CIN374Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 16: Molly Haskell, Thomas Elsaesser, Melodrama
Document Summary
Charles dickens showed quite well how one could represent society and social concern in a fairly complex and critical way yet still achieve popular success. Some cultural historians have suggested that melodrama is strongest in a cultural sense. During times of ideological struggle or crisis. Some male character will come into their lives at some point in time and provide stability. This ensures compliance on the part of the female character consent, coercion. Genre you cannot have a western that doesn"t take place in the old west. There was an idea that escapist narratives were devoid of any meaning. The family melodrama concerns itself almost exclusively with the scrutiny of gender roles. The entire success of the family is put on their shoulders, they become the objects of scrutiny. And while family melodramas are ultimately concerned with the preservation of the nuclear family its naturalness and purity they are also preoccupied with its disruption.
