Widows

This is an outgrowth of a few comments I noticed on my article about The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel–the issue of widows was raised. It might be interesting to see how widows have been presented in movies, say, a movie from each decade from the 1950s to the present (or beginning before the 1950s). Movies can reflect the values and norms of a period in time so what changes are seen and how do they reflect changing values? A 1947 movie, The Ghost and Mrs. Muir, starred Gene Tierney (as a widow) and Tex Harrison (as the ghost). Or, the 2018 movie, Widows, starring Viola Davis and Michelle Rodriguez. What impact did and do these movies have on how the public looks upon widows?

Steve McQueen’s Widows is an excellent film but the film that was advertised in trailers is not the film that audiences received. How did this deception, and the deceptive marketing strategies of other now-beloved films (think Shyamalan’s The Village), affect Widow’s box office gains (or lack thereof) and critical reception?