Maritmony Month(s): Mama Mia!: Loud Trope Subversion, ABBA and Fireworks in Greece

It took nearly ten more years after My Big Fat Greek Wedding for another big, splashy ‘feel good’ movie about marriage to hit the big screen – in this case a filmed version of the enormous Broadway jukebox classic “Mama Mia.”

Hitting theaters in 2008, the big-budget film came at the very tail end of the movie musical revival begun by Chicago’s 2002 Oscar win.  There were a handful of highlights and lowlights in the genre leading up to Mama Mia before the genre would receive another mini-revival with 2012’s Les Miserables update.  As for Mama Mia itself –and its POV on marriage and romance – the story is simple.  And complicated.

The movie is about Sophie, a young girl who’s about to marry her Greek hunk of a boyfriend.  Wanting her father to give her away…and, by the way, not even knowing who her dad is due to her mother’s happily active sex life during the period in which she was conceived – she does a little (frankly overenthusiastic) research and, after targeting the likeliest suspects, sends three invitations to the nuptials in her mother’s name.   Once the truth comes out, all three guys are eager to play dad to her – and all three of them send her mother Donna into a tizzy of confused feelings. Once upon a time, Donna was the freewheeling lead singer of Donna and the Dynamos, and she’s shoved her light under a bushel to raise Sophie in seclusion and relative peace in their inn on their magical little Greek island.   With the appearance of her old fellow bandmates (and coincidental best friends), Donna starts opening up, emerging from her years of motherhood to discover her old buried self – and romancing one of the dads, Sam, a banker who has left behind his days of wild rock fame for jet setting.  Meanwhile, Sophie’s contact with her potential fathers leave her confused and wondering if maybe it’s too early for her to embrace wedded bliss, even when she’s got Sky promising to be the only man she’ll ever need (!!).  In the end, Sophie and Sky call off the wedding, Donna and Sam marry in part so the wedding won’t be wasted, her bandmates get the spare dads, and Sophie and her boyfriend embark on their worldwide wedding trip in a non-married state.

Mama Mia is notable for its neatness, nearing on triteness.  No romantic opportunity is left to dangle, no vacuums left to suck on the abyss of nothingness; everyone must fall in love, and into love they fall.  The interesting twist is that Sophie starts the show in love and sure of that love that she’s willing to marry without even having left her island homeland, is so influenced by the pressures and chaos around her that she thinks that maybe her sheltered life hasn’t let her experience the world the way her mother clearly has.   The dads are more of a plotline: Sophie less wants to know her genetic roots than she wants a Ken doll to stroll her down the aisle.   Donna’s raising of her has been so complete and so happy that they never have any true conflict, and Sophie isn’t even angry that her true father’s existence has been kept from her.  Ultimately she never finds out which of the man she shares a blood tie with, and she doesn’t care because she’s happily accepted all of them as her extended family. 

In the wonderland of this fantasy Greece, no one gets hurt and no one gets mad.  Everyone’s happy and everyone’s ready to lend a hand.  Hell, Donna doesn’t even get jealous when her ex-lovers end up in the arms of her best friends; she doesn’t even seem to mind Sam’s long absence from her life once she has a heart-to-heart with herself on the beach.  The lack of conflict matches the bright, light, pitch-perfect pop of ABBA.  What works as a play and a lightweight confection designed to make audiences dance in the aisle doesn’t quite work as a movie; or, it doesn’t work in this specific instance.  It’s the same principle that either bogs down Grease or makes it soar for the watcher; either you’re willing to shrug and allow heavy plot points to sail by you in favor of silliness or you’re stuck trying not to feel uncomfortable as unplanned teenage pregnancy and confused daddy issues are trotted out for laughs. 

Ultimately, the frothy confection manages to make marriage as an impulsive lark almost look like a good thing.  Almost.