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Hollywood and Catholic Women:
Virgins, Whores, Mothers, and Other Images
by Kathryn Schleich

Table of Contents
Chapter One - Introduction
Women, Catholicism, and Film
The Problem Facing Catholic Women in Film
Film Criteria
Defining Feminist Theory
Chapter Two – A Brief History of Women’s Oppression within the Catholic Church
Biblical Interpretation
The Early Church
The Middle Ages
The Theology of Mary
The Second Vatican Council
Women and the Church Today
Summary
Chapter Three – Films of Clerical/Religious Genre
Song of Bernadette – Synopsis
Song of Bernadette – Analysis
The Bells of St. Mary’s – Synopsis
The Bells of St. Mary’s – Analysis
The Nun’s Story – Synopsis
The Nun’s Story – Analysis
Lilies of the Field - Synopsis
Lilies of the Field – Analysis
True Confessions – Synopsis
True Confessions – Analysis
Agnes of God – Synopsis
Agnes of God – Analysis
Sister Act – Synopsis
Sister Act – Analysis
Chapter Four - Films of the Non-clerical/Religious Genre
The Quiet Man – Synopsis
The Quiet Man – Analysis
The Sound of Music - Synopsis
The Sound of Music – Analysis
Looking for Mr. Goodbar – Synopsis
Looking for Mr. Goodbar – Analysis
The Verdict – Synopsis
The Verdict - Analysis
Moonstruck – Synopsis
Moonstruck – Analysis
Mystic Pizza – Synopsis
Mystic Pizza – Analysis
Dogma – Synopsis
Dogma – Analysis
Return to Me – Synopsis
Return to Me - Analysis
Chapter Five – Where We Go From Here
Appendix – Review of Literature
Bibliography
Excerpt
  
Sister Act (1992)
--Synopsis
Sister Act opens with the young Deloris as a student in a Catholic school who has just incurred the wrath of a nun, having answered the question, "Who can name the apostles?" with the response of "John, Paul, George, and Ringo." Sister Immaculata responds, "Mark my words Deloris, if you continue on this disruptive tract, it will lead straight to the Devil! Have you any idea what girls like you become?" The smiling Deloris can’t wait to find out just what Sister means.
Find hell she does or a close approximation, in a Reno casino as the worldly and brassy lounge singer Deloris Von Cartier (Whoopi Goldberg), trapped in a mediocre act performing before nearly nonexistent audiences, with a mob boss boyfriend, Vince LaRocca (Harvey Keitel) who won’t leave his wife. When Vince blames a priest for why he can’t divorce his wife, Deloris is appalled, and kicks him out of her suite.
Deloris tells the remaining two members of the group that she’s leaving, but before she can go, Vince’s two henchmen Willy (Richard Portnow) and Joey (Robert Miranda) deliver a gift from Vince. It’s a purple mink coat, but stitched inside are the initials of Vince’s wife. Incensed that he would give her his wife’s coat thinking he could win her back, Deloris is determined to end the affair and move on. She enters Vince’s private office and witnesses the execution of a stoolie. Sensing that Deloris is upset by what she’s seen, Vince orders she be killed.
Escaping Vince’s thugs, Deloris goes to the Reno Police where Lieutenant Eddie Souther (Bill Nun) has been trying to nail Vince LaRocca for some time. He promises to place her in the Witness Protection Program if she consents to testify against Vince. Deloris reluctantly agrees and soon finds herself hiding out with an order of cloistered Carmelite nuns in San Francisco.
From the outset there is tension between Deloris’s worldly, hip persona and that of the devout, strict Reverend Mother (Maggie Smith). The Reverend Mother has reservations about helping her but is swayed by Monsignor O’Hara (Joseph Maher) and the promise of a large donation for the failing convent.
Passed off as Sister Mary Clarence, Deloris is completely lost in a world of bulky habits, household tasks, penance, prayer, obedience, poverty, and chastity. She meets Sisters Mary Patrick (Kathy Najimy) and Mary Robert (Wendy Makenna) who welcome Deloris’s alter ego into their midst. But this lifestyle is everything Deloris is not, and she calls Lt. Souther, begging him to place her somewhere else. Instead, he tells her that a leak within the department will prolong her stay.
At her wit’s end, Deloris sneaks over to the biker bar across the street in full habit and causes a sensation as she selects Etta James off the jukebox and sidles up to the bar, while chatting with patrons. Believing Sister Mary Clarence is ministering to the bar patrons, Sisters Mary Patrick and Mary Robert follow her. When they are caught by the Reverend Mother, she then decides that all Deloris will be allowed to do is sing in the choir.
In the absolutely dreadful choir, Deloris finally discovers a niche where she can be useful. She begins teaching the sisters how to use their individual gifts while working together as a team. Applying principles of good show business Deloris revamps the hymn "Hail Holy Queen" with a rocking beat and reworks "My Guy" into "My God." Soon the once poorly attended church is filled to capacity as word of the music spreads. The Reverend Mother is horrified, but Monsignor O’Hara notes that people are coming in off the streets upon hearing the music, and they stay. Deloris seizes the opportunity to announce to the sisters that the Reverend Mother has agreed to let them go out into the neighborhood and minister, although she has said nothing of the sort.
The sisters hit the streets with zeal. They begin cleaning up the graffiti, taking down the fence surrounding the convent, painting the church, ministering to the neighborhood, opening a soup kitchen, and attracting widespread attention. Lt. Souther catches a glimpse of Deloris on TV, and he warns her that Vince has a contract out on her and to survive she must lay low.
St. Catherine’s swinging musical sisters continue to attract attention, including that of the Pope, who requests attending a concert on his upcoming visit to San Francisco. The Pontiff’s visit poses a dilemma for Deloris who needs to protect her identity. Days before the concert, Lt. Souther discovers who the mole in the department is and tells Deloris that Vince knows where she is. But Deloris cannot break her commitment to guide her sisters through the performance. Vince has already discovered her location, and Sister Mary Robert and Deloris are kidnapped by Willy and Joey. Pushing Mary Robert out of the car, Deloris convinces them that she’s the one they came for and they take her to Reno.
Sister Mary Robert tells of her ordeal and begs the sisters to save Mary Clarence. The Reverend Mother informs the nuns of Deloris’s true identity, and they all agree it’s worth risking their safety to help their fellow "sister." They convince a chopper pilot to fly them to Reno, where they hit the Moonlight Lounge in search of Deloris.
Meanwhile, Vince tells Deloris it’s because of her betrayal that he’s having her killed. Still dressed in full habit, Deloris forgives Vince, and, annoyed, he tells Willy and Joey to get the job done. But they hesitate, wondering if she might really have become a nun after all.
As the sisters swarm into the casino, Lt. Souther and the Reno Police are also converging on the site. Deloris manages to escape from the two hit men and finds her unlikely rescuers among the slot machines and blackjack tables. Leading the sisters out a back entrance, the group is caught before they can escape.
Facing Vince, Deloris asks that none of the other women be hurt, and is prepared to sacrifice herself, but a bullet fired by Lt. Souther shatters a two-way mirror hitting Vince in the arm. Lt. Souther has arrived in time to save Deloris and the sisters. Vince is still furious about Deloris’s betrayal, and as he’s taken away in handcuffs, Deloris turns to him and says, "I got two words for you, Vince." The sisters gasp in shocked expectation. "Bless you," Deloris deadpans.
The film concludes with the Sisters of St. Catherine’s performing for the Pope. They sing a rollicking version of "I Will Follow Him" and even the Holy Father gets caught up in the music. As the credits roll, various magazine covers of Deloris and the sisters fill the screen, along with the albums they have apparently collaborated on, making it clear the Deloris and her sisters continued to rock on.
Sister Act
--Analysis
Sister Act uses the idea of conflict between two vastly different lifestyles to tell this story of discovery and redemption. From the beginning Deloris’s worldly lounge singer collides with the staid personality of the pious and tart Reverend Mother who doesn’t even want her at the convent in the first place. This is essentially the same conflict of the secular versus the spiritual found in Agnes of God, but while Sister Act also employs cloister as a central plot device, this film uses the austere setting to fashion Deloris’s ordeal of hiding into one that is awkward and comic. Ultimately the convent serves as an avenue for her redemption and the expanded world view of the Sisters of St. Catherine. In reality, cloistered religious communities have steadily declined, but it is interesting to note how frequently Hollywood still uses this environment to tell stories centering on Catholic women in religious orders.
Within Sister Act there is also the concept that nuns represent either that of the strict disciplinarian or the ideal of the pure and holy religious. Entering the biker bar adorned in the severe garb of wimple and habit, Deloris takes advantage of this newfound power by telling patrons to sit up straight, watch their manners, and behave as she works the crowd. The patrons obey, perpetuating the stereotype of the ruler-wielding sister.
The second concept of nun as a pious and innocent ideal is so deeply ingrained that even mobsters such and Willy and Joey can’t ignore it. Deloris is kidnapped in full habit and when Vince tells the two to kill her, they complain that they can’t possibly kill a nun. When Vince assures them that Deloris is no nun, they debate whether she might have actually joined the order. Even pretending to pray for Joey and Willy’s sins causes the two mobsters to stop and pause in prayer with her, giving Deloris the chance to escape. This is another example of the virgin/whore split where a worldly nightclub singer can be elevated to the virgin pedestal just by looking like a nun.
The sisters are also not afraid to employ the concept of "Catholic guilt" to get what they need. When a helicopter pilot tells them how much it will cost to fly them to Reno and he won’t make any exceptions, they surround him and begin to pray aloud. And while their prayers of all the many unpleasant circumstances that may befall the pilot should he not help them are funny, the idea of Catholic guilt is an old one. Like the stereotype of "Jewish guilt" being laid on to achieve a goal, it is nothing more than an oversimplified concept or belief. But oversimplification of reality has never stopped Hollywood from employing generalizations.
As with films such as The Bells of St. Mary’s and others, Sister Act gives the Reverend Mother only so much power within the male-dominated Church where priests hold the ultimate authority. After Deloris’s initial program with the choir in which they sang a traditional Catholic hymn as a rocking ode to the Virgin Mary, the Reverend Mother is appalled. Overhearing this exchange, Monsignor O’Hara interrupts the closed-door confrontation to congratulate the Reverend Mother on such an outstanding and innovative musical program. While his praise is effusive and Monsignor gives her all the credit, it is still very clear that within the Catholic hierarchy women religious must always defer to a priest.
But it isn’t just the males of the Church hierarchy that hold the real power. Although the Sisters of St. Catherine are courageous enough to take off for Reno to rescue Deloris, they are not able to save her on their own. Just as the East German nuns of Lilies of the Field need Homer Smith to construct a chapel for them, it is Lt. Souther who fires the bullet into Vince that ultimately saves Deloris and the sisters. The implication here is that for all Deloris’s sass and the bravery of her would-be rescuers it still takes a man to save the day.
Sister Act also uses the concept of the redeemed tramp that experiences salvation behind convent walls. As Deloris teaches the sisters about finding their gifts and using them in the outside world, they open her to the possibility of tapping her own spirituality and discovering the joys of a close-knit community. Like many of the films analyzed here, Deloris essentially has only two options open to her: that of mob hussy or redemption as a pseudo-nun. It would be refreshing to see Deloris reach her potential as a talented singer without having to suppress so much of her true identity in the process.
There is also the idea that the Carmelite sisters have even fewer options – they are either nuns or they are cut loose into secular society. However, it could be argued that the sisters have made the choice to live this life of their own free will, and secondly, that with Deloris’s help they are no longer innocents and bring the order toward modernity. By the film’s end, even the Reverend Mother thanks Deloris for exposing them to danger, sin, and corruption. Instead of being limited to the roles of cloistered sisters in reflection and prayer, by going out into the community to minister and serve perhaps the sister will break out of their restricted roles and find new and fulfilling opportunities.

Hollywood and Catholic Women: Virgins, Whores, Mothers, and Other Images; Format: Paperback; Size : 6 x 9; Pages: 126; ISBN: 0-595-30303-X; Published: 11/03; Price: $13.95 US, $18.95 Canada

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