Who Inspires Me The Most In Film?

On the female side, I have to say Meryl Streep and Viola Davis. Women who are both educated, talented, aging gracefully, and will give a fantastic performance in any role that they step into. But in this post, I want to breakdown why I chose these two women based on the mother-daughter relationship roles that they’ve played. My perspective may be a little bit “old school” but, what the heck, here it goes.

Why did I choose Meryl Streep? The Meryl Streep. It wasn’t because of her performance in the Devil Wears Prada, Sophie’s Choice, or in Big Little Lies. But for her performance in August: Osage County. Now, I don’t quite agree with the 67% on Rotten Tomatoes that this film received but I get it. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion. So, why August: Osage County? This movie portrayed the strong connection and influence mothers have on their daughters.

In this movie, Meryl plays a woman named Violet Weston, the mother of three daughters, diagnosed with cancer, and unafraid to speak her mind. After her husband goes missing, it forces all of her daughters along with their families to finally come back home to Osage County. There was nothing short of tension between Violet and her daughters especially the oldest, Barbara (played by Julia Roberts). But there was a particular scene in this movie that stuck with me.

They were all at the dinner table and Violet told her daughters how disgusted she was with where they all ended up in life due to their lack of hard work ethic. She continued to express that when her and her husband were young with limited possibilities they fought hard to graduate school and from that her husband became an award-winning poet. Whereas with them (their daughters), they chose to forfeit their advancement in education and if they had the same work ethic as her and her husband they could’ve been the president of the United States.

Damn! That scene was a slap in the face.

To be honest, her statements were in fact true. The morals, values, work ethic and mentality of mothers are completely different from their daughters and each in their own right. But what Violet fails to realize is that the childhood environment that she had probably wasn’t as tough and bleak as her daughters because she was there to shelter them so they wouldn’t have to struggle like she did. So of course, their vision of hard work ethic is going to be different. It’s two different worlds.

How can we get mothers and daughters to understand one another?

As a millennial woman who grew up in a sheltered, spoon-fed environment whereas my mother had to work sometimes 2-3 jobs, take care of a family, be a wife, and attend school, I had to move out and be financially independent with no street skills. I had to be willing to accept no type of help from my parents and make it just like my mother when she came to America. When I made this decision, I finally saw that the world is no joke. It is brutal. It’s every man for himself. To survive in America, you have to be tough, financially smart, street smart, book smart, vigilant, emotionally intelligent, and ready to fight heavily for what you want.

Now, why did I choose the black queen herself, Viola Davis? For me, it was mainly because of her presence. Yes, Viola Davis has freakin’ presence. Particularly, in the movie The Woman King. The fact that her character was not loud, talkative, or quick to anger fit so well on her. When she walks the red carpet, gives award speeches and presentations, her elegance and presence say it all. How does this fall into the mother-daughter dynamic I’ve been talking about? Notice how similar the work ethics were between Viola (Nanisca) and her daughter (Nawi) in the movie even though they hadn’t seen each other in years.

Yes, Nawi is a bit more rambunctious and quick at the mouth but overall they were both the same. Smart, tough, fighters, survivors, and unafraid to go against the grain. Why is that? They grew up in the same type of environment. An environment ruled by men, with very little resources, and knew that to survive you had to WORK! Because they refused to be controlled and accept abuse by men, they had no place in society and were forced to join the women army where they would inevitably meet.

Even during training, Nawi was clutch! She nailed almost every obstacle. Why? Because she was forced to use her brains, strength, and work ethic to survive her harsh, external environment so her skill of figuring things out transferred over just like her mother. So you see, same type of external environment, same type of understanding.

So, this is my take on why I chose Meryl Streep and Viola Davis as my inspirational actresses. I know it’s a bit different, but I hope you enjoyed it. Let me know what you think and who inspires you in film in the comments.

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