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Mommie Dearest
- 334 statements
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- 10 referencing feature instances
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In a nutshell, Mommie Dearest (1978) was a memoir written by Christina Crawford, depicting her physical and mental abuse at the hands of her adoptive mother, famed actress Joan Crawford. It spawned the equally famous Film of the Book, with Faye Dunaway in the role of Joan.To put it more bluntly and in more detail, the book pretty much destroyed Crawford's reputation in the eyes of the public, as far as the book's revelations about her systematic abuse of her children, Christina in particular. The book's vivid recounting of Joan's psychotic behavior and abuse of her children polarized Hollywood into camps of those who confirmed Christina's story (or would at least acknowledge that signs of abuse were apparent but ignored) and those who decried the book as a revenge plot to ruin her mother's name after being disinherited and raise Christina's profile after her own failed attempts at an acting career.The book can be seen as one of the first (and arguably most successful) of the genre of nasty tell-all biographies of stars, mostly from The Golden Age of Hollywood, told by their children. The kids of Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Loretta Young, Bing Crosby, Bette Davis, Lana Turner, and Peter Sellers all tried to replicate its success with varying results (the Davis book flopped and was debunked, for example, but the books that Dietrich's and Crosby's respective broods wrote did quite well).The 1981 film adaptation of the book was an even bigger debacle: Dunaway (who ironically had been praised by Crawford in print prior to her death and who even suggested that she should play her in the inevitable bio-film of Joan's life) was cast and Paramount mounted it as a serious bio-film. Sadly though, after numerous re-writes and a director (Frank Perry) who had a penchant for hammy melodramas, much of Joan's character development ended up missing, which turned her into a deranged cartoon character, and the abuse segments took on larger than life sadistic tones. By the end, even Christina Crawford (whose husband had a hand in producing the film) thought the film was too over-the-top and too focused on Joan at the expense of Christina's personal journey as a child abuse survivor. As such, Dunaway came off as a Large Ham—her acting career never really recovered—and the film picked up a huge word-of-mouth regarding it as an unintentional comedy. This forced the studio to retool the marketing to focus on the over-the-top abuse. Despite being savaged by critics and resulting in Golden Raspberry wins and nominations all around, the film was a success at the box office, grossing $39 million worldwide on a $10 million budget, and it also secured itself as a Cult Classic.Dunaway is now supposedly writing a tell-all memoir of the film's disastrous making (which would make it a book of the film of the book!). Rutanya Alda, who played Carol Ann and has been the cast member most willing to discuss and embrace the film's legacy, published her own diary of the shoot in 2016. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_18d15922 | type |
Title Drop | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_18d15922 | comment |
Title Drop: Christina addresses her mother this way with the film or book title of the same name. | |
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Always Someone Better | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_19d1c1ae | comment |
Always Someone Better: In both the book and the film, Joan takes every opportunity to point out that for Christina, Joan will always be that "someone better" - whether it's at swimming or acting. Indeed, she seems bent on sabotaging Christina's every chance at happiness (especially in the book). | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_1ea248b4 | type |
Neat Freak | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_1ea248b4 | comment |
Neat Freak: Joan. In the film, we see her berating a maid for not scrubbing the floor under a potted plant, and refusing to let her boyfriend wear his shoes into the house. It's possible she had OCD, as Christina in the book mentions that Joan hated to get dirty and would shower and brush her teeth several times a day. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_1fa5ae07 | type |
The Prima Donna | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_1fa5ae07 | comment |
The Prima Donna: Joan is portrayed as this. Joan, on the other hand, would suggest that this describes Christina more accurately. | |
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Screw the Rules, I Have Money! | |
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Screw the Rules, I Have Money!: In the film at least. Joan is turned down by adoption agencies for being a single woman with a career, so she enlists lawyers to "bend the law" to allow her to adopt. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_2764d432 | type |
Bitch in Sheep's Clothing | |
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Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Joan and possibly Christina in real life, indicting that her story was false. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_27725a69 | type |
Nice Character, Mean Actor | |
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Nice Character, Mean Actor: The book claims that Joan was one of these. | |
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Background Halo | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_29c5faf | comment |
Background Halo: When Joan holds baby Christina for the first time, the arched French window behind her forms a sort of halo over her head, turning the shot into a twisted perversion of the Blessed Virgin Icon. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_2b5ea43c | type |
Bland-Name Product | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_2b5ea43c | comment |
Bland-Name Product: A unique example regarding Joan's acting career. Since Paramount owned the rights to very few of her films,note In fact, Paramount had been the only studio Joan had never made a film for most of Joan's work is left intentionally vague. | |
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Ax-Crazy | |
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Ax-Crazy: Joan is portrayed as this. Especially when she calls for Christina to give her the ax so she could chop down a tree in her garden to release her pent-up rage against the studio that dropped her for being "box office poison". | |
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Adapted Out | |
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Adapted Out: Cathy and Cindy, the twin girls Joan later adopted, were removed entirely. Joan’s mother, Anna Cassin, and brother, Hal LeSueur, do not appear, though her mother is briefly mentioned (albeit not named). Christina’s first husband, Harvey Medlinsky, was omitted. | |
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Please, Don't Leave Me | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_34e3784f | comment |
Please, Don't Leave Me: Played absolutely straight in the movie, as a drunken Joan begs her lover Greg not to leave her after a particularly nasty argument. It fails. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_36ae9f5d | type |
Traumatic Haircut | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_36ae9f5d | comment |
Traumatic Haircut: Film!Joan forcibly cuts Christina's hair (while screaming at her) after catching her preening in Joan's mirror. | |
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Hormone-Addled Teenager | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_3b27cf16 | comment |
Hormone-Addled Teenager: Gets Christina in trouble in the film, when she gets caught making out with a male classmate by the boy's girlfriend, who tattles on them. Joan's response is to yank Christina out of school, and then insist (despite the fact that the headmistress was willing to let it blow over) that Christina was "expelled". | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_42c9a131 | type |
Appeal to Worse Problems | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_42c9a131 | comment |
Appeal to Worse Problems: In the book, Joan refers to "starving children in Europe" (this is taking place just after World War II) when demanding that her children clean their plates. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_47a0a3b7 | type |
Adaptational Consent | |
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Adaptational Consent: In the book, Christina said that she was sexually assaulted at the boarding school. The film turns the whole event into a consensual affair which her adoptive mother Joan disapproved of. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_50b05d30 | type |
Disproportionate Retribution | |
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Disproportionate Retribution: Joan is a master of this, in both the book and the film. In the film, she catches Christina going through her things and mimicking her, and gives a Traumatic Haircut to punish her for her "vanity." In the book, she shreds Christina's favorite dress and forces her to wear it for a week, all for accidentally ruining a small piece of wallpaper in her bedroom. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_56515a39 | type |
Artistic License – History | |
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Artistic License – History: The film portrays Christina's role in the soap opera The Secret Storm as some sort of a romantic ingenue who dreams of having a beautiful wedding. In reality, Christina's character (who was incidentally named "Joan") on the actual soap was a bitchy and spiteful antagonist. Crossing with using Composite Character on real people, Joan also had four husbands, though she was on her third by the time she became a mother. The movie combines the three first husbands with her attorney and on-again, off-again lover Greg Bautzer (renamed 'Greg Savitt' in the film), though one scene has Joan mentioning that she suffered several miscarriages while trying to conceive with a former partner, something that actually happened to Crawford with her second husband Franchot Tone. Christina Crawford later said that the scenes of Joan chopping down a tree in her garden, and the infamous wire hangers scene were taken out of context and greatly exaggerated in the film. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_5a194444 | type |
But Not Too Bi | |
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But Not Too Bi: The book stated that Joan had affairs with women too, but this isn't shown in the film. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_5a40d6a | type |
Adaptation Distillation | |
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Adaptation Distillation: The film condenses many of the characters and scenes from the book. | |
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Law of Disproportionate Response | |
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Law of Disproportionate Response: Joan flies into a hysterical rage, because she discovers some wire hangers in her closet, which lead to the infamous yell: "No... wire hangers... ever!" | |
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Signature Line | |
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Signature Line: "No wire hangers, ever!" is the most obvious one, although it's only one of a few that have become associated with the film. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_69fb91e8 | type |
Chewing the Scenery | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_69fb91e8 | comment |
Chewing the Scenery: Dunaway mowing down the sets, props and co-stars in every scene she's in. To quote Variety's famous review: "Dunaway does not chew scenery. Dunaway starts neatly at each corner of the set in every scene and swallows it whole, costars and all." According to The Cinema Snob, this is largely because Joan actually behaved this way, citing one quote in particular. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_6b5e21e7 | type |
Fostering for Profit | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_6b5e21e7 | comment |
Fostering for Profit: Christina claims that this was Joan's intention, and her film counterpart chews Joan's film counterpart out for it. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_794f3589 | type |
Adaptation Explanation Extrication | |
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Adaptation Explanation Extrication: In the film, Crawford's son Christopher is frequently seen strapped to his bed, but the moviegoing audience never gets any explanation why he is subjected to this treatment, thus causing a lot of confusion. Only those who've read the book would know Joan strapped Christopher down to his bed to prevent him from masturbating. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_7febc23b | type |
Establishing Character Moment | |
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Establishing Character Moment: In the movie, it's the "swimming race" scene, the first time we see Joan yell at and physically abuse Christina. Early on, we see her chew Carol Anne out for not washing the dirt under a potted plant, and get down on her knees to do it herself. | |
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How We Got Here | |
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How We Got Here: An almost metaphysical example; the film ends with Christina's decision to write a tell-all book about her mother, which in turn gets adapted into the very same film the audience is watching. | |
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Evil Matriarch | |
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Evil Matriarch: Joan, as depicted in both the book and the film. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_823c6e3e | type |
Large Ham | |
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Large Ham: And how. Truth in Television too, as the real Crawford was said to be one in Real Life. Also, Dunaway as Crawford in the film version (and Diana Scarwid as teenage/adult Christina in certain scenes). | |
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Reality Is Unrealistic | |
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Reality Is Unrealistic: Many assume Dunaway's performance is campy and over the top, when drunk abusive people have acted that way in reality. Not to mention how over the top the real life Joan was. In fact, Barry Norman's book The Hollywood Greats claims that the real Joan often spoke as if she were reading lines from a script. | |
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Truth in Television | |
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Truth in Television: Some modern audiences are confused at the film where Christina's soap opera, in which Joan was a temporary replacement for Christina, seems to be both performed live and being recorded at the same time. This was a technique called "live tape" where television shows were performed as if live, including timed pauses for commercial breaks, but recorded for later broadcast. Because of how drunk Joan was on set, they often had to rely on editing to make it watchable. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_8a07e085 | type |
Denser and Wackier | |
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Denser and Wackier: The book is a self-portrait of a now grown woman remembering her adoptive mother and how she could be both loving and abusive at the same time. The film is much more melodramatic, focusing on Joan as a POV character and is full of over-the-top scenes such, as Joan chopping down an orange tree in the middle of the night or throwing a fit when she sees Christina hanging her clothes on wire hangers. Unsurprisingly, it gained a reputation as an unintentional comedy. | |
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Department of Child Disservices | |
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Department of Child Disservices: In the book. Following the choking incident, Joan calls the police on Christina. The officer sees how badly Christina was beaten, and his response is simply to tell her to try to get along with her mother and that he'll have to take Christina into custody if her mother calls again. It's implied the officer knows Christina wasn't to blame, but lacks the nerve to stand up for her. | |
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Laser-Guided Karma | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_90e31482 | comment |
On the other hand, the book and especially the movie became a sort of posthumous Laser-Guided Karma, as Joan Crawford is now remembered primarily for being an unhinged, abusive alcoholic, not for her brilliant film career. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_92dfffae | type |
Retraux | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_92dfffae | comment |
Retraux: The film very consciously adopts an old fashioned aesthetic with its cinematography, set design, costumes and static shots. It often looks like something that could have been made in The '50s, which makes more modern touches like Joan's Precision F-Strike very jarring. | |
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Age Cut | |
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Age Cut: The film uses one to make the transition from child Christina to grown-up Christina. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_9b57f005 | type |
AcCENT upon the Wrong SylLABle | |
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Accent Upon The Wrong Syllable: One of the issues with the "wire hanger" scene in the film is that Dunaway emphasizes every syllable (indeed, every letter) in "wire hangers" when she says it (and she says it a lot), which just adds to its Narm factor. | |
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Foreshadowing | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_9d12bbc1 | comment |
Foreshadowing: Joan is shown forcing young Christina into a swimming contest, over and over, until Christina is frustrated and exhausted; Joan then mocks Christina, saying, "I'm bigger and faster than you, and I will always beat you." Later, when Christina goes several days refusing to eat a plate of rare meat, Joan complains that Christina makes everything a contest. Gee, wonder where she learned that from? The final lines of the film, after Christina and her brother find out that their mother had disinherited them, suggest that Christina would truly have "the last word". | |
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Punctuated! For! Emphasis! | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_9e0c3153 | comment |
Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "NO! WIRE! HANGERS! EVEEEEEER!!!" Also, "I AM NOT! ONE OF YOUR FAAAAAAAAAAAANS!!!" "Oh Joan, stop 'acting'." "IIIIII'MM! NOOT! ACTINNNNNNNGGGG!!!" "CHRISTINAAAAA, CHRISTOPHERRRR! DAMMIT!!!" | |
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Never Speak Ill of the Dead | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_a084f0e0 | comment |
Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Subverted, as Christina claims she was cut off from Joan's will "for reasons best known to her." | |
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Homage | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_a1a1491e | comment |
Homage: Given, in a back-handed sort of way, by the Blue Öyster Cult in the track "Joan Crawford", which loosely draws on this book as inspiration. | |
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Muse Abuse | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_a6baa3a7 | comment |
Muse Abuse: It inspired the Blue Öyster Cult song "Joan Crawford", whose video is a farrago of images from the film. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_a70223 | type |
Karma Houdini | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_a70223 | comment |
Karma Houdini: Joan was rarely convicted for her abuse of Christina. On the other hand, the book and especially the movie became a sort of posthumous Laser-Guided Karma, as Joan Crawford is now remembered primarily for being an unhinged, abusive alcoholic, not for her brilliant film career. More so, with the reporter writing Joan's puff piece would also add her (Joan's) true nature in the movie. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_acedb8f5 | type |
Oscar Bait | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_acedb8f5 | comment |
Oscar Bait: Given to be a biopic, it obviously was trying to be this (even Dunaway thought so), the end result turned out to be the complete opposite much to Dunaway's dismay. | |
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No Historical Figures Were Harmed | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_b0855ef3 | comment |
No Historical Figures Were Harmed: While the character of Carol Ann is an amalgamation of several servants and assistants that worked for Joan throughout her lifetime, the majority of the character is influenced by Joan's longtime personal secretary, Betty Barker and Mamacita, a housekeeper she hired during the latter half of her life. | |
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Emphasize EVERYTHING | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_b7b1e990 | comment |
Emphasize EVERYTHING: Both Joan and Christina in the film. "Why can't you treat me like I would be treated by any STRAAAAAAAANGER ON THE STREET?!" "BE... CAUSE... I... AM... NOT... ONE OF YOUR FAAAAAAAAAAAANS!!!!!!!!" | |
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Demoted to Extra | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_b8e3f20a | comment |
Demoted to Extra: Christina’s memoir was naturally written from her point-of-view and chronicles her journey as a domestic abuse survivor. The film adaptation focuses almost entirely on Joan Crawford and downgrades Christina to a supporting character in her own story. | |
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Precision F-Strike | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_bc00493f | comment |
Precision F-Strike: "DON'T FUCK WITH ME, FELLAS! This ain't my first time at the rodeo." Especially startling as the film is usually labeled with a PG rating. The "F-word" is often censored or replaced with "mess" in TV airings, as are instances of taking the Lord's name in vain (such as using "Jesus Christ" as an exclamation). | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_bc74ef27 | type |
Berserk Button | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_bc74ef27 | comment |
Berserk Button: Wire hangers strangely sets Joan off in the film. It's been speculated by biographers that she saw them as a reminder of her youth working in a laundromat and lashed out at them as a symbol of the poverty she worked so hard to escape. Any hint of defiance or mischief on Christina's part is a cue for Joan to fly into a blind rage. Her reaction to Christina's telling her (in the film), "I am not one of your fans!", is to nearly choke her to death. | |
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Compressed Adaptation | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_bdc94cd9 | comment |
Compressed Adaptation: The wire hangers and bathroom floor meltdowns were two separate events in the book; the film merged them into a single night. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_cae8e25d | type |
Misery Lit | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_cae8e25d | comment |
Misery Lit: Arguably one of the best and most influential examples. | |
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Writing Around Trademarks | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_d4c98786 | comment |
Writing Around Trademarks: The film goes out of its way to avoid mentioning most of Joan’s filmography. | |
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Hypocrite | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_d52d28b6 | comment |
Hypocrite: In the film at least. Joan is portrayed as being stingy about lending money to Christina when she grows up, telling her "not a cent" when Christina needs help with the rent. At around the same time, Joan married Alfred Steele, the CEO of Pepsi, and is forcing him into debt to finance her larger-than-life Hollywood lifestyle.note In the book, Steele did in fact give Christina $100, but had to do it behind his wife's back. Christina says she did in fact become quite close to Alfred Steele, although this isn't mentioned in the film. Earlier in the film, Christina lends a sympathetic ear when her mother pours out her sorrow regarding her financial situation - she had to fire the maid, she can't pay Christina's tuition so Christina will have to go on a work scholarship - only to learn that Joan still has money to spend on booze and countless pairs of shoes. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_dbe04eb5 | type |
Off to Boarding School | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_dbe04eb5 | comment |
Off to Boarding School: As it happened to Christina. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_e4965307 | type |
Composite Character | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_e4965307 | comment |
Composite Character: In the film, Greg is a combination of the various husbands and lovers Joan had, while the housekeeper and Carol Ann are meant to represent several employees in Joan's house. | |
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Very Loosely Based on a True Story | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_e4b69188 | comment |
Very Loosely Based on a True Story: Goes both ways. Many of those close to Joan claim that the abuse described in the book is anything from severe exaggeration to complete fabrication. Still others claims that the book actually tones down the abuse and that in reality, Joan was much, much more volatile and disturbed. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_e540d1e6 | type |
Camp | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_e540d1e6 | comment |
Camp: The film is often cited as a prime example. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_e567510d | type |
Determinator | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_e567510d | comment |
Determinator: Joan comes off as one in the film, however, thanks to all the shit she has to put up with as a White-Dwarf Starlet. | |
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| Mommie Dearest / int_e5fd8bc2 | type |
Hate Sink | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_e5fd8bc2 | comment |
Hate Sink: Everything about the book and The Film of the Book are all dedicated to make Joan as despicable as possible. The film brought this to up to eleven though, making it Hate Sink: The Movie. Even Christina Crawford herself felt the film went too far in portraying Joan as a monster. | |
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Ham-to-Ham Combat | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_eb0df85e | comment |
Ham-to-Ham Combat: In the film, Christina vs. Joan, before the latter attempts to strangle the former. | |
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Clingy Jealous Girl | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_eb5b71fe | comment |
Clingy Jealous Girl: In the book, during a European vacation, Joan slaps Christina simply for giving stepfather Alfred Steele a goodnight kiss, accusing her daughter of trying to seduce her husband. | |
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Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold | |
| Mommie Dearest / int_ff7e9adf | comment |
Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Christina, especially in her younger years before the slew of abuse. | |
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