The maternal melodrama centres on the mother, and her narrative is of primary importance in the film

The Maternal Melodrama
The maternal melodrama centres on the mother, and her narrative is of primary importance in the film. Often the maternal melodrama investigates the relationship between the mother and the daughter, but this is not always the case as can be seen in films such as In The Gloaming, Men Don’t Leave, and Losing Isaiah, which portray relationships between mothers and sons. In a maternal melodrama, the mother is often developed into a complex character over the course of narrative, and her relationships with her children and with other characters facilitate this development. In spite of this development, the mother also represents a maternal figure, which is either idealized or demonized. According to Adrienne Rich, the ideal maternal figure accords with myths of nurturing; she is a “continual presence” in the life of the child, and is self-sacrificing and self-effacing in her prioritizing of the needs of the child (12, 22-23). The “bad mother” is the neglectful mother who puts her own needs first and is the cause of everyone’s suffering (Rich 23). E. Ann Kaplan contends that this identification of the mother as self-effacing or self-abnegating figure positions her on the margins in a “position limited to that of spectator” (467). Kaplan’s work in her article “The Case of the Missing Mother: Maternal Issues in Vidor’s Stella Dallas” examines the contradictory portrayal of mothers in feminist theory in general and in maternal melodramas like Stella Dallas. In her analysis of Stella Dallas, Kaplan explores the opposition of mother as agent of patriarchy and mother as victim of patriarchy in Hollywood films, determining their involvement in “perpetuating [these] useless patriarchal myths” (468).
Kaplan’s discussion of the film’s representation of mother reveals the consistent positioning of mothers in the background both literally and figuratively. Stella’s own mother is often featured in the background of scenes in Stella’s family home, a “gaunt and haggard figure [who] slaves away at sink and stove in the rear of the frame, all but invisible on a first viewing” (470). This mother watches the activity of her family, supporting the men in the family (father and brother) for economic reasons while neglecting her daughter Stella. She fulfills the reproductive role ascribed to mothers by a patriarchal society in that she is the bearer and caretaker of children. She acts as an agent of patriarchy in her prioritizing the needs of her son and husband over those of her daughter.
Kaplan’s article argues that the film teaches women to inhabit roles, which are specific to women. When women are the object of the male gaze, they inhabit the place of a spectacle; when women are mothers, they must renounce their position of spectacle and act as spectators. This education comes from filmic portrayals of women. In an early scene in the movie, Stella, a working-class woman, and Stephen, an upper-class man, attend the movies, and Stella states, “I want to be like the women in the movies” (in Kaplan 470). The movies are shown to teach Stella how to perform femininity, and Stella sees this performance as the key to seducing Stephen. Kaplan describes Stella’s “performances” as “self-conscious” but “flawless”; she succeeds in seducing Stephen (470). Later, as Stella and Stephen embrace and kiss, they are viewed by two women passing by the couple on the street, and the couple becomes the spectacle. Kaplan demonstrates how the film teaches women to be spectators by having the audience see Stella imitating women’s film performances, by the scenes of Stella at the movies weeping at the film’s conclusion and by the women spectators who watch Stella and Stephen kiss. Kaplan writes, “we are both offered a model of how we should respond to films and given insight into the mechanisms of cinematic voyeurism and identification” (470).

Melodrama Revisited: Mamma Mia!
The 2008 film Mamma Mia! utilizes many of the conventions of the maternal melodrama. The narrative centres on a mother-daughter relationship, and the daughter’s upcoming wedding alludes to the mother’s loss of the daughter. Other conventions such as high emotionalism, the importance of seemingly minor acts, and the use of the close-up function as important components of the melodrama of plot and character.
The opening scene of the crossing of the Mediterranean Sea by the daughter in order to deliver three wedding invitations to three men, one of whom is likely to be her father, sets the stage for this melodrama. The setting of an inn on a Greek Island produces the closed space of the domestic, family environment. The problem which needs to be resolved is introduced as the daughter’s need to know the identity of her father which has been kept secret from her by the mother. The conflict between mother and daughter rests on the keeping of secrets by the mother from her daughter. However, the daughter proves to be a keeper of secrets. Like her mother, she keeps silent about her plan for the three men to come to her wedding, telling neither her mother nor her fiancée about her plan. This keeping of secrets turns the small act of sending the invitations into a much greater problem as more secrets will need to be kept while the daughter determines the identity of her father. Her unexpected difficulty in pinpointing which man resides in her inability to see herself as like-featured physically with one man because she looks like her mother. The daughter’s problem grows as this small act introduces unexpected problems for the other characters, especially her mother.
This likeness of mother and daughter is emphasized throughout the film. The initial scenes of the film, which present the arrival of guests, mirror each other. The sequence of having the daughter’s friends arrive first allows for a comedic comparison of young and old. The squealing and embracing of the daughter and her friends, which is expected of youth, appears undignified in the three middle-aged women. The immaturity of their behaviour is emphasized further through the exaggerated posing and shrieking of the women. Through these displays of youthful behaviour, the audience is encouraged to see their expressions of excited emotion as a sign of the deepness of their friendships. Presumably, the posing and the call outs are reminiscent of scenes from the past when they were young and when this type of exuberance was expected, as it is with the daughter and her friends.
Added to this physical humour is the discussion of sexuality. The daughter and her friends discuss the past sexuality of the mother, Donna, which has been discovered via a diary the daughter has found. Their discussion is full of silences and allusions to sexuality, a pattern which is associated with youth given that Donna’s diary signifies her sexual experiences as “dot, dot, dot.” The daughter and her friend add some thrusting gestures to the exclamation of “dot, dot, dot”, but they maintain the silence on sexual intimacy instigated by the youthful Donna.
The mother and her friends also discuss sexuality, but their discussion is more frank, and, in comparison to the discussion of the younger women, more raunchy. For example, Donna makes a grabbing gesture at Tanya’s breasts, asking about this change to her body, and Tanya identifies one of her husbands as responsible for paying for it. There is direct reference to female desire, and this desire is acknowledged and encouraged. All three friends are single in the present of the film, but the women are shown to have had sexual relationships with men. Tanya has been married three times and is characterized as the most experienced with men and marriage. Donna is the only mother in the group.