These include typecasting Black women as jezebels, sapphires and mammies; these depictions, combined with the law enforcement they may be exposed to, increase their vulnerability under the law.
—
Kerry Lester Kasper,
Chicago Tribune,
22 Aug. 2025
The mammy stereotype, which desexualized both dark skinned enslaved and free women (who were often in domestic roles), made muting Black beauty the norm.
Coming from humbler circumstances than Hedda, who is a general’s daughter, Thea previously worked as a governess before marrying her employer, a widower two decades her senior.
—
Emily McClanathan,
Chicago Tribune,
11 Feb. 2026
Like Jane Eyre—a governess who fell for her affluent employer—Woodley’s character, a young single mother, is a broke outsider in an exclusive community.
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