Collectivism and Mama

All of the adaptations of Mama's Bank Account seem to center on the process of idealization that goes hand in hand with memory and the past. All of the different time periods wherein the adaptations occurred were periods of strife and confusion (the depression, WWII, the 50s), and seemed to need a return to “simpler” times for a moral recentering. Mama always stands strong in the middle of her nuclear and extended family, rallying their support to get things done. This collective attitude is essential to the narrative and emotional core of the story. However, the TV show loses this collective attitude, paring the cast down to a reduced nuclear family and a few recurring aunts. This shows an impressive shift in Forbes stories, completely changing the role of family in society.

The TV show's smaller cast and small, single family home illustrate a growing sense of isolation and discontent in America as commercial culture elbowed its way into every facet of life. Without a great number of personalities to navigate and placate, Mama's episodic problems lack the frenetic energy and intelligence of the stories. Mama expresses deep seated frustrations with her life, and rages against her family's ingratitude. Of course, Mama always returns to her appreciative family and solves their problems, but that seems to be part of the unsettling nature of the TV show. Rather than rallying the collective energies in order to resolve issues and ameliorate racial and economic difficulties, problems must be solved by commercial products. In the increasingly affluent but divided post-war society, advertisers sought to replace family and friend networks with brand affinity. Instead of relying on erratic relatives, Mama relies on the comforting regularity of Maxwell House Coffee. In this way, even human warmth is seen through the lens of branded products.

I think that the most important element of this is that the TV show grafts this branding and isolation onto an idealized view of the past. By rooting it in a historical setting and showing the discontent and frustrations of a hardworking ancestor, advertisers justified their products historically. This naturalizes the consumptive, nuclear family and lonely housewife for television viewers in the 50s. Without a view of a different way of living, as offered by the collective family life of earlier representations of Mama, viewers were more likely to seek solace in Maxwell House coffee, rather than just coffee.