The article “Bette Davis: Actor/Star” written by Martin Shingler and Christine Gledhill discusses several films staring Bette Davis and how her performance appealed to her viewers.

If ya’ll don’t know who Bette Davis is here’s a recap. She was a famous movie actress from the 1940s most commonly playing the role of an actress. She also was very dramatic and passionate in the roles she played. She had aggressive eyes and threatening mannerisms that could scare the pants off any man. Some of the films the writers discuss include: “Of Human Bondage”, “Marked Women”, “The Letter” and “We Make The Movies”. I have personally only seen “All About Eve” so most of my commentary will be in comparison to her performance in that particular film.

Bette Davis was one of the first stars to be considered mostly for her acting. Her acting was her main grab because she was very talented. Shingler and Gledhill mention that Davis was not particularly “glamourous” and didn’t appeal much to men. I personally thought she was pretty. Not in the way Marilyn Monroe is- Bonde, dumb, and loose, but attractive in a real-life way. Her mannerisms and behaviors made her impressive and lovely.  The writers think that Davis was highly “relatable” to audiences because she looked like a normal person. This trait contributed to her popularity.

The writers refer to her more aggressive roles (like the one in “All About Eve”) as “cold-hearted calculating bitches”. I do agree that she comes off as intelligent and perhaps even emotionally distant. I haven’t seen the main films they use in reference to this so I could be wrong but I found Davis inspiring. She isn’t afraid to show her voice and stand up for herself. She fully represents her entire opinion and doesn’t allow people to walk all over her.

It is mentioned in the text that Davis often plays a woman that lies a lot. They claim that she is relatable to those who feel they are “performing” regularly in their daily lives. I agree with this. Everyone performs at least a little bit. This could be said to show how Davis appeals to women who tell lies to their husbands and their friends about how they feel. At the time the “traditional” family was very much a part of people’s lives. Women stayed home more while men worked. They took care of children that they may not have necessarily wanted in a home that they probably didn’t get much of a say in. I imagine that they weren’t necessarily happy all of the time but they had to lie and pretend they were out of social expectations. Davis is relatable to these women in her deceptive roles because that was a role they had to play every day. She was also inspiring in her firey roles because she showed women that they had the power to change things.

Attention is also drawn to the idea that Davis was an independent woman. She often was shown rejecting social expectations like waiting for a man and getting married. I imagine this must have appealed to the younger generation who had dreams and wanted to accomplish those dreams before marriage. There is also a suggestion that this rejection of the social norms appealed to the LGBT community.

Davis’s mannerisms and ability to act were impressive. She had excellent talent and allowed the audience to know the tone of the room just based on her movements. I bet if I watched her whole movie with no sound I could probably understand what was happening based on how many chairs she threw herself onto. Her identity was “constructed” by her and affirmed social value (Gledhill, Shingler 2008). Davis inspired a new role for women and people in show business.

You didn’t have to be a hypersexualized woman to be considered a good actress. You didn’t have to be a model first either. Davis used female hysteria as a comedic effect and an inspirational one. Her progression throughout show business promoted the mystery behind her true self. The more roles she did-and did well- the more people wondered about who she truly was. Was she emotional? Happy? aggressive? Crazy? She was all of those things and more. That is what makes up a great actress. That is who Bette Davis was.

Her star image was reinforced by the roles she played. It was her skill and her wits that got her to where she was. She because a star by challenging social norms and showing people what they didn’t know they needed. Bette changed Hollywood for the better with her “glaring eyes and her fidgeting fingers”(Gledhill, Shingler 2008).