Mamma Mia Representation Blog Post

 Vanessa Goetz                                                                                         Film of Choice : Mamma Mia 

                                                

    Mamma Mia is a musical romantic comedy film that although came out in 2008 implements representation of a variety of groups, genders, and issues. 

    The main characters of the movie are Sophie and her mother, Donna. The mother-daughter relationship allows the movie to focus on both ague groups being young adults, and middle aged people. The different age groups are crucial to the film as it allows Sophie and Donna to clash occasionally but also shows the loving relationship between them even though they often misunderstand each other. 

Female Representation: 

    This film also focuses mostly on female representation which wasn't as popular at the time. Some of the important female bonds portrayed in the film include Sophies relationship with her mom, Sophies relationship with her friends, and also Donna's relationship with her friends. Although the movie heavily focuses on females it also includes three men to help balance it out ( Sam, Bill, and Harry).

    Although the film is great at balancing genders and represents each one with multiple main characters the film fails to include a diverse workforce in terms of ethnicity. All main characters in the film are shown as Greek white characters. Throughout the film only one darker skinned character is shown this may be due to the fact that there is only a small population of them in Greece. 

    Furthermore, Mamma Mia doesn't fail to represent the LGBT+ community in both of their films. Although not normalized at the time of the release they still made one of the main characters, Harry Bright, gay. Additionally, this isn't given a negative connotation in the film but actually adds to his character. All other relationships shown in the film are heterosexual which is most common.

  Although disabilities and mental illness are not included as part of the film it is made up for with their usage of common issues to help the audience relate to the film. The film acknowledges a family dynamic issue between Sophie and her mother, Donna, who is a single mother left alone trying to manage and support herself. Not only does the film illustrate the mother daughter relationship well but they also capture the struggles and stress it comes with being a single mother.