One of the films we have recently watched in class was Imitation of Life by Douglas Sirk. Overall, I found myself enjoying the film and its message, which was acceptance of oneself.
Imitation of Life portrayed the aspects of melodrama very well. There were many internal conflicts among the characters of the film in which one huge problem was mother-daughter relationships. The characters were either overdramatic, over gracious, or just extreme in any emotion to the point of annoyance in some cases. For example, when Annie was showing gratitude for every little thing, it seemed a little superficial. It made me ask myself, is she really that nice to never have any ounce of anger in her? I thought of the word “imitation” being in the title of the film at this point, and thought maybe she was hiding her real emotions, especially when Sarah Jane did things that upset her.
Apart from that, I thought the actors to be well-casted except for Sarah Jane. It was peculiar for me to believe that she was actually Annie’s daughter. I think I would have appreciated the film more if she was at least a small percentage black. I feel as if the filmmakers overemphasized her “whiteness,” to the point that made her character as a black woman’s daughter unbelievable to me. The director clearly exhibited the difference in the quality of life between the film’s white and black characters, making Sarah Jane’s entire persona a bit more believable, although I find myself hating her in the end for the way she had abandoned her mother.
