The Politics of Art & Authenticity

When I think of a ‘bad’ mother, I usually think ghetto fabulous, nails, five kids, and five-baby daddy. English culture never comes to mind. Yet in WASP directed by Andrea Arnold, the stereotype of a bad mother is encompassed by something that we usually don’t relate to a bad mother. Instead of seeing a woman with whom we would usually consider ghetto, we see a blonde woman with an English accent who is a single mother.  The fact that she is completely the opposite of what one would expect, makes her entertaining.

Just from watching this film, the only one I’ve seen by this director, it is safe to say that Arnold relies more on the visuals to tell the story. The dialogue in this film is very short, very limited.

In the opening scene, Arnold shows a woman carrying a baby walking angrily towards a house with three little girls in tow.  She approaches the house quickly and angrily knocks on it. A woman opens the door and she asks her why she was hitting her daughters. Both women start arguing and the argument ends with the first woman along with her children turning around and flipping the other woman off.

The film continues with the woman meeting an ex-boyfriend and setting up a meeting later at the pub. When he asks about the children, she tells him that she is watching them.  The film continues with the woman talking on her mobile and giving her oldest daughter a pack of sugar to ration with the other kids.

Towards the end the film becomes more in your face, in the sense that some of the details are easier to understand but piecing them together is harder. The woman ends up at the pub. She takes her kids, leaves them outside, and brings them crisps and some cola.

I guess the amount of irresponsibility that the woman lacks is made up when the ex-boyfriends takes the girls out for a decent meal. But it doesn’t become very clear what happens afterwards.