Teresa Wright Mrs. Miniver 1943

In the film “The Imperfect Lady,” Teresa Wright plays a Victorian burlesque dancer in the 1800s, in a time when society viewed that profession as a sex worker. The puritanical era of the 1800s labeled dancers as sex workers and included other performers, be it an actor or a singer. This is because, during the Victorian era, society considered a woman’s public display of skills on stage to be vulgar.

Historical scholars have written that throughout history, sex work has been associated with many types of dance, even ballet. Maria-Elena Buszek writes in “Representing ‘Awarishness’: Burlesque, Feminist Transgression, and the 19th-Century Pin-up” that in the Victorian era, society viewed a paid female performance as being closely associated with prostitution.

The father of Teresa Wright’s character has disowned her for being a dancer. In his eyes, the display of her physical attributes to a paying audience makes her a sex worker. But this is not only his opinion. Society in that era viewed the profession of a dancer as scandalous, as it defied the social and cultural norms of the time.

The plot of the movie: Teresa Wright’s character falls in love with a politician (played by Ray Milland) but is worried about how her “scandalous” line of work as a dancer will affect his career. Her father has already cut her off for pursuing such an amoral line of work. One night, people mistake her for a prostitute outside the theater! How will she explain all these events to the man she loves?

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