Within in the realm of Southern Belles and Southern womanhood lies a complex relationship, the one between mothers and daughters. While the difficulty of the mother-daughter dynamic is not exclusive to the South, the rules of Southern Bell-like behavior creates added drama and expectations as two generations of women struggle with the social etiquette of their time, and their hopes for the future. Three movies that capture this bond and all that it implies are Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, Steel Magnolias, and Sweet Home Alabama. In each movie, the mothers are effected by the confinement of their lifestyles, which in turns effects the wishes and dreams of their own daughters. Meanwhile, their daughters struggle with trying to shed
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In Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, we see this within two generations of motherhood, both with Siddalee’s mother Viviane, and Viviane’s mother Buggy. Buggy is horrible to Viviane, because she is stuck in a marriage with a man that does not love her nor respects her. Because she is part of a generation of Southern woman who not only find divorce unacceptable, but also expected to respect and obey their husbands, as well as a practicing Catholic, Buggy has little choice but to be mistreated by her husband without complaint. She finds a way to release her anger by abusing her daughter Viviane. Because “Vivi” is the exact opposite of her with a vivacious spirit, it is easy for Buggy to find many faults with her daughter, and to also blame her with unfounded claims of incest as the reason why her husband alienates his affection from her. While Viviane is not as purposeful in her anger towards her own children, the poison of an unhappy marriage and life leaks into her relationship with them. Her indomitable spirit is not made for the life of the demure Southern woman. However, circumstance and social standing lead her to a life where motherhood is not balanced out with an outside career and adventure. Her discontent leads her to overdosing on psych meds and brutally whipping her children in a state of confusion. In both generations, the …show more content…
For M’Lynn in Steel Magnolias, she is constantly walking the line of raising Shelby with Southern Belle values while trying to break through them to give Shelby her best chance for survival. Audiences see M’Lynn sticking to Southern etiquette when she reprimands Shelby for some of the language and subject matter she talks about, as well as reminding her that she has to have all of her cousins in her wedding party because it is the polite thing to do. However, she tries to sway Shelby from one of the strongest of Southern Belle traits, the willingness to self-sacrifice for husband and children. In the end, M’Lynn is successful in that she raises a daughter that fights for what she wants, which differs from the traditional Southern Belle, however what Shelby is willing to fight for goes against what M’Lynn had been working for, saving her daughter’s life. In Sweet Home Alabama, Pearl has been influenced by the dissatisfaction in her own marriage and life in the way she raises Melanie. For instance, she loves her husband in her own way, but she knows how hard it is to live without much money and a man without sophistication. Because of this, she uses aspects of the Southern Belle ideal to try to change her
In Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood, we see this within two generations of motherhood, both with Siddalee’s mother Viviane, and Viviane’s mother Buggy. Buggy is horrible to Viviane, because she is stuck in a marriage with a man that does not love her nor respects her. Because she is part of a generation of Southern woman who not only find divorce unacceptable, but also expected to respect and obey their husbands, as well as a practicing Catholic, Buggy has little choice but to be mistreated by her husband without complaint. She finds a way to release her anger by abusing her daughter Viviane. Because “Vivi” is the exact opposite of her with a vivacious spirit, it is easy for Buggy to find many faults with her daughter, and to also blame her with unfounded claims of incest as the reason why her husband alienates his affection from her. While Viviane is not as purposeful in her anger towards her own children, the poison of an unhappy marriage and life leaks into her relationship with them. Her indomitable spirit is not made for the life of the demure Southern woman. However, circumstance and social standing lead her to a life where motherhood is not balanced out with an outside career and adventure. Her discontent leads her to overdosing on psych meds and brutally whipping her children in a state of confusion. In both generations, the …show more content…
For M’Lynn in Steel Magnolias, she is constantly walking the line of raising Shelby with Southern Belle values while trying to break through them to give Shelby her best chance for survival. Audiences see M’Lynn sticking to Southern etiquette when she reprimands Shelby for some of the language and subject matter she talks about, as well as reminding her that she has to have all of her cousins in her wedding party because it is the polite thing to do. However, she tries to sway Shelby from one of the strongest of Southern Belle traits, the willingness to self-sacrifice for husband and children. In the end, M’Lynn is successful in that she raises a daughter that fights for what she wants, which differs from the traditional Southern Belle, however what Shelby is willing to fight for goes against what M’Lynn had been working for, saving her daughter’s life. In Sweet Home Alabama, Pearl has been influenced by the dissatisfaction in her own marriage and life in the way she raises Melanie. For instance, she loves her husband in her own way, but she knows how hard it is to live without much money and a man without sophistication. Because of this, she uses aspects of the Southern Belle ideal to try to change her