Pointed out in both the Bell Hooks article as well as the Hollinger piece, black women in cinema are portrayed in extremely limiting ways. The mammy character was a mother without a family. She took care of white families, the true stars. While nurturing and wise, she is generally sassy and never married or raising her own children. In hooks’ article she says, “Even when representations of black women were present in film, our bodies and beings were there to serve…”Classically portrayed in It’s a Wonderful Life, Annie is the Bailey’s maid. She is there to serve the white main characters, and is literally denied a gaze. As hooks comments, slave owners punished slaves for even looking at white people. This persisted into the film when Annie is ridiculed by George for lingering too long after bringing him what he demanded. She is banished to silence and the kitchen. While the Bailey’s clearly have an adoration for Annie, she is also more like a pet than a part of the family; permitted when wanted, but sent away when not.
Annie is also portrayed as the mammy in the very last scene of the film. As all the members of the community are bringing forward donations for George, Annie gives George her savings and says, “I been savin’ this money for a divorce, if I ever get a husband.” Here she implies that she is not married and doesn’t plan on being married. She also is giving up that chance for the white family. Annie is desexualized.
GWSS 3307 Feminist Film Studies 