Diplomacy and the Modern Novel: France, Britain, and the Mission of Literature ed. by Isabelle Daunais and Allan Hepburn (review)

Abstract

215 through which Julie experiments with and rejects norms of white womanhood and also at times aligns herself metaphorically with the enslaved Black characters in the film. As Stern argues, this pattern concludes with Julie riding off on a cart of yellow fever victims—a different kind of “social death” than that described by Orlando Patterson, but one which illustrates the kind of “affinity” across racial lines that Stern traces across Davis’s career (50). One result of Stern’s careful readings of costume and makeup is a stunning account of whiteness in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? As the penultimate chapter, this reading of Jane’s maniacal efforts as a clutching at white privilege and politics of resentment in the film’s present of 1962 represents a culmination of the work Stern has carefully prepared to this point. She argues, “Bette Davis’s whiteface masquerade . . . would mark an attempt to solidify her social status above the African American housekeeper. She believes Elvira has kicked her down the chain of being. As ultra-white, there can be no mistaking her station” (153). The argument of this chapter is one that will make readers want to revisit this cult classic to consider its deeper significance and perhaps teach the film rather than leaving it to late-night screenings. In addition to being an enjoyable read, it is easy to imagine this book being incorporated into classes on race and popular culture alongside other recent books such as Miriam Petty’s Stealing the Show and Alisha Gaines’s Black for a Day. Together, these books consider the way fan attachments and star turns complicate theories of cross-racial identification and the staging of racial difference. Turning to an iconic white actress and her racialized performances onscreen and off, Bette Davis Black and White offers a model for engagement with stardom that may be at once deeply personal and idiosyncratic and culturally significant.