Mildred Pierce

So the remake of Mildred Pierce was shown on Sky Atlantic this weekend. When it was announced that this was coming to tv I had just finished an assignment analysing the original Joan Crawford version for my film class. I loved the film. It was done in a film noir style in 1945 and was quite glamorous, earning a an Oscar nomination for Crawford. I wouldn't necessarily agree with the message in the film, that women who aim to achieve more than their male counterparts will be karmically punished for it.
The film is based on a novel by James M. Cain.

The story goes that Mildred is a housewife who kicks out her cheating husband to try and raise her two kids and pay the bills on her own. She works hard, in a job she feels is beneath herself and makes enough money using her wits and intelligence and builds her own restaurant business. But it is her oldest daughter Veda whom she has spoilt through the years that betrays her and humiliates her. You really have to see or read it to get the whole gist of the story. Crawford's version of Pierce is punished for her endeavours and I wonder if this new version with Kate Winslet will be different.

Already the critics are not impressed with the new version's bleakness and lack of convincing storyline. I think this is the intent. This time it's not film noir, it's post modern irony. Winslet's Pierce's struggle through the depression to try and get a decent job with just her home-maker skills echoes with myself and millions of mothers out there who are dealing with own reality with the current recession. I  found this version much more depressing, but a part of me is urging Winslet to bring some glimmer of hope to us mums who are watching this. Surely things right now are nowhere as bad as the Great Depression? Or should we prepare for worse to follow?

I urge everyone to at least watch the original film. Its probably the first black and white film I have really ever enjoyed!

I've arrived

OK, I've attempted blogs before but this time I really need to try harder. My very wise cousin in New York told me I should do this, so AT, this is all your fault!

I want to use this blog to write about my crazy idea to go back to University again. You see back when I was 18, I left Gibraltar, fresh faced and fancy free to do a degree in Engineering. Crazy? I didn't have the best careers advice at school but to make a long story short, I picked from a list of top 10 best paid careers and ended up choosing Engineering.

I grew up in New York, where everyone tells you, you can do what ever you want, as long as you put your head to it! I suppose this is true for most people, but you have to have a real passion for it if you really want something.

I didn't really want to be an Engineer. So somehow I got through three years and ended up failing my last exams. Its ok, I never enjoyed it, but I did meet my husband there, he was my lab partner.

And so I left Uni, got a job at Prudential, looking after people's company pensions. It paid well, and I made a pretty good success out of a boring finance job. Once I had kids though, it just got tougher and tougher, until I hit a massive brick wall when my oldest daughter started school. I just couldn't manage.

So I got upset, left my job and sought some professional advice. What do I do now? My advisor asked me, what do you see yourself doing in ten years time? The first thing that shot out of my mouth, I want to write. I'd been writing short stories since I was five years old. When I was seven, my grandfather read one of them and was so excited for me that he gave me his typewriter to use. You see, my grandfather was a published writer back in the day, and his father before that.

Somehow in the move from New York to Gibraltar, I lost my confidence. I spent so much time trying to fit in, I forgot who I was supposed to be.

Now I had a second chance. I joined a creative writing class, and then an acting class. I joined the local amateur drama company. The first play I did was a musical and I had wonderful principal part that had me singing solo on stage for the first time ever. 

It was truly amazing. My creative appetite was growing, and after much soul searching, and web crawling, I found a degree in Humanities I could apply to at the nearest University where I could study the modules I wanted, Film Studies, Philosophy, Creative Writing, and Acting.

I applied, and despite the competition, got accepted a few weeks later. Its been four amazing weeks and I'm just doing Film and Philosophy this year, part time, until my youngest goes to school full time. I should have that magical BA Hons degree in my hands in four years.

I've had a lot of help from family and friends, and a wonderful guardian angel.

I wanted to do this blog to maybe there have been so many people who have inspired me. This is my way of thanking them.