Daughters of the Dust Directed by Julie Dash: Untamed Women Examined

In the Julie Dash film "Daughters of the Dust", the Peazant family is faced with a major dilemma; should they leave the life they know on the home they have always known of the coast of North Carolina or head to the mainland where a new life awaits them. This has serious implications for the characters and their way of life. Moving to the main land may destroy their culture and with it their identity.

Throughout the movie, women are portrayed as strong individuals who play a major role in the lives of their family and decision making. However, this power can be used for good and evil. Through the characters Viola and Yellow Mary one can see the good and evil in the women of the Ibo Landing. We see that the women who are seen as "good" in society are not, and perhaps it is the rebel who actually does a greater service to their family and native culture.

Viola is a straight-laced born again Christian. When she arrives at the Ibo Landing she is shocked by the "barbaric" ways of her family whom she has come to escort to the mainland. She seems to have lost all knowledge of a culture she once belonged. Viola looses touch because she has completely assimilated to the ways of the mainland. She has done so by adapting American dress.

In the movie she can be seen wearing a dress and hat customary to the early 1900s high fashion; restrictive and simple. In addition, she has also adapted the religion of the mainland; Christianity. Most importantly, Viola has adopted the culture and customs of the mainland. She no longer believes in tonics and attempts to teach the younger girls how to be a "lady" through etiquette training.

Though she is thought to be a morally upstanding, "good" woman in the film, we see she is not because she has assimilated to the ways of the mainland. By doing so, and in turn pushing her new beliefs upon the Peazant family, Viola acts as a major threat to their way of life on the island. This is why she is the "bad" woman in the film.

Yellow Mary is a free spirited lesbian who has just returned to the island after adventuring in the mainland. She is labeled as a "bad" woman by the characters in the film however she also holds some very "good" traits. She is considered a "bad" woman because of her open sexuality. She is a lesbian, which is socially unacceptable. This also means that she is engaging in sex outside of marriage.

Likewise, she was also a prostitute at one point during her life. She is also see as "bad" because of her refusal to settle down, marry, and have children. She is wild and untamable which threatens individuals who are trying to set a "good" example for their future generations of wives and mothers.

However, Yellow Mary actually acts as the "good" woman in the film. Unlike Viola, Yellow Mary has left the island and managed not to assimilate. She still holds the culture she was raised in close to her. Though she travels and speaks of distant places with more affection than she does of her home, we can see that Yellow Mary did not desert her people.

Moreover, though the Peazant family may not realize it, her rebellion and adventures in another land have made her dedication to their ways stronger. She shows the young girls who look up to her that life outside of the island is grand, but there is no place like home.

People do not always know what is good for them. In the case of the Peazant family this phrase is very true. They welcome Viola as a "good" woman but they do not realize the damage she might cause to their way of life. They shun Yellow Mary as a rebel and radical, however she has kept their culture alive within her despite their temptations to assimilate into the mainland culture. For this reason she is not the "bad" woman they label her, but in fact, the "good" woman of the film.