Contemporary Cinema term paper 2: Far from heaven
Name: Barbara Werner
Class: Contemporary Cinema 001
Instructor: Nicholas J. Simpson
Question: In what ways does Far From Heaven offer a revisionist, post-modern view of 1950s
American culture and society? How are its messages relevant to a modern American audience?
The following work is an examination of the movie Far from Heaven (USA, 2002) by Todd
Haynes and focused on the revisionist view of society and culture in 1950s, related to the
relevance to a modern audience.
Far from Heaven takes place 1957 in the suburban society of America. The movie is about the
married couple Frank and Cathy Whitaker, whose perfect life breaks away when Frank offers
that he is gay and Cathy starts to have a closer friendship with the black gardener Raymond
Deagan. The movie focused on Cathy Whitaker and her struggle to keep the illusion of
perfectness alive. At the end she is barred from society because of her unusual friendship and left
by her homosexual husband.
Far from Heaven was produced 2002 and is described as a postmodern1 revisionist2
melodrama.
Postmodernism art: A reaction to modernism and “is characterized by the self-conscious use of earlier styles and
conventions, a mixing of different artistic styles and media, and a general distrust of theories.”(Oxford Dictionary)
Postmodern films therefore express postmodern thoughts.
2 Revisionism: The critical re-examination of presumed historical facts and dominant ideological positions. Thereby
revisionist films re-evaluate history, heroism and American culture and revising again the past.
1
The following work shows how Far from Heaven uses film aesthetic styles in a
postmodernism way and gives a revision at the American suburban society and culture in the
1950s.
Far from Heaven takes place in a small town called “Hartford” and presents the pretended
perfect, white, middle-class life through the family Whitaker. Living in a beautiful house, with
two children and good relationship to their neighbors, the Whitakers represent the image of the
nuclear family in the 50s. The father Frank Whitaker is as successful businessman with influence
in his job and the community. He represents the typical father of the nuclear family in the 50s by
going to work and making the money to feed his family. Cathy Whitaker is the beautiful, always
well-dressed mother, who raises the children and stays at home as a perfect housewife. She
enjoys an influential social prestige in the community and neighborhood because of her
successful husband. She therefore represents the perfect mother of the nuclear family in the 50s.
Looking back the mid-50s were a time of social, economic and political chances and
developments after World War II. These chances leaded to a better education system and created
a new society structure with a strong new middle-class. This middle-class was living in suburb
areas and enjoyed luxury by consuming goods. 3
The film takes place 1957, the Cold War time, when capitalistic America was fighting against
communistic Soviet Union about the power and leading ship in world economy.
The 1950s were affected by big contrast in society between a rich, white, conservative middleclass and the civil rights movement by the poverty and social injustice of black people.
Through the Whitaker family Todd Haynes illustrates a critical investigation of the 50s
society. Haynes shows that things were not as it seems and how important it was to keep the
illusion.
3
Cf. Kohlpoth 2006
At first the life of the Whitaker family seems perfect by presenting them as the cliché, nuclear
family. Following through the movie it gets more and more clear that Cathy and Frank aren’t a
happily married couple. When Frank starts to go into clubs and comes home late after work, the
audience recognizes that their perfect marriage is in trouble. When Frank calls Cathy one night,
telling her he will be home late because of work, Cathy decided to visit her husband at work. In
doing so, she interrupts him kissing another man in his office. With that the perfectness of the
family image is broken. When Frank admits to Cathy that he is gay, she stays with him and they
both decided to go to a doctor also to remain their marriage. The doctor/therapist starts to treat
Frank with shock treatment.
To pick up homosexuality as a central theme Todd Haynes gives a critical view how society in
the 50s has handle this subject. Being gay in the 1950s was against the conservative family
tradition and also illegal by government rules. Homosexuality was seen as a disease and as
unnatural. By firstly not talking to anyone about the outing of Frank but going to a doctor and
keep on playing happy family, Haynes shows how homosexuality has to be hidden and was a
non-talk-about-theme in the 50s. It brings out that it was more a social problem of being gay as it
was a family problem,4 by letting the Whitaker family keep their illusion of a perfect couple still
alive in public. The movie shows that everything is just a facade. Still playing “Mr. and Mrs.
Magnatech” at a party, the movie also pictures how hard it is to keep the illusion alive by
showing Frank as a drinker and also abuse his wife.
The situation escalates when Frank and Cathy trying to have sex but Frank realizes in this
moment that he is not able to and slaps her because of anger. With that Haynes also shows that it
is not possible to keep up a false appearance.
4
Cf. Willis 2003
This leads to the role and appearance of women in the 50s. By letting Cathy being hit by
Frank, Haynes gives an example how women should behave after men rules. Domestic violence
against women is shown through the movie as not unusual in the 50s, when Cathy’s best friend
Eleanor sees the wound. Instead of helping Cathy by going with her for example to the police,
Eleanor just feels sorry for her. Again Haynes defines how important it is to keep the illusion of
perfectness, when Cathy hides the wound.
Having Cathy Whitaker as the main character in the movie, Haynes shows through her the
traditional- and also chancing role of the woman in the 50s. On the one hand Cathy is the
traditional well-dressed woman who presents herself through the status of her husband 5and is
dominated by man, when she still stands with him after he even hits her, admits that he is
homosexual and cheated on her. On the other hand she represents the fight for more freedom and
women desire when she starts to meet with the black gardener Raymond without thinking about
consequences. Therefore Sharon Willis points out “(…) Cathy Whitaker appears as the perfect
icon for contradictions and shifting social relations.”6
However, she acts out of social rules and is therefore isolated by the community. Presenting
sexual and racial differences in the movie through man, at the end Cathy is the one who is left
behind and loses everything because she is female. Haynes poses with this end that acting out of
social rules wasn’t possible for women in the 50s and criticizes gender difference by developing
it as a main subject through the character of Cathy.
By presenting a love affaire between a black man and a white woman, Haynes also broaches
the issues of racism. Characterizing Raymond as a gardener, Haynes points out that the middle-
5
E.g.: When the television team interviews her, Cathy also points out that she presents the traditional woman by
only seeing herself as wife and mother and not calling herself woman . “My life is just like any other wife and
mother´s.(…) I don´t think I ´ve ever wanted anything…”.
6
Willis 2003, p. 134
class in the 50s were only white people and that black people were just tolerated in this society as
servant and seen as “Negroes”. When Cathy starts a closer friendship with Raymond, the rumors
about them develop. 7 A white woman having a black man as a friend or even lover in the 1950s
was a violation against the society rule of racial segregation and moral concepts. When Eleanor
hears that the rumors about Cathy and Raymond are true, she tells Cathy that she cannot be
longer friend with her. Haynes represents racial segregation of this time which leads by crossing
these boundaries to the isolation of the society. He criticizes therewith the small- mindedness of
radical thinking and the self-evident of racism in the 1950s.8 Furthermore the movie also shows
the violence against black people by letting Raymond’s daughter being beaten by white boys.
This shows again how self- evident racism was when even teached through education children
behaved like this and are not being punished for it. Haynes underlines this self- evident of racism
by letting even Frank, who should know how it feels to be different by being gay, doesn’t feel for
the girl. Haynes highlights therewith that being black was an even bigger difference than being
gay in the 1950s. Again the movie presents how the kindness and cooperativeness of the 1950s
society is only a false facade.
Another way of Todd Haynes giving a view of the 1950s culture is his postmodern use of film
styles and aesthetic. Far from heaven is a homage to the work of Douglass Sirk9 and his movie
All that Heaven Allows (USA, 1955). Far from heaven is a postmodern revision of Sirks female
7
When Cathy sees Raymond for the first time in the garden, at the same time she is being interviewed. Because of
that in the article about her it’s written down. ” Behind every great man there resides a great lady . . . Wife and
mother and Mrs. Magnatech herself, Cathleen Whitaker . . . is as devoted to her family as she is kind to Negroes.”
8
This could be seen explicit in the movie when Cathy and Frank laying at a pool in Miami and a little black boy
wants to go in it and comes in contact with the water. Instantly every white person leaves the pool by being afraid of
coming in contact with black people through the water.
9
Douglas Sirk (Hans Sirk) was a German immigrated filmmaker in the 50s, best known for his melodrama series All
that heaven allows, Written in the wind and Imitation of life.
melodramas10 of the 1950s
11
, by utilizes film styles in postmodern way, like bright colors,
melodramatic score, costumes of the 50s and crane and medium shots.
12
Referring to the
Technicolor style of Douglas Sirk, Haynes uses this to underline his critic of the 1950s society.
The bright colors illustrating again the illusion of the perfect middle-class society but also
punctuate that everything is fake and a façade by using these exaggerated unnatural and
unrealistic colors in the movie. Pretending a “bright colored life” in society, behind the illusion
everything is black.
Referring to society of the 1950s by using film styles of the time, Haynes also offers a specific
view on film culture of the time through the dialog. By using only descriptions and no explicitly
by outline subject like homosexuality and racism, Todd Haynes shows the dealing with these
themes in the movies of the 50s. Therefore Haynes hints to the Hays Code13, which didn’t allow
movies to talk about critical and undesirable themes.
All in all Todd Haynes presents through Far from heaven a critic of the 1950s and destroys
therewith an illusion for contemporary audience. By asking the question why Todd Haynes
produced a postmodern revision of the 50s, Todd McGowan points out that “Far from heaven is
a contemporary film, responding to the political exigencies of its moment.”
14
Taking a closer
look at the releasing time of the movie this statement gets clearer. 2002 was the post- 9/11 time
and the President Bush- era. Elected in the year 2000, George W. Bush inherited a prosperous
economy with financial surplus comparable to 1950s. He presented the “born again Christian”
and strengthened GOP ties to the ´religious rights´. Attending to the cultural and ideological
10
Melodrama: „Historical a play interspersed with songs and orchestral music accompanying the action.” (Oxford
dictionary)
Also called „chick flicks“
Cf. MacDowell 2006
13
Hays Code (Production Code): Established by Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America (MPPDA)
director Will H. Hays as a self –control by censor subjects like sexuality and criminality and showing them in an
acceptable moral way.
14
McGowan 2007, p. 117
11
12
impact of the 9/11 events, politics shifted in domestic and foreign. After 9/11 American society
developed an even bigger sense of patriotism and unit as before. These thoughts were supported
by speeches of Bush, pretending that the whole world hates America by representing the shining
world and creating the conception of “the world against America”.15 President speeches were
characterized by extremes and contrasts like black/white, wrong/right, America/world,
friend/enemy. Thereby a new society was formed which referred back to the society of the
1950s. By a stronger development of conservatism, patriotism and Christianize, the idea of a
nuclear family and collective society was formed again. The nostalgic belief of the 1950s society
as the “good old times” was presented again by living after the 1950s concept of society.
By showing the illusion and façade of the 1950s society, Haynes gives a critical message to
the nostalgic thinking of the modern audience.16“The image of the 1950s functions as a key
element in the contemporary conservative revival. When confronted with this image, one is
tempted to inveigh against its nostalgia and to argue for progress and for envisioning a different
future rather than return to a past that never existed.”17
By criticizing the society and culture of the 1950s, Haynes creates also a critical view on
contemporary society. By illustrating black people, homosexual people and female freedomfight as a concept out of society rules, they are also symbolizing “the otherness” which has to
isolate from the society because of the danger to society order.18 In this way Haynes compares to
the rising of the extreme different- thinking of the contemporary audience. By referring back to
the idea of the 1950s society, in 21st century “the otherness” was presented by everything which
was un-American and unpatriotic and therewith a danger for the society and America. The movie
15
Bush speeches were also about supporting war (Iraq, Afghanistan) which can be compared to the supporting
speeches in the Cold War era for Vietnam War.
16
Cf. McGowan 2007, p.115
17
McGowan 2007, p. 120
18
Cf. Scherr
therewith also sends a warning message by showing the danger of creating an enemy-image
which leads to radicalism and blindness. While watching this movie, Haynes gives the modern
American audience the opportunity to reflect their thinking of creating a concept of an enemy
caused by political speeches and fear. By showing the dark side of the 1950s to modern
audience, they get the chance to reflect it to their contemporary society and culture and to rethink
of the nostalgic wish of the “good old times”.19
“By repositioning ourselves within this nostalgic fantasy and rethinking how we enjoy it, Far
from Heaven marks a major political blow in the ongoing battle against the prevailing
conservatism.” 20
In summary Todd Haynes Far from Heaven offers a critical view of the 1950s society and
culture by picking up issues like oppression of women, racism and homophobe. He shows that
the nostalgic view of the 1950s is just an illusion by presenting a society in the movie where
everything is just a façade. Using 1950s film styles and aesthetics in a postmodern way, he
underlines his critic. At the same time Haynes therewith relates behavior and thoughts of
modern American audience to the 1950s by showing how incorrect the nostalgic reflection of
this time is.
Haynes doesn’t only criticize the nostalgic thought of the 1950s, but also the relived concept
of the time in society, politics and culture of the 21st century. Far from Heaven presents a critical
view of society and culture in 1950s and in the 21st century.
19
20
Cf. McGowan 2007, p.115
McGowan 2007, p. 120
Reference:
Kohlpoth, Tanja: Gesellschaftsbild und soziologische Theorie. Talcott Parsons´ Funktionalismus
im Kontext der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung der USA in den 1950er und 1960er Jahren.
Kassel: kassel university press GmbH 2007.
McGowan, Todd: Relocating our Enjoyment of the 1950s: The Politics of Fantasy in Far from
Heaven. In: Morrison, James (Ed.) The Cinema of Todd Haynes: All that Heaven Allows.
London: Wallflower Press 2007.
Willis, Sharon: The Politics of Disspointment: Todd Haynes Rewrites Douglas Sirk. Camera
Obscura 54 (Volume 18, Number 3) 2003. P. 130-175.
Internet sources
MacDowell, James: Beneath the Surface of Things: Interpretation ad Far from Heaven.
http://www.offscreen.com/index.php/phile/essays/beneath_surface/ . 06/12/2012
Oxford University Press: Oxford Dictionaries. The world most trusted dictionaries. Melodrama.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/melodrama . 12/06/2012
Oxford University Press: Oxford Dictionaries. The world most trusted dictionaries.
Postmodernism.
http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/postmodernism. 12/06/2012
Scherr, Rebecca: JUMP CUT. A Review Of Contemporary Media. (Not) queering “white vision”
in Far from Heaven and Transamerica.
http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc50.2008/Scherr/index.html . 12/06/2012