Archetypes
Archetypes in "The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" The film "The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood" examines the lives of four southern women who have sustained a bond over many decades based on a mysterious childhood alliance, unmet dreams and dark secrets. When the relationship between one of these women and her daughter threatens to become permanently broken, her childhood friends come together, as always, to help them mend their relationship as well as heal the painful past that drove them apart. The alcoholic parent, is manifested in the character of Vivian Joan "Vivi" Abbott Walker, mother of the young playwright Sidda Walker, a daughter who is just beginning to make her mark in the New York theater circuit. At the start of the film, Vivi is portrayed as a woman who, troubled by the comments made by her daughter in an interview for Time magazine, resorts to extreme outbursts of anger and grudge holding. In flashbacks of her life as a young mother, Vivi turns to alcohol to soothe her own pain however the alcohol works to blur her role as mot
Vivi randomly takes out her pain on the young Sidda through verbal chastising and unusual mother-daughter role-playing, which often leaves her daughter confused about whether her mother is a tyrannical caretaker or peculiar playmate. The southern belle as archetype is also obvious in this film, especially where the members of the ya ya sisterhood, and Vivi in particular, are portrayed as young southern girls aspiring to the life of Scarlett O'Hara in Gone With the Wind. As a father, Shep regularly demonstrates a willingness to put his daughters needs before his own in much the same way that he has always put Vivi's needs before his own, while Connor, as Sidda's long-time fiance, demonstrates the same loving patience with Sidda that Shep has demonstrated with Vivi. her and causes her to neglect and, on more than one occasion, abuse her children. Shep is a husband who has had to play second fiddle to the true love of Vivi's life, Jack, a young pilot killed in the war before the two had the opportunity to marry. Through much of her young life, Sidda Walker has had to play scapegoat to her mother's eccentric and alcohol-charged behaviors. Both Sidda's father Shep and her fiance Connor demonstrate the archetype of the hero. Sidda's role as her mother's scapegoat is demonstrated from the start when Vivi blames her daughter for the distress that she causes by speaking of her troubled childhood and her eccentric mother, both of which Sidda suggests has contributed to her creativity as a playwright. For Vivi, that aspiration will never be fully met although she continues to hold herself up as an upstanding southern woman despite the secrets of her past and her troubled spirit. In fact, the alcoholic as archetype is manifested not only in the character of Vivi, but also in the characters of the other ya ya sisters, Neci, Caro and Teensy, who regularly ensure that they have alcoholic drinks available throughout the film. The Time magazine article ultimately works to draw Sidda back into the role as her mother's scapegoat, a role she had hoped to avoid playing ever again by moving to New York City. As women on the later side of mid-life, all four members of the ya ya sisterhood maintain their southern belle attitudes however without the aspirations of life with Rhett Butler and a home as grand as Tara. Shep humbly takes his role as Vivi's second choice although he has had to endure the manifestations of her disappointment on a regular basis including her problem with alcohol and her ultimate nervous breakdown. Although there are few major male characters in the film, both men play the role of providing the support and stability that Sidda desperately needs in dealing with the challenging relationship that she has with her mother.
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