Douglas Sirks, Payton Place (1957)

Douglas Sirks, Payton Place (1957)

Synopsis: Payton Place (1957) is the story of picture perfect town in New Hampshire that strives to keep their youth on the path of virtue, morals and most importantly away from scandal and sex deviance. Though, in reality, the youth of this small picture perfect town are finding ways on their own to satisfy their sexual curiosities. After one of the young town girls murders her stepfather, a trail to convict her of guilt turns into a trail of revelation; the town filled with both repressed adults and youth finally come to a bitter realization that nothing, even on god’s graced town of Payton Place, is as it seems.

Analysis

Characters Appearances + Mannerisms of (Allison Mackenzie)

In the beginning of the film, Allison Mackenzie is introduced as the youthful, respectable, virtuous daughter of Constance Mackenzie, the town fashion designer. Allison’s appearance in the film is that of a young, tall and slender, a cheerful girl who desires nothing more than to follow her mother’s words of wisdom.  Allison performance as a young high school girl inexperienced and fragile gives the impression of how idealized femininity tinkles down to even the youngest high school girls. Allison’s performance shows the stress placed especially on girls in high school to stick to these idealized notions of etiquette (being sexless till marriage). In one of the beginning scenes of the film when Allison and her classmates are at her mother’s boutique, she makes a comment to Betty Anderson about her dress, “aren’t you afraid people will think your a little fast?” that comment made by Allison on her classmates dress symbolizes the idealization that in order to perform proper femininity a woman must stick to the image of being virtuous and seen as not sexual, or even a sexual desire for a man. One of the girls with Allison at the shop says to Betty, “Mother says women should be mysterious,” that comment made just reiterated what Allison said earlier about how a woman could be perceived; ‘fast.’ This comment also restates how in idealized femininity, females, especially young girls should be not only mysterious, but sexless, not an object of desire, why? Because young people, especially not married shouldn’t be speaking, thinking, provoking (sexual desires) or having sex.

As the film progresses the audience also sees Allison deviance to break away from her mother’s and societies hold on idealized femininity when Allison’s mother asks her not to invite Betty Anderson to her 18th birthday party because she doesn’t like how Betty talks about sex, Allison body language then stiffens, she says, “we’ve had 17 dull birthdays alone, couldn’t you let me have one for myself please? She isn’t the sweet understanding/obedient daughter in that moment, and her reaction shows how idealized femininity can not only be unrealistic and detrimental, but that these notions of idealized femininity are more along the lines in the interest of the parents/adults and not really in the interest of the youth.

During the scene of Allison’s birthday party, the teens decided to turn the party into a ‘make-out’ session, Allison’s mother walks in and tell everyone to leave, out of embarrassment Allison runs upstairs. Her physical appearance is very innocent; she wears a blue knee length dress with a ribbon in her hair. Allison’s appearance in relation to how she was acting just a few minutes earlier are very different. Her actions earlier were that of a sexually frustrated and curious girl, while her appearance was that of someone virtuous. When speaking with her mother about it Allison says, “I don’t want to be perfect like you mother!” Allison is displaying her lack of desire to conform to the beliefs of idealized femininity, and that she doesn’t want to be like her mother, who is the prime example of moral and virtue in her life. Allison then says to her mother, “If any man seriously asked me, I’d run away and become his mistress!”

The shock of her deviant behavior sends her mother in a rage and she slaps her. Allison then giggles a little bit and looks away, “I don’t know why I said it.” Her behavior shows just one of the frustrations of trying to conform to idealized femininity, because again, it is an idealism which is standard, but rarely attained. With that being said, her mother then grabs her and they hold each other in tears.  

Allison’s physical appearance adheres to idealized femininity, but her performance says otherwise. On a playful date with Norman (a young boy she likes), running through the forest laughing giggling and chasing each other, she says to Norman that she wants to show him her secret spot. After finding the spot (which was on top of a mountain, overlooking the landscape), she and Normal layout on the rock, Norman says to her, “maybe your children will find this spot,” Allison playfully says to him, “I’m never gonna get married, I’m just going to have lovers.” She is deviating away from the norm of a woman’s role as wife and mother which were idealized feminine roles that where urged for women during the 50s. As her and Norman continue their talk about the future and what is expected of a man and a woman, Allison mentions how she, just like Norman ordered a similar book on marriage and sex, Allison says, “I’ve sent for a book just like that, and you know what I think? I think it’s ‘Mid Victorian Nonsense’” Allison’s performance of idealized femininity comes from her appearance, but it clear that her actions are opposite.

Characters Appearances + Mannerisms of (Constance Mackenzie)
Allison’s mother Constance Mackenzie is the prime role model of idealized femininity. Her physical appearance is youthful but still

mature, slender. Even though she is a career woman, she wants her daughter to marry and adhere to the idealized feminine characteristics of wife and mother. Her beliefs in sex are that “sex education is a function of the home,” and that young people will learn when they marry. After catching the make-out scene at Allison’s birthday party, she expresses to Allison, “I want you to fall in love, and at the proper time marry a man who respects you, I want you to have a good name!” Even if her mother’s intentions are good, her intentions are still those that followed the idealized life women were supposed to want. They are, marriage, husband, children and especially a monogamous sexual relationships, because having a proper name, such as a husbands last name is how a woman has respect. Not by her own sexual desires or deviance. 

Later on in the film it is understood why Constance urges Allison to stay proper, good and virtuous. After getting into another fight with her daughter, it is uncovered when Constance says, “I lied about him, because I was ashamed of him and of myself,” that Constance was never married to Allison’s father because he already had a wife. Her youthful deviance had left her ashamed of her actions and alone. Her pressuring her daughter to follow these notions of idealized femininity is in a way, her chance of redemption or even living out her life all over again through her daughters. The reason why Constance had never remarried or had any men friends was not because of her devotion to her deceased husband, but because of her repentance for not following the idealized feminine roles in her youth.  

Characters Appearances + Mannerisms of(Lucas Cross)

When Lucas Cross is first introduced in the film, he is shown as a drunken, dirty, abusive man. His physical appearance shows a man wearing either a dirty covered jump suit or a dirty janitor outfit. Lucas is a miserable man who is portrayed in the film as a miserable man, who wasn’t able to master the idealized masculine gender role, through successful career, marriage, physical appearance, and character performance. So instead, he performs masculinity through the abuse of his wife and stepchildren. He is introduced as a man who has nothing.
He finds a physical attraction to his stepdaughter Selena who nears the end of her high school years. He starts noticing her young fresh

body, unlike his wife Nellie Cross who lacks femininity and is incapable of helping Lucas feel like a man. His attraction to Selena leads him to look lustfully at her one night when she comes home from a dance; he says to her, “Let’s have a drink to celebrate you growing up.” And then when he sees that Selena is not easily persuaded he says to her, “Bout time I started teaching you something else,” with this he then forces himself on her. Lucas’s performance of idealized masculinity is not achieved through the social standards that society hold’s for men, but rather through almost desperate acts of idealized masculinity. In that Lucas has to use force to perform his gender role. Because Lucas lacks an idealized masculine identity, he ends up dead. His death almost signifies what happens to those who aren't able to master their idealized gender roles, and or conform to the idealized masculinity or femininity set by society and society's standards.
 

Characters Appearances + Mannerisms of (Nellie Cross)

When Nellie Cross is introduced in the film, her first born son is leaving the house because of a downfall with her husband Lucas Cross. Her physical appearance is her running out of their shack with her hair messed up and still in her sleeping gown. Her face has grown old with age, and she is dirty. Nellie appears as a woman who wasn’t able to master her idealized gender role. She works as a cleaning lady for the Mackenzie’s, and because of her lack of idealized femininity, she wasn’t able to marry off a man who would help her succeed in her performance of idealized femininity. Instead Nellie marries Lucas, a man who himself wasn’t able to master his own idealized gendered masculinity. So therefore she must perform multiple roles, as mother, wife and provider. Even with her multiple roles, she still attempts to perform idealized femininity by allowing Lucas to abuse the children. This could be seen in the beginning scene of the film when Nellie says to her son when he is leaving, “When your real pa died, you, Selena and Joe had to have some kind of father. Lucas tries hard to be a good man.”
Even though Nellie wasn’t able to master her idealized gender role,

she still attempted to perform in that, even after finding out about her daughters defilement, Nellie refused to stand up to Lucas. Her fear of her drunken, abusive husband helped allow for his performance of idealized masculinity to prevail. After realizing her failures when she says, “I’ve been tryin all my life. My husband always drunk all the time, and a growing girl dressin and undressin in front of him and him staring at her all the time.” Nellie realizes her failures as a woman, wife and mother Nellie commits suicide, which in her case shows how failure to master idealized femininity leads to a miserable ending.