Actresses like Angelina Jolie, Courtney Cox, or Jennifer Garner would never be described as femme fatales, even though they certainly have a great deal of talent and ambition. Although they are conveyed to the public as caring mothers, it would be extremely uncharacteristic of them to resort to ruthless measures to care for or support their children. The only mother that comes to mind who may fit into the category of the “superfemale” is reality television star Kate Gosslin from the TLC show “Jon and Kate Plus 8”. Audiences often critiqued her harsh parenting style, especially when compared to the relaxed, hands-off style of her ex husband Jon. Kate took the more dominant, male role in their relationship and seemed to the public to have much more control over the children. When the scandals surrounding Jon became public, audiences were much more sympathetic to Kate’s “superfemale” role, because it seemed she acted this way in order to support and keep her family together. It seems that because her mothering role was so different from other celebrity mothers, Kate received more criticism.