Seeing motherhood from the close vantage point of a parent rather than the one I'm most used to-- that of a child-- makes me appreciate my mother all the more, to say nothing of the love and discipline seen given forth from my wife to our beautiful daughters, who need no reminding of how much they mean to their own mother. It may be the most difficult job to do, which may be why the mothers seen above become so fanatical, blinded by their desire to do right by their own children even as they destroy them or at the very least make that destruction possible. Motherhood done right is a much more difficult achievement, which is why it's important to take today, and every day, to commemorate a job well and sensitively done. Hye-ja Kim, Piper Laurie, Mae Questel, Angie Dickinson and Shelley Winters personify the extremes of maternal devotion, but Barbara Stanwyck already had Stella Dallas in her pocket when I first came to know her as Victoria Barkley, stern but loving matriarch of TV's The Big Valley. She's part the mother I had and the mother I wish I had, and remembering her presence in this series is just one more way for me to reflect on all the mothers that touch my life with grace, duty, perseverance and love.
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Someone asked me to recommend a movie for Mother's Day and the first title that came to mind was "White Heat." Don't know what that says about me, as my mother and I have get along just fine, but there you go. Great pictures.
ReplyDeleteNot germane to the discussion, but if you hadn't heard LACMA has recently added Christian Marclay's "The Clock" to its schedule, playing next Monday through Tuesday starting at 11:00 a.m.
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