Imitation of Life
Have you ever seen Imitation of Life? There are two versions, the one about the pancakes (circa 1934) and the one about the actress (circa 1959)…
For the uninformed, Imitation of Life is about two friends, a black woman and a Caucasian persuasion woman. The black woman has a daughter that looks white and constantly tries to pass resenting her mother and her color. The movies follow their relationships and their struggles.
I’m watching the 1959 version and it makes me wonder, if you lived back when during a time when racism was especially prevalent and you could pass for white, would you? I mean Sarah Jane is depicted as such a selfish girl, but can you really blame her?
(By the way, dang…these actors are so melodramatic, but it somehow works.)
I think this movie is one that should never be remade, especially after the more recent remake. I prefer the 1959 version, but the 1934 version is historical in its own right. It was way before its time…
I didn’t like how they remade Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner (the most recent one), I don’t really consider the original too much of a comedy…Sidney Poitier had some pretty serious speeches and it seemed like its remake was too trivial and lacked the appeal of the predecessor.
I was reading the IMDB Message boards and someone said an updated version of this would be the daughter bringing home another woman as her fiancé or a man bringing home another man. That would certainly be more intriguing seeing as that’s as taboo now as bringing home a black person back then…
