Mommie Dearest

In a nutshell, Mommie Dearest (1978) was a memoir written by Christina Crawford, depicting her physical and mental abuse at the hands of her adoptive mother, famed actress Joan Crawford. It had spawned the equally famous Film of the Book, with Faye Dunaway in the role of Joan Crawford.

To put it more bluntly and in more detail, the book pretty much destroyed the reputation of Joan Crawford in the eyes of the public, as far as the book's revelations about her systematic abuse of her children, Christina in particular. The book's vivid recounting of Joan's psychotic behavior and abuse of her children polarized Hollywood into camps of those who confirmed Christina's story (or acknowledge that the signs of the abuse were there and that no one said anything about it) and those who proclaimed that the novel was a revenge plot, designed by Christina to ruin her mother's name after finding out that she was being cut out of her mother's will and as a means to gain fame, as her own attempt to launch an acting career had fallen short.

The book can be seen as one of the first (and arguably most successful) of the genre of nasty tell-all biographies of stars from the Golden Age of Hollywood, told by their children. Others such as the kids of Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Henry Fonda, Loretta Young, Bing Crosby and Bette Davis all tried to replicate the success with various results (Davis' daughter wrote two books critical of her mother, the second of which bombed, and their veracity is questionable at best, but the books that Marlene Dietrich's and Bing Crosby's respective broods wrote did quite well). Ironically, Davis, who had been one of Joan Crawford's biggest rivals, was fiercely critical of Christina writing the book and said she would be mortified if one of her own children did such a thing to her; sure enough, B.D. Hyman published My Mother's Keeper a few years later and, like Christina, found herself disowned for her trouble.

The 1981 movie version of the book was an even bigger debacle: Faye Dunaway (who ironically had been praised by Crawford in print prior to her death and who even suggested that she should play her in the inevitable bio-film of Joan's life) was cast and Paramount mounted it as a serious bio-film. Sadly though, after numerous re-writes and an incompetent director whose previous directing experience was a handful of hammy melodramas, much of Joan Crawford's character development ended up missing, which turned her into a deranged cartoon character, and the abuse segments took on larger than life sadistic tones. By the end, even Christina Crawford (whose husband had a hand in producing the film) thought the film was too over-the-top. As such, Faye Dunaway came off as a Large Ham, and the film picked up a huge word-of-mouth regarding it as an unintentional comedy, forcing the studio to Retool the marketing to focus on the over-the-top abuse. Sadly, it failed to save the box office take, though it secured itself as a Cult Classic.

Mommie Dearest provides examples of:

• Abusive Parents: Three guesses, no prizes.
• Adaptation Decay: The movie doesn't even acknowledge that Joan Crawford adopted two other children, Cathy and Cynthia. Interestingly, the two of them were left in Crawford's will, and disputed Christina's account of life in their household; thus, Christina became estranged from them.
• Adaptation Distillation: The "wire hangers" and "scouring powder" incidents did not, as they are depicted in the film, happen on the same night in the novel (in addition, the "scouring powder" incident happened in Joan's dressing room, not in Christina's own bathroom). According to Christina, they were part of a wider pattern of behavior of Joan terrorizing her children at night, a pattern Christina and Christopher referred to as "night raids."
• The Alcoholic / Alcoholic Parent: Joan, especially in the film. According to Christina, Joan had always liked her liquor, but her drinking escalated once her contract with MGM ended and she subsequently went three years without any meaningful work after signing with Warner Bros. Even her career resurgence as the result of Mildred Pierce didn't end it.
• Berserk Button: Wire hangers strangely sets Joan Crawford off in the movie adaptation.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: Joan and possibly Christina.
• Chewing the Scenery: Faye Dunaway mowing down the sets, props and co-stars in every scene she's in.
• Composite Character: In the movie, Greg is a combination of the various husbands Joan Crawford had, while the housekeeper is meant to represent several employees in Joan's house.
• Cool Old Lady: Joan's mother, Anna Casson, was loving and sweet and doted on her grandchildren (she was adapted out of the film). Naturally, she and Joan did not get along, and Anna was eventually banished from the household.
• Cute and Psycho: Joan Crawford, if Mommie Dearest is to be believed.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Again, if Mommie Dearest is to be believed, Joan was a master of this. Some examples:
  • In the film, Joan gives Christina a Traumatic Haircut for the transgression of going through her mother's drawers and imitating her in the mirror.
  • In the novel, it's not Christina's hair that gets destroyed, but a favorite dress of hers. The unpardonable sin: at age four, Christina accidentally damaged the wallpaper in her bedroom.
  • And of course, the ultimate crime: having wire hangers in her closet, which is an intense scene in both the film and the novel.
• Evil Matriarch: Joan Crawford, as depicted in both the book and the movie.
• Foreshadowing: The final lines of the movie, after Christina and her brother find out that their mother had disinherited them, suggest that Christina would truly have "the last word".
• Genre Killer: While the book spawned a slew of nasty tell-all "memoirs" by children of famous celebrity parents that continues to this day, this film seemed have killed the idea of turning those books into major motion pictures, save for a television movie every now and then.
• Genre Popularizer: As mentioned, Christina Crawford's book started a slew of mean-spirited books written by children of famous actors about their parents' alleged abusive and loose behavior.
• Hair of Gold: Christina.
• Ham-to-Ham Combat: Christina vs. Joan before the latter attempts to strangle the former.
• How We Got Here: An almost metaphysical example; the film ends with Christina's decision to write a tell-all book about her mother, which in turn gets adapted into the very same movie the audience is watching.
• Infertility Angst: Joan actually did get pregnant several times before she decided to adopt, but none of the babies was carried to term. According to Christina, at least of the alleged miscarriages (Douglas Fairbanks Jr. was the father) may have in fact been an abortion.
• John Waters: Provided DVD commentary for the film.
• Large Ham: And how. Truth in Television too, as the real Crawford was said to be one in Real Life. Also, Faye Dunaway as Crawford in the film version.
• Misery Lit: Arguably one of the best and most influential examples.
• Muse Abuse: It inspired the Blue Oyster Cult song Joan Crawford Has Risen From The Grave, whose video is a farrago of images from the film.
• Never Speak Ill of the Dead: Subverted, as Christina claims she (as well as her brother Christopher) was cut off from Joan's will "for reasons best known to her."
• Nice Character, Mean Actor: The book claims that Joan was one of these.
• Off to Boarding School: As it happened to Christina Crawford. According to the novel, this also happened to Joan as a girl (when she was growing up poor in Oklahoma and forced to earn her room and board through daily work), and she hated it.
• Panty Shot: A somewhat jarring one from Christina, when Joan attacks and chokes her.
  • Also Christina (at four years old) in the novel, as a result of having to wear a mutilated dress for a week as a punishment for damaging her bedroom wallpaper.
• Parody Retcon: The movie started being advertised as a parody a few months after its release.
• Playing Sick: Joan feigned having the flu on Oscar night 1946 despite being nominated for Best Actress for Mildred Pierce. Naturally, when it was announced that she won, she miraculously "recovered" and gave a grand acceptance speech for the gathered press.
• Precision F-Strike: "DON'T FUCK WITH ME, FELLAS! This ain't my first time at the rodeo."
• Punctuated! For! Emphasis!: "NO! WIRE! HANGERS! EVEEEEEER!!!"
  • Also, "I AM NOT! ONE OF YOUR FAAAAAAAAAAAANS!!!"
    • "Oh Joan, stop 'acting'." "IIIIII'MM! NOOT! ACTINNNNNNNGGGG!!!"
• Signature Line: "No wire hangers, ever!"
• Title Drop: Christina addresses her mom this way with the movie or book title of the same name.
• Traumatic Haircut: Joan in the movie forcibly cuts Christina's hair (while screaming at her) after catching her preening in Joan's mirror. "You spoiled it, just like I spoiled you."