The Imitation Of Life Film Analysis

The film, The Imitation of Life, starts off as Miss Lora is looking for Suzie, her daughter. Annie, an older black woman, has found Suzie and the young girl seems to be well off playing along with Sarah Jane, Annie’s daughter. Annie and her daughter have no other place to go ND SO Miss Lora invites them along, but tries to be clear that it is only for one night. The next morning, Annie has done all of the morning duties and allows Annie to stay beginning a grand friendship. The first glimpse we get of racial equality is when Sarah Jane refuses to accept the black doll from Susie and forcibly taking the white one. She is seen as a young girl whose mother is black and mistreated. Why would she want that brought upon herself when she can “pass” as white? Sarah Jane does not tell her classmates or even her teacher that her mother is black which by default means that she is black too. There were behaviors and attitudes toward African Americans in the fifties, when the movie was filmed. Truly, they were still seen as beneath white …show more content…
This even tempered, strong, black woman works in the home of another to provide for her ungrateful child. She serves with happiness and pride. In the fifties, job opportunities were slim for African Americans especially women. Housekeeping was one of the few jobs they could be trusted with. Annie took Miss Lora on as a friend and stayed with the family much longer than she ever had to creating a mixed race existence between a black woman and a white woman that was only seen in movies. Annie loved her daughter, Sarah Jane, unconditionally and put her happiness and well-being above anyone else’s. It was heartbreaking for her daughter to see her efforts of love as sabotage and hatred. She sought her daughter out often to rebuild a bridge that Sarah Jane had been trying to light aflame for quite some time. Annie experienced racial inequality from her own daughter in the form of