Hush…Hush Sweet Charlotte and the Middle Ground of

Southern Gothic

The Belle Charlotte (Bette Davis) is the reluctant estranged belle hidden away from society because of the grizzly murder of her beau and her father’s adamant belief in his of her daughter’s guilt. - Loss of patriarchy- Escapes to Europe, does not actually live in seclusion her entire life.-Reasonable reason for seclusion/insanity - Not “helpless” belle or hiding from the changing society of the south, only becomes upset when home is threatened.

Movie 1/2:10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLp5iteu3mY

Familial Ties The taken-in cousin Miriam (Olivia De Havilland)

is the antithesis to the Southern ideal of close-knit relations. Miriam was taken in as a young girl by Charlotte’s father after her parents, dwelling in the North, separated and sent the daughter to live with her family in Louisiana. Charlotte sends for her cousin in hopes that she will help save the doomed Hollis plantation home.

- Ironically played by the same actress who played the virtuous Melanie in “Gone With the Wind”

-- Is not interested in protecting the family legacy or returning to her roots.

- Represents the greed and manipulation of Northerners.

- Plots the downfall of her cousin- Charlotte. Movie 2 / 9:15 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=y6bde7M0JB8&feature=related

White Trash/Lower Class

Velma (Agnes Moorhead) is Charlotte’s longtime servant and sole companion in her years shut off from the society around her. While Velma’s appearance of unkempt clothes and hair and strong southern accent cast the servant in the light of the unscrupulous lower class white, she protects her aging employer from those looking to harm or manipulate her.

- Has not taken over the fallen plantation home as Barker and McKee assert.

- Fulfills the “Mammie” role of enforcing the rules of polite society and protecting the belle

- Movie 1/ 5:00http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=dLp5iteu3mY

Black/White Relations The film portrays black and white relations in the small Louisiana

town to a minimum degree, but always presenting black characters with a less noticeable dialect (Mammie in GWTW) and as being on equal/friendly terms with the white characters.

- Shown wearing formal attire and clothing matching the white characters.

- Spoken to in a friendly/respectable- Often times shown displaying more tact/sanity than white

characters - Movie 4:50http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kVAjrKdynQE&feature=related

The Hero The English reporter, Mr. Harry Willis, (Cecil

Kellaway) that comes to town searching for the claimant of an unclaimed life-insurance policy is the film’s “Southern gentlemen” and savior, albeit hailing from London. While dealing under the guise of a tabloid journalist out to discover the untold secrets of Charlotte and the butchering forty years prior, Mr. Willis is taken in by the small Louisiana town and Charlotte herself.

- Previously met Charlotte during her stay in London

-Embodies the polite, genteel ways and mannerism praised by Southern culture.

- Treats Charlotte with respect and dignity, appears to “court” the aging belle.

- Movie 5/ 5:10 http://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=iYc8Jemeq_A&feature=related

The Plantation HomeBarker and McKee states that one of the defining

features of the Post-Reconstruction South is the “fallen plantation” home left in disarray and symbolizing the lost era of the Antebellum South. However, the Hollis home is neither abandoned nor in ruin but kept in pristine condition by the reclusive Charlotte. Interior shots of the home show the house is kept up: the furniture is dusted, the opulent furniture and artwork still reside, and even the baby grand piano plays as though it were regularly played.

- Serves as a positive symbol as opposed to a negative one.

- A beautiful, well-kept plantation home gives credit to Charlotte’s fight against the government’s plans to bulldoze the house.

- Rather than being an emblem of a dying age, the Hollis home stands out as a ancient treasure whose faithful inheritress seeks to keep its destruction from a cruel, uncaring modern society.