Comparitive Flashcards
Intro
For my comparative study I have read Educated by Tara Westover and Ladybird directed by Greta Gerwig. Henceforth, I will refer to these as E and LB respectively. Both of these texts are Bidungsromans, which tell story of young woman’s coming of age. E is an autobiographical memoir of Westover’s life growing up on a remote farm in Idaho as she pursues independence from her non-conformist Mormon family. LB in contrast is a fictional motion picture set at around the same time as E. It is about protagonist, Christine McPherson’s final year in high school in Sacramento, California. Similarly to Tara in E, Christine seeks independence from her family, by going to college in “liberal” New York. Despite this similarity, the cultural contexts’ often differ. In this essay I will compare and contrast world’s of each text by examine the following aspects.
Physical Geography
In both E and LB, the protagonists Tara and Christine have a love- hate relationship with their hometowns’s
Tara grew up on a rural farm in Idaho nested at the base of a mountain known as Buck’s Peak. This peak was anthropomorphised by Tara and her family, known as ‘The Indian Princess, it played a large role in her life, forming the back drop of their identity.
Similarly in E, we see a montage of the beauty of Sacramento as Marion, Christine’s mother, drives home from work. Later in the film, Christine writes an essay on Sacramento, which her head mistress interprets as a sign of love.
However although they are drawn to their homelands, they both resent their places of birth. In each E and LB, the protagonists feel restricted by their homes, Tara in E is haunted by memories of Buck Peak “that place has a hold on me which I may never break”. Not dissimilarly Sacramento becomes an insular place for Tara as she describes it as “soul killing” to Jenna Walton
Both restricts and also defines the characters.
Urban liberalism
Both these texts the protagonists are drawn away from their homes towards cities and centres of liberal ideas and politics.
Tara in E, moves to BYU in Utah and finds herself situated in the heart of the city. Equally, Christine in LB, finds herself in New York amidst the cacophony of the city
However Tara and Christine initially embrace their new world differently. Tara recoils from the city life and she is horrified by their secular values such as Mary drinking Diet Coke. In contrast, Christine’s initial reaction to the city is to embrace the party-culture and hedonism as we she gets intoxicated at a gathering.
Nonetheless, it is Tara who starts to imbibe and embrace the values of urban liberalism such as she describes herself as an “unbeliever” and claims that she no longer shares her parents’ religious beliefs. Whereas Christine in E, appears to return somewhat to the values of her childhood as we see her go to church at the end of the film.
Clear that although both Tara and Christine strive for urban liberalism, they embody the urban values differently.
Religion
Both E and LB are heavily influenced by the backdrop of religion, we see in LB that Christine’s school is run by a catholic order.
The opening scene of the film instantly shows us that religion is a large facet of her life as the camera focuses on the entrance procession and elevation of the gospel.
In E, we see that religion is also important as her father, Gene, used to read from the book of Isiah each night to her and her family.
In both E and LB, religion facilitates a social outlet for them.
For Christine in LB, religion is a constructive feature of her life, we see this as her religious school shows tolerance to Christine’s abnormal manner such as the nickname ‘Ladybird’
In juxtaposition to this, Tara in E has a negative relationship with religion, she feels entrapped by Mormonism and does not agree with their values such as polygamy.
Dissimilarly to Christine, Tara seems to be Atheist at the end of the text. we see this when her father brings her to a Mormon temple and she says “he saw God, I saw granite”
Performing Arts
The performing arts which religion provides for both Tara and Christine is a prominent aspect of cultural context.
It is represented in E by Tara singing in her local church and also acting as Annie in theatre in Worm’s Creek. Tara has a clear passion for performing arts and later on in the memoir, while she is in Cambridge, derives pleasure and a sense of pleasure from performing on stage “I treasured the moment”
In contrast, Christine in LB does not enjoy the performing arts and eventually quits , knowing she will never get a lead role.
However, in both E and LB, the protagonist both meet their boyfriends and have new experiences as a result of the performing arts.
For Tara performing on stage acts as a mask behind which she can interact with the other children without having to deal with the social awkwardness. Although in LB Christine does not need social support, her drama teacher, Fr. Leviatch does. He equally uses acting as a mask so he can cry in front of everyone without anyone seeking why. We see this as he challenges the drama group to see who can cry first and he almost instantly breaks down in tears.
Role of women
The role of women differ from one another in both texts, however both Tara in E and Christine in LB are subjected to sexist stereotypes.
In LB, Marion is the principle earner from working double shifts at the psych hospital, which is not dissimilar to Faye becoming the main earner in the Westover household with her roaring success of her homeopathic business.
Despite this thin surface similarly, In LB Marion is clearly in charge of domestic and family affairs, while in E it is Gene and Shawn who make family decisions and call family meetings. Nevertheless, we still see Marion in LB and Faye in E doing all the domestic chores such as doing the dishes, showing that women in both texts are not equal to their male counterparts and are still subjected to stereotypes.
We see these stereotypes in LB that the skinny physique is still lauded and aspired to as Christine says”Why don’t I look like the girls in the magazines”
Correspondingly in E, Tara is equally self-conscious of her body as she is subjected to the male gaze when she says “I was aware of my maturing body of its evils”.
Women in these texts, although in LB have a lot more authority and influence are still exposed to stereotypes and inequalities
Education
Education is valued in a different manner in both texts. In E, education is not appreciated by Gene as we see Tara does not a get a proper education until she goes to college. In contrast, in LB ,Christine’s parents are eager for her to go to college we see this in the first scene as Marion is driving Christine home from a college tour.
For Christine university is a social outlet and a venue for cultural experiences such as partying which we see is the first thing Christine does in New York.
In juxtaposition to this, In E,Tara who is a lot more academically focused and works hard to go to Cambridge and Harvard
Tara uses education as a path out of her racial family and a freedom from her predetermined life of living on the farm and working for her father.
In a similar vein in LB Christine uses education to escape “midlands of California” and to gain a sense of freedom from her family; she does this by going to New York.
It is clear that education although acts as a gateway out of a predetermined for Tara in E and Christine in LB, is looked upon differently by them.
Perhaps this is because for Christine education is something she merely takes for granted, whereas for Tara in E who was once denied a formal secondary education is much more conscious of the oppurtunities and privileges which university bestows on her.
