Look In The Mirror

Douglas Sirk’s Imitation of Life deals with three hefty issues of race, failed motherhood and American materialism through the persuasive use of mirrors or reflections. Sirk said, “The mirror is the imitation of life. What is interesting about a mirror is that it does not show yourself as you are, it shows you your own opposite.” This repeated use of mirrors throughout the film starts to extend beyond its influences on characters and onto other areas of the film's construction. It's clear that the mirror's nature has embedded itself within the very material and issues found in the film.
Sirk’s dense use of mirrors is multifaceted. Four areas of analysis including structural accentuation, narrative accompaniment, visual composition, and social commentary, are found in several “mirror moments” in the film. During these mirror moments, we find that a mirror marks a beacon in the course of the film’s story for Sirk’s thematic issues to gravitate towards and make themselves apparent to the audience. The mirror moments I chose are especially interesting because they all have some weight in the four areas of my analysis.
The first mirror moment I’d like to discuss appears when Lora gets home after meeting with Mr. Loomis and misses a scheduled dinner with Steve and Annie. Discussing the mirror from a narrative standpoint allows us to put things into perspective to compare with the rest of the ways the mirror effects the scene. Lora is troubled after throwing away an opportunity at stardom to uphold her dignity against Mr. Loomis. When she finds Steve and Annie sitting together in the kitchen waiting for the meal they never got to have with her, she realizes she forgot about dinner, apologizes to Steve and walks away from the kitchen to unpack her things. Both Annie and Steve walk out of the kitchen to ask her how things went with Mr. Loomis. The mirror moment begins when the camera cuts over to Lora facing a mirror with her back facing us, Annie and Steve.
In this scene the mirror is a direct reminder of the expectations of fame that Lora has for herself and ultimately represents the power and hold that materialism has over Lora as well as the consequences the family is soon to face in its wake. She replies to Annie by suddenly lying, or acting, about how well the night went. Soon she turns around, opens her arms and her energy level rises with each fake fact she lists about the evening; truly living the part. She says, “I went to the 21 with Mr. Loomis, Oh, and everybody there was somebody, so exciting and important. For the first time, I felt like I was somebody too.” The mirror has changed Lora’s honesty and reminded her about the importance of this goal of success, even though what happened wasn’t true. As soon as she remembers she told Mr. Loomis off and spoiled her chances she regrets it and dramatically limps onto a nearby chair sobbing heavily, crying “Oh Annie.”

We can learn more about a mirror’s role in a scene if we look deeper at the visual composition of reflections and characters. At first Lora is staring at the mirror with her back facing Annie and Steve, however Steve is off screen for the time being. As she turns around we can see a set of white gloves in her hand, an additional symbol for materialism. As Lora continues speaking she walks forward toward the camera, and then shifts her body to reveal Annie’s reflection now in the mirror. After a reaction shot by Steve and Annie, the camera returns to Lora who gestures her face toward the placement of the mirror in frame, almost as if she can see Annie now in the mirror. She lets out a cry and then limps to the chair. This character blocking with Annie’s reflection is no accident. Annie’s face appearing in the mirror is meant for a visual trigger that sets off Lora’s emotions. She feels as though she’s not only letting herself down but letting those who depend on her down too. This only strengthens the hold that materiality has on Lora and increases her determination enough to tell Steve to stop wanting to control her later in the film. This kind of consideration for the reflection’s composition of character blocking and included mise-en-scene is repeated with even greater effort in the other mirror moments.
The next mirror moment occurs in the scene where Sarah Jane’s boyfriend, Frankie, confronts her about her race and eventually beats on her in the street. This is a crucial turning point as Frankie represents Sarah Jane’s fading opportunity for tricking society into thinking that she’s white. When the two character’s first meet, Frankie doesn’t speak right away. Sarah Jane asks Frankie if he’d like to run away with her and Frankie says “It’s not a bad idea at all…” but there is something strangely reserved about the way in which Frankie answers her. This next mirror moment finally kicks in as Frankie leans back against the glass window of a building just before he reveals his true intention behind their meeting.
If we investigate the composition of the glass’s reflection more we’ll find that there’s a visual representation of Sarah Jane and Frankie’s relationship. Initially, Frankie appears to be calm toward Sarah Jane but as the camera pans left and his tone of voice shifts, we see a darkened figure just beyond his shoulder: his reflection. This darkened reflection represents Frankie’s hidden racism and antagonistic positioning against Sarah Jane. The real Frankie also appears to be facing away from Sarah Jane’s reflection, another cue that he has changed his perspective or attitude about her.
If we look further into the mirror we can see a vertical sign hanging off the background’s brick wall that reads “Liberty” with the L cut off by the top of the frame. Since racism is the center issue of this scene, and Sarah Jane’s plot line in general, it would be safe to conclude that the Liberty sign is no coincidence. If we look closely, we can see that it hangs right in between Frankie and his darkened reflection, almost causing him to split in half. It is as if the mirror’s contents have drawn out the racism within him. The power of the mirror within the film is ceaseless and is always a nucleus for the issues surrounding it. Its versatility only grows as the drama heightens later in the film.
The last mirror moment I’d like to analyze is when Sarah Jane’s mother, Annie, surprise visits Sarah Jane in her dressing room after a late act at the nightclub. Structurally, this mirror moment marks yet again another crucial turning point in the plot as this scene represents Annie last-ditch effort to try and bring Sarah Jane home but ultimately fails at convincing her. As Sarah Jane argues back, her heart is slowly torn between upholding the lie about her heritage and maintaining her instinctual relationship with her black mother.

A lot of the social and narrative aspects in this scene are well represented in the mirror’s visual composition as usual. If we analyze the shot where Sarah Jane turns to the mirror away from Annie, we can see that there are two Sarah Janes overpowering an image of Annie in the frame. Annie is also considerably smaller than the other two figures within the shot confirming that the layout suggests Annie is visually weaker in comparison. This visual relationship correlates well with what’s going on in the narrative as Annie declares, and not for the first time, that she is feeling weak and tired.
Additionally, we should not overlook the character blocking as this has important contributions to the scene as well. As Sarah Jane stares at herself in the mirror she tries to convince herself that she’s white by saying “I’m white” and repeating the word “white” two more times. On the third “white!” she emotionally collapses and her head comes crashing downward, visually squashing Annie’s reflection within the mirror. This minute gesture allows for an increased affirmation that society’s racist pressure is crushing Sarah Jane and Annie’s relationship.
Socially speaking, the mirror in this scene seems to cover all three thematic issues of failed motherhood, racism, and American materialism all into one area within the plot. Failed motherhood and materialism are clearly expressed in the scene so far but, as if Annie wasn’t victimized enough, the mirror seems to muster up one more blow when Sarah Jane’s friend walks into the room. An attractive white female looking for Sarah Jane enters and says, “Come on Linda they’re waiting.” Then she glances over at Annie to say, “Say listen if you’re the new maid I wanna report that my shower is full of ants.” Of course this sort of thing never broke Annie’s spirit before so it certainly doesn’t now. Annie dodges the comment politely and explains that she just dropped in to see Sarah Jane but calls her daughter “Ms. Linda” instead. The scene concludes with Sarah Jane whispering the words “goodbye momma” so as not to blow her cover in front of her white company.
Douglas Sirk’s structural design from the ground up is about mirrors and the nature or affects of the mirror on people. Each time the mirror plays a slightly different role but consistently lures a character into a falsity or lie about themselves. These characters are driven into a state of mere reflection forcing an eruption of emotion to be released making it the perfect mold for a revitalized version of an old melodrama. As the film progresses we’ve seen how the mirror’s versatility and involvement in the film increases. This mirror can finally be recognized as a visual motif that isn’t just decoration or design in a film but in fact a major player in a story's construction.