MovieChat Forums > Imitation of Life (1959) Discussion > Too hard on Sarah Jane

Too hard on Sarah Jane

posted 13 years ago by BodaciousBabe
7 replies | jump to latest

There is not one of you that hasn't had a falling out or disagreement with your parents or other people in your life that you love. This does not make you a villain and yet Sarah Jane was viewed as such because she would not accept the life her mother forced on her. A life of limitations and not being accepted. She grew up right next to Susie who had the world at her feet and limitless choices and yet she had few. I know her mother thought she was doing this for her own good, but she didn't know how things would change in the future. Oprah's grandmother told her that one day she might be lucky enough to work for some good white people. This was the best future she could envision for her at that time. Imagine if she had believed that.

When the wind blows it's almost like I see her in the Hamptons...

[–] Kurtz9791 13 years ago

I don't think Sarah Jane was the villain. Really, to me, she was the biggest casualty, the final victim. The real haunting ending is what happens after the closing credits. I can only imagine the identity/psychological issues that Sarah Jane will struggle with for the rest of her life. And not because she is bad, but because of the way things were back then. Society failed her, discrimination means people will slip through the cracks. I'm glad it didn't end like the book with her getting married and moving away.

SPOILERS

This is one of the saddest movies I have ever seen. The last scene between Sarah Jane and her mother, where she pretends that she was her old nanny, and then her roommate says in a racist tone of voice, "I didn't know you had a mammy," made me ball my eyes out.

http://www.idfilm.blogspot.com/

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] sylvia67 13 years ago

this is one of the things that made the movie so important and ground breaking, the director had the guts to condemn society, he wasnt condemning any of the characters, he was make a social statement..

[–] 13 years ago

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[–] vpilutis 12 years ago

One other item many blacks of Annie's generation thought of themselves as second class citizens back then. Recall the line in "Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?"
Where John says to his father:
"You think of yourself as a colored man, I think of myself as a man"
Remember how the maid put him down?

See some stars here
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[–] Ariane67 12 years ago

I so fully agree with you, many thanks for this intelligent post and the empathy - such a too rare quality today...

-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-°-

"Don't act, be !" (Kate Winslet)

[–] 12 years ago

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