Revisionist Melodrama

               The Hours, an enchanting film that follows the story of Virginia Woolf and how she came to write her novel, Mrs. Dalloway, portrays the protagonists of the film as characters in Woolf’s novel. Both characters, Laura and Clarissa, are on similar paths to the one that Woolf herself was on as she wrote her famous novel. They both discover their bisexual tendencies later in life. They are both depressed, contemplating suicide, and involved in romantic relationships that are seemingly going nowhere. The audience realizes at the end of the film that Laura’s son, Richard, is Clarissa’s former lover who is dying of AIDS. Once he dies, Clarissa briefly considers suicide, but restrains herself. Laura’s suicidal moment comes when she discovers she is bisexual; she also restrains herself, but flees from her family.

                Unlike earlier melodramas, which deal with the violation of the family unit within society, in the traditional venue of divorce and “rich-girl-marries-poor-boy”, The Hours introduces modern day variations of love into the film, which further violate the traditional melodrama family unit. In all three narratives of the film, Virginia’s, Laura’s, and Clarissa’s, the nuclear family unit is questioned in various ways. Virginia is in a rut with her husband: he is forcing her to convalesce in an environment which she doesn’t wish to be in. Her heterosexuality is then questioned when she kisses her sister. She has no children, unlike her sister, and because of her questionable sexual orientation and relationship with her husband, her traditional family unit is not typical to society. Similarly, Laura was a loner in high school, and she still doesn’t fit in to the typical upper class society that her peers are members of. She also is of questionable sexual orientation, and she flees from her family. Her flight ruins her children’s lives and supposedly causes her son to become gay: a definite violation of traditional families. Lastly, Clarissa discovered her bisexuality later in life, and is now in a dead-end relationship with her female partner. Her daughter is upset with her, and Clarissa is depressed. Her family is seemingly the most untraditional of all the families in the film. All three untraditional families in the film further extend the violation of traditional nuclear families in melodramas.

The "Quinn" In Dylan

                The film I’m Not There takes a novel approach to the classical biopic genre through using multiple characters to describe the different aspects of Bob Dylan’s life and personality. Each character in the film leads a very different life from all the other characters, and they serve to show how Dylan was a colorful person of many talents and abilities. For example, Woody Guthrie shows how Dylan was influenced by Guthrie’s artistry. Additionally, Jude Quinn demonstrates how Dylan was reluctantly chosen as a “member of the people”, to represent them and their sentiments. The other characters also serve to represent Dylan with their own backgrounds and individual stories.

                In the film, Jude Quinn represents how Dylan was the reluctant “voice of his generation”. In the film, Quinn is not cooperative with anyone, is angry with the media and the bureaucrats, and is constantly questioning why he has become so popular. He insists that no one understands him or his motivations, and that he doesn’t care whether they do. Mostly, he just wants to be left alone, like Dylan did during his early days. In the film, he is only happy when he meets the poet Alan Ginsberg, his hero, and when he is in his apartment flipping through magazines and admiring art. Quinn is an artist who becomes a voice of the people, just like Dylan was an aspiring artist whose music and artistry represented the feelings of the people. Some of Dylan’s fans felt betrayed later on by his switch to electric music mediums. This anger is portrayed in the character Quinn, whom some former fans yell at during a press conference. Reporters also try to extract information and quotes from him to explain his strange behavior, but Quinn is reluctant to give any information and only offers obscure quips, the context of which hint at the fact that he is an individual who is not only a public servant. Throughout the film, Quinn consistently represents the reluctant public voice of Bob Dylan. 

Mind Control in Inception

                Inception is a cleverly-crafted film about the ability to plant ideas in people’s minds through dreams. Cobb, the protagonist, is haunted by his late wife; having been accused of killing her, he can’t return home. Mr. Saito desires to dissolve the empire of his competitor, Maurice Fischer, and he hires Cobb to plant the idea in Fischer’s son, Robert Fischer, who stands to inherit his father’s empire. Cobb accepts the proposal, because Saito claims that he has the power to return Cobb home to his children.  Cobb hires Ariadne, an architectural student, to design the dream, since he himself is haunted by his late wife and his projection of her ruins the dreams that he crafts. He also hires a chemist, and they compile a team. On a flight from Sydney to Los Angeles, Fischer is sedated, and the team enters the dream that they have designed. There are many layers of the dream (dreams within dreams), which buy the team more time and help them to deeply-root the idea in Fischer’s head, since he becomes progressively more confused as they descend through the dream’s layers.  The team is ultimately successful, and Cobb is reunited with his family in the end, courtesy of Mr. Saito.

                The main, most heavily emphasized theme of Inception is the ideas about psychological manipulation that it raises.  Psychologists attempt to guide people in the right direction and to help alter their thinking so that they can lead normal, productive lives. However, in the film, Cobb acts contradictorily to the basic premise of psychology, manipulating people’s minds for his own ends, and destroying his subjects. The film may be seen as a statement about the dangers of the field of psychology and mind control. There is a very fine line between helpful psychological counseling and manipulative controlling, and it must be carefully walked by experienced, sure-footed doctors. Obviously, Cobb does not respect this boundary, and he ultimately destroys the financial success of his victim, Fischer. By comparing the psychological actions of Cobb to the common practices of trained doctors, one may see that the film is essentially an issue of the dangers and boundaries of psychological manipulation.  

Revisionist Screwball Comedy

                Intolerable Cruelty is a film about a greedy woman named Marilyn who is seeking financial independence, and Miles, a lawyer, who gets caught in her machinations.  Marilyn finds herself in Miles’s office, because he is her former husband’s divorce attorney. They go out to dinner together, and verbally spar with one another. Soon after, Marylin marries a wealthy oil tycoon, with the intent to divorce him ASAP after the wedding, so she can inherit his fortune. She engages Miles’s professional help, and utilizes his famed Massey Prenup, so that she can tear it up after the wedding and inherit the money. After the divorce, Marilyn falls for Miles, and the two marry with a Massey Prenup. When Marilyn tears it up, Miles discovers that Marilyn’s husband is just an actor, and not wealthy at all. Now his own wealth is exposed, and Marilyn stands to inherit half of it. When they meet to negotiate their divorce, Miles begs for another chance, and they sign a Massey Prenup, which Marilyn tears up yet again.

                Since classical screwball comedies place great value upon the institution of marriage, and this film emphasizes the values of divorce and single life, it should be considered a revisionist screwball comedy. Classical screwball comedies show two partners constantly trying to gain back the lost attention and love of their lover throughout the film. Miles prepares to give a great speech on the values of single life, and Marilyn enters nearly four marriages to gain independence and wealth, and she willingly turns over her body and herself to several men just to attain money. In essence, she is only a glorified prostitute. The last marriage in the film between Miles and Marilyn is a joke; they hardly know anything about each other, and their infatuation is only rekindled after several wild goose chases and Miles’s last attempt at rectifying his reputation. In this revisionist screwball comedy, the love, if it can be called that, was on again, off again, and the value of the institution of marriage was greatly discarded by both parties.  Additionally, the ending marriage gives no promise or hope of lasting; it is clearly infatuation, and the audience knows that. Because of the attitude toward marriage in the film and the little hope it gives of the final marriage lasting, the film should be considered a revisionist screwball comedy, since it is ultimately not about love, but about divorce. 

Choreography and Mood in Across the Universe

­­­­­­                Across the Universe tells the tale of Jude, a young man from Liverpool, who sails to the U.S. in search of his biological father, whom he has never met. Jude meets Max Carrigan and befriends him, and then falls in love with Max’s sister Lucy. While involved in a political protest, Jude is sent to prison, along with many others, but he cannot be released because of his illegal citizenship status. Lucy informs Jude’s father of the current events, and he comes to bail his son out from prison. However, because his status has been discovered, Jude is sent back to Liverpool. While home, Jude deduces from newspaper articles that Lucy has been killed in a homemade bomb. However, when when he learns from Max that she is still alive, he returns to the U.S. and to Lucy.

                The use of masks and puppetry in the film is strange, but it gives the musical the authentic feel of the 1960s, the time period in which it is set. Although the viewer is surprised at the use of artificial and computer-generated images in a non-animated movie, the choreography gives the film the atmosphere of the 60s, a time in which radicalism and drugs were the rule, not the exception. In the film, the most outlandish choreography directly correlates with the drug influence on the Beatles’ music. For example, in the beginning of the film, the early, clean songs of the Beatles are prevalent, and there is rare graphic design; it is only introduced later on.  However, as the musical progresses and the songs played are the ones in which the Beatles were most heavily influenced by substances, the use of masks and puppets increases. Strawberry Fields Forever, a song written by the Beatles in which they were heavily under the influence, is depicted extremely graphically and violently in the musical, and it gives the viewer the dizzying feeling which drugs induce. I am the Walrus, another bizarre song by the Beatles, was written by John Lennon while he was on drugs, and in the musical it is portrayed by sensational colors, lights, and the characters’ trippy actions. Because the 60s was a new era of experimentation, Julie Taymor, the director, created the film so that it gives the viewer the feeling of “being high”, which was reflected in the Beatles’ later music and which so prominent during the time.

Isms of the 1950s

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a science fiction film of the 1950s, revolves around the idea of alien infiltration. When people seem different in the town of Santa Mira, California, general suspicion is aroused. Dr. Miles Bennell, the local doctor, tries to figure out the mystery, and eventually he does. Pods from space are spreading on Earth and overtake people’s bodies, turning them into non-thinking, non-feeling, barely human clones of themselves. As more people are being overtaken, the mission to clone people grows stronger with each person that is cloned, until only Miles and his girlfriend Becky are left. They find themselves in a cave, having fled, and when Miles leaves Becky for an instant, she has been cloned, and he finds himself alone in the world. Finally, he makes it to the police, and they take action to stop the invasion.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers, a science fiction film, is about the fascination of the American public with ideas of conformity, communism, and control. In a post WWII era, Americans were terrified at the prospect that they couldn’t guarantee control over their lives, just like Europeans couldn’t guarantee control over theirs. Soldiers had come back from the front lines, and they had seen graphic and horrific images of starved human skeletons. The Nazis had used mass-control and conformity to carry out their Hellish work, and people were intrigued and terrified. “Science fiction films presented indirect expressions of anxiety about the possibility of a nuclear holocaust or a Communist invasion of America. These fears were expressed in various guises, such as aliens using mind control, monstrous mutants unleashed by radioactive fallout, radiation’s terrible effects on human life, and scientists obsessed with dangerous experiments” (O’Donnell 169). The film is a reflection of these fears. It is not necessarily a fear of one specific ism, such as McCarthyism or communism, as many have claimed. America had changed drastically in the previous years, partially due to events abroad, and soldiers had brought back moral questions and dilemmas with them. The film is a culmination of these newfound American fears, as many aspects of the film reflect these new isms and the ways in which the world was changing. 

Reinstituting Morality

In an unfair and judgmental world, widowed Cary Scott falls in love with her gardener, Ron Kirby. The problem is that Cary is wealthy, and is expected to marry a carbon-copy of her former husband. Even Cary’s best friend Sarah notes disapproval when she hears of the affair, since Ron is an earthy loner, whom Sarah believes is no match for her friend. But the more Cary learns about Ron’s life and philosophies, the more she is determined to commit to a relationship with him. However, when Cary’s children protest and threaten to abandon her, and she suffers potential social isolation, she breaks off the relationship. Only when she hears of Ron’s life-threatening accident does she realize her mistake and rush to his bedside, ready to commit to a relationship with him.

The underlying theme of the film, and of its melodrama genre, is the aspect of the social tension and corruption which hinders the couple’s relationship, and their attempt to reinstitute morality into a corrupt society. Thomas Schatz writes that melodrama is categorized by lovers being victimized by unfair social circumstances, which appropriately describes All That Heaven Allows. These unfair circumstances, although trying, allow the protagonists to rectify immoral societal values and norms. When word gets out, via Mona Plash, that Cary is dating a younger, handsome, middle-class man, the gossip spreads like wildfire. Cary is criticized behind her back and is the subject of many posh country club discussions. Even her own children turn on her, and Cary is literally alone, besides for Ron. She hasn’t done anything wrong; she is only letting herself fall in love, and yet she is ostracized from the community. When she defies social norms by rushing to Ron’s side after his accident, Cary proves that although she may be criticized, she is doing what is right and what she believes in. Steven Lipkin quotes Peter Brooks, who writes that the melodrama attempts to “resituate morality in a desacralized world (296)”. Truly, this is what the film is, at its essence: Cary and Ron prove to society that they will do the right thing, even if it’s not socially acceptable in an unethical culture.

Power: Kane's Goal and Ultimate Demise

Citizen Kane is the story of Charles Foster Kane, who is a massively wealthy and famous media personality, and who dies at his estate while holding a snow globe and uttering the words “Rosebud”.  Kane’s death makes newspaper headlines, and reporter Jerry Thompson attempts to unravel Kane’s life and to discover the meaning behind his last word. Thompson interviews all the former members of Kane’s life, and is able to reconstruct the celebrity’s past.   He learns that while Kane enjoyed enormous financial and professional success, he was incapable of leading a cohesive private life for a significant time period. After two divorces and the strange absence of his son, Kane dies alone in his cavernous palace.

Consistently present in the film is the inclusion of thunder and lightning. This ominous foreshadowing is characteristic in drama films and film noir, and represents the dark and elusive life of Kane.

Charles Kane’s enormous wealth leads to his power, and to his abusive nature in his second marriage and his ultimate demise.  Kane himself remarks, “If I hadn’t been really rich, I might have been a really great man.” His drive to succeed and own property was a vicious cycle: once he started buying, he couldn’t stop. Everything for him was about power. He then needed attention, because he was too busy for any personal relationships. Gary Simmons writes in his article Smoke and Mirrors in Citizen Kane: “So the film can also be viewed as a psychological drama, or psychodrama. It is clearly located in the psyche of Kane… The film is a case study of a number of psychological characteristics such as megalomania, hubris, narcissism and delusion…” Leland, Kane’s former employee and friend, remarks about his boss later on to Thompson: “He married for love -- that's why he did everything. That's why he went into politics. It seems we weren't enough. He wanted all the voters to love him, too. All he really wanted out of life was love. That's Charlie's story -- it's the story of how he lost it. You see, he just didn't have any to give. He never believed in anything except Charlie Kane.” The truth is this statement is manifest at every turn in the story. Kane loses two wives because of his inability to reciprocate love. Kane’s first wife leaves him because he never has time for her, but he expects her to shower him with unconditional love anyway. His second wife too divorces him, because it finally dawns upon her that when they married, they became one unit. And that unit was Charles Foster Kane. He forces her to sing, even when she protests and pleads with him; he berates her enjoyment of doing puzzles, and he forces her to accompany him on a picnic. When she finally tries to leave, he slaps her. Although Kane is seen as an enormous success story by the media, in truth, he isn’t. He is physically and publicly a strong character, but emotionally, he is weak and power-hungry, and it leads to his tragic solitary death. He has no friends or family by his side when he dies, and no one personally cares. Ultimately, this film is a story about the corruption of wealth: when Kane became wealthy, he became powerful, and desperate for love and approval.  When he couldn’t reciprocate love in his shallow relationships, his personal life went to pieces, and he died a lonely man.   

The Maltese Falcon and Film Noir

The Maltese Falcon revolves around its namesake, a long-lost valuable bird statuette, and how three devious schemers plot to finally lay their hands on the bird. While researching the so-called disappearance of client Brigid O’Shaughnessy’s sister, private investigator Archer is shot. His partner, Spade, continues his research, when Thursby, the man suspected to be behind the disappearance of O’Shaughnessy’s sister, is also shot. Through dealings with various shady characters, Spade uncovers the mystery behind the murders: a long-lost black falcon statuette. He eventually discovers that O’Shaughnessy is not the innocent schoolgirl that she seems to be; rather, she was behind Archer’s murder in the hope that Thursby would be eliminated, and she would not have to split the proceeds from the falcon with him. O’Shaughnessy tries everything to ingratiate herself to Spade so he won’t turn her into the police when he discovers her schemes, but he is determined to reveal her, and she is taken into custody along with several other crooked men.

The Maltese Falcon emphasizes elements of film noir, which are crime dramas involving cynicism and mystery. Spade is the quintessential “hard-boiled” detective of film noir who has a characteristically tough attitude. He mocks Wilmer and plays on his low self-esteem, and recommends that he be framed as the perpetrator of all the crimes committed and turned in to the police. Additionally, Spade “plays” all the women in his life, and manipulates them all so he can attain his goals and fulfill his personal agenda. For example, he has several pet names for Effie, his secretary, and she is always running at his every beck and call, like when she delivers the falcon to Spade at an ungodly hour. He sleeps with Iva, the wife of his partner, Archer, but when Iva comes to him for help after Archer is shot, Spade ignores her and asks Effie to send flowers to the family as a way to brush off Iva. Last but not least, he “plays” O’Shaughnessy the most. He casually asks for her love, and manipulates her into thinking that he loves her, and so she reciprocates. But he is just after her looks; her schoolgirl, mysterious, untruthful character frustrates him. At the end, when O’Shaughnessy begs for mercy and reminds Spade of his love for her, he kisses her quickly, and turns her in to the police. Although Spade solves the mysteries, he is the ultimate manipulative, devious, hard-boiled detective.

Abigail Jaffe

"What wives don't know won't hurt them."

 Jerry Warriner told his wife Lucy he was going to Florida, but he then vacations somewhere else, while Lucy Warriner is involved with her voice instructor in her husband's absence. Both return to their home, and an argument quickly escalates about the whereabouts of the other. Divorce is suggested, and is quickly pursued. Jerry and Lucy both engage in external, artificial romantic relationships to make the other jealous. Eventually, the couple find themselves together in a cabin, and Jerry apologizes for his foolish behavior. The ending strongly implies that they will reunite and remarry.

The title is one of the first utterances Jerry makes in the film. Jerry's phrase forms the entire fabric of the story, and  foreshadows the forthcoming events of the abrubt and carefree end of the couple's marriage. The essential problem in their marriage is that they don't truly trust each other and live cohesively as a functional unit. They are both leading their own lives while living under the same roof. Jerry takes a solo vacation to "Not-Florida" which is shrowded in mystery and suspicion, while Lucy spends the night at a hotel away from home with her voice instructor. The title embodies the attitude that Jerry has about his marriage, the idea that "I can do my thing, and she'll do hers, and we'll both lead our own independent lives while still being members of the institution of marriage". This kind of attitude in their relationship was so destructive for them, and led to  immense suspicion of the other. The idea that suspicion cannot be sustained in a marriage is constantly repeated by varying parties throughout the film, and Jerry even apologizes for his suspicious behavior at the very end. Thus, the couple living side by side but leading independent lives led to mistrust and suspicion, which quickly culminated in divorce.

42nd Street Response, ENGL 245

            Set in the heart of the Great Depression, the musical “42^nd Street”  represents those living the “better life” during difficult times. The star of the film is Dorothy Brock, whose “angel” Abner Dillon is the show’s financial-backer.

The film begins when Peggy Sawyer, a prospective actress, misses the audition for the performance of “Pretty Lady”.  Sawyer meets women who utilize their connections with Julian Marsh, the broke, ill, and determined producer, and consequently Marsh allows Sawyer to participate in the show. Right before opening night, the star Brock fractures her ankle and is unable to perform. Dillon wants Ann Lowell to be cast as the star, and she in turn convinces Marsh that she is not talented enough to play the role, but that the greenhorn Sawyer is. Brock arrives shortly before the performance begins and wishes Sawyer good luck, and even gives her some advice on how to play the role.

The setting is crucial to the film, as it represents a magical beacon of hope with happy dancers and actors in the turbulent times to which many of the film’s views were subject. But the film is reflexive, with the film’s audience watching a stressed audience of producers viewing the performance. This situation reminds the film’s viewers that they are not alone, that there are so many others out there like them who are suffering too.

Some iconography that can be noted in the film is the dangling cigar and the mustache, indicating wealthy, dissatisfied, and powerful men.

“42^nd Street” was a film which intended to give hope and optimism to its viewers, who were probably seeking catharsis from their plight when they saw the film in the midst of the Great Depression. Aside from merely providing distraction, the film emphasized the American Capitalism Ideology, in which hard work and perseverance can provide one with a happy, satisfying, and fulfilling life. In the film, producer Julian Marsh is just another who is stuck in the vicious cycle of the Depression, and yet through his tireless and vigorous efforts he manages to produce a hit performance in five weeks. Similarly, Peggy Sawyer arrives to audition, with no experience, and through hard work (and albeit sheer luck), she rises to stardom: a typical rags-to-riches scenario. Dorothy Brock continues to star in shows even though she was really only a one-hit wonder, and continuously performs in search of her second lucky break.

 Emphasizing the simple American message of toiling in return for a fulfilling life was encouraging to Americans, and provided them with temporary relief and optimism at seeing the simplicity of the former ethic in “42^nd Street”.