The women in Mudbound relate to women and gender studies. The women in the film are examples of a women’s place in Mississippi during the Jim Crow era post war. Laura McAllan depicts a white woman’s role in being complicit with racism and the general role of a woman during those times. Florence Jackson gives us the point of view of a black woman whos family lives on the McAllan’s land. She is hired by Laura to take care of her children while her son returns from war. Vera another woman’s family sharecrops on the land like the Jacksons ,she shows a woman that has gone mad over her situation in life.
Laura a woman whos life wasn’t going anywhere before she met Henry -her husband -who “saved her” from her life before. She is grateful towards him for removing her from her situation but she does not love him. She is subordinate to what her husband wants. An example of this is when she states that she “loved domestic life yielding and waiting for him to come home . that what she was put on the Earth to do”. Also, she never denies his advances because it makes her feel like a wife. Her role as wife she places herself as lesser to make him feel like a man.
Laura sees the unjust treatment of the Jacksons throughout the movie. An example of this was when Pappy was speaking to Florence when she was cutting up food to cook. She held the knife to her side and Pappy threatened her. Laura stayed silently watching this happen even though she herself dose not like Pappy. She had silently coddled his racism and when she placed herself in a wife’s role, she had no power to do anything.
Vera the white sharecropper had been struggling to pay the sues. She constantly demands that Laura gives them work and to let her family stay on the land. She threatens and begs Laura to stay. But, that decision is ultimately up to her husband not hers to make. Vera’s actions would have gotten a black woman and her family killed if they had done that. which shows her white privilege.
. Florence goes to work for this white family which was a difficult decision for her to make because her mothers have done the same. She wanted to raise and love her own instead of a white woman’s children to the fullest wanting to break the generational job. She agreed to further her family in their goals of owning their own land and making ends meet.
Another way this film is related to women and gender studies is that the producer of the film is a black woman named Dee Rees. She was the first black woman who was nominated for a Oscar fort the best adopted screenplay for this film. She is making advances for people of color in the way they are marketed towards, as well as putting out media for consumption. She also made the industry leaders pay attention to what black consumers enjoy.
