Mare of Easttown (Miniseries, Season 1; 2021)
Even though this miniseries has been showered with praises and accolades for its outstanding storyline and exciting characterisation, I cannot stop thinking of the society it depicts. Sadly, such dysfunctional families are the norm and maybe a prescient occurrence in the near foreseeable future.
In 1950, when Ingrid Bergmann was riding high as the silver screen diva, known for her fabulous screen presence in Casablanca, was denied a visa to the USA. She was Swedish, had just done 'Stromboli' and had an affair with her Italian director, Roberto Rossellini. The illicit union produced offspring. Bergmann was denied entry on this account - a person of such stature, potentially influencing the doe-eyed fans with had dressing and morality, was a bad example to the then conservative American. The American Movie Industry had strict moral codes after the Roaring twenties, which led to the Prohibition Era.
HBO
Mare @ Marianne Sheehan is a detective in the local police department in a small town in Pennsylvania. So many things are playing in her mind. Her adult son had recently hung himself. His toddler son, Mare's grandson, is under her care as his mother, Mare's daughter-in-law, is institutionalised for drug addiction. Mare's teenage daughter is angry with her for her brother's death, while Mare's ex-husband, living just behind her home, is getting engaged. Meanwhile, Mare's mother, who stays with her, breathes down her neck, critical of her every move.
At the work front, things are not looking too rosy either. A one-year unresolved case of a missing girl is making its rounds in the media again, and a new murder of a young teenage mother takes centre stage. Since it is a small town, many of the people she knew were somehow implicated or have to clear themselves in the murder inquiry.
On a personal level, her close friends become murder suspects one by one. There is so much of falling in love, out of love and affairs in the town that it looks like everybody is or has been linked romantically at one point or another. Many youngsters there are psychologically disturbed and yearn to find an outlet for their perceived 'stress of modern living'. Even Mare, a grandmother, is hot on the trail of the dating scene as two men woo her to be their beau.
I could not help but wonder what brought society to this - a culture so confused and struggling with its day-to-day handling of life. It is not just Tinseltown's picturisation of an imagined family. It very much portrays reality. Someone was commenting on this topic recently.
Between the beginning of the 20th century all through the 1960s, the USA was considered the most powerful nation in the world. The country was endowed with very working citizens and immigrants who were one-minded in wanting to progress in life. They followed the mantra of holding his ambition as his sole purpose in life and work towards this end. He had his set of rules to follow, and he took responsibility for all his actions. The State did not interfere with his day-to-day living. A man's failure is his own, no fault of others, and nobody is going to bail him out. At the end of the day, this man did well. Even if he did not reach the stars, he did at least the Moon.
A few things derailed this arrangement. Firstly, it is the demand for rights. Everybody felt that it was their divine right to the entitlement of some basic needs in life. The desire to do whatever they wanted was enshrined. And the State became a Nanny to ensure it is carried out. If one wants to have a child outside the confines of marriage, it is her right. The State will intervene to offer financial and social support. The enforcement arms of the State will ensure it is done.
Secondly, contraception liberated society from the hustle of worrying about the sequelae of coitus. They had been freed sexually. They were in control of reproductive power. So they thought. They did not realise that contraceptive failure was a reality and had to be dealt with. Again came the State to help out. But what about emotional support when needed? Society's morality code that fit an agrarian society had changed to accommodate of industrialised one.
Things have indeed changed now. Look at the public rallying behind Britney Spears fighting her Conservatorship. In that case, her father had petitioned the Courts for guardianship. Because of her bipolar disease, he feels she is incapable of controlling her finances and making appropriate decisions of her fecundity. See the rallying cry behind Spears; they say it is her life. As if the elements of Nature are dutybound to bear the brunt of our follies!
With the human rights movement and the need for individual expressionism came feminism. Rather than toeing in line with the preset social mores, they demand rights. The right to stand alone, without the significant support by their side, plays victimhood for all society's past bullying and demand reparations. Unfortunately, the Universe does not work that way. It is indeed the union of the Male and Female cosmic energies that maintain the equilibrium of the celestial bodies.
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