GENERAL EDITORADVISORYEDITORSCO TEMPORARY FILM A'DTELEVISION SERIESPATRICIAERENSRosaryCollegePETERLEHMANUnivefSlty of Am.onaCORHAMKINDEMUniversityof NorthCarolinaat Chapel HillLUCYFISCHERUOIver51lyof PittsburghJOH fELl. Sail fraociscoStaleUniversity()feuneuU",,'iT'&dl '-'Id LdllUYUI L L~ T ~ L ~ V I S I ( ) ~~ Wayne State University Press DetroitCopyright 1991by WayneStateUniversityPress,Detroit, Michigan48202. All rights arereserved.No part of thishookmay be reproducedwithout formal permission.95 94 93 92 91 5 4 3 2 1Libraryof CongressCataloging-in-PublieationDataImitations of life:areaderonfilmandtelevisionmelodramaeditedbyMarcia Landy.p, em. - (Contemporaryfilmandtelevisionseries)Includesbibliographical references.ISBN0-8143-2064-3(alk, paper),-ISBN0-8143-2065-1(pbk,alk, paper)I. Melodrama 10 motionpictures. 2. Melodramaintelevision.3 Nlelodrama-History andcriticism. I. Landy, i'vlarela, 1931-II. SeriesPNI995,9.M45145 1991791,43'o,5-de20 90-34379CIPContentsPreface IIIntroduction 13ITHE MELODRAMATIC CONTEXT 31I. TheEvolutionof Social Melodrama fohnC. Cawelti 33Z. TheMelodramaticImagination Peter Brooks 50 Vi3. Talesof SoundandFury: ObservationsontheFamilyMelodramaThomasElsaesser 68IIGE RE, STYLE, ADAFFECT 934, Identifications CharlesAffTOn 985. RussianFormalist Theoriesof Melodrama Daniel Cerould 1186. Ways of Melodrama RaymondDurgnat 135ManufacturedIntheUnitedStates of America7. TheFamilyMelodrama ThomasSchatz 1488. WhoIsWithout Sin: TheMaternal MelodramainAmericanFilm, 1930-1939 ChristianViviani 1689. TheMoral Ecologyof Melodrama:TheFamilyPlot andMagnificent Obsession Noel Carroll 18378IIIHISTORYANDIDEOLOGY 19310. NotesonMelodramaandtheFamilyunderCapitalismChuckKleinhans 197II. TheAnatomyof aProletarianFilm: Warner'sMarked WomanCharlesEckert 205COlltellls COil tenIs22. SoulsMadeGreat byLoveandAdversity: FrankBorzageJohnBelton 37123. ClosureandContainment: MaryleeHadleyinWrittenonthe WindChristopher Orr 38024. Coppola, Cimino:TheOperatiesof History Naomi Creene 38825. TheCollectiveVoiceasCultural Voice Christine Saxton 3989/t/12. Leave HertoHeaven:TheDoubleBindof thePost-WarWomanMichaelRenov 22713. Madness, Authority, andIdeologyintheDomesticMelodramaof the19505 DavidN. Rodowick 23714. MelodramaandtheWomen'sPicture PamCook 248IVPSYCHOANALYSIS, GENDER, ANDRACE 26326. Lana: Four I'ilmsof LanaTurner RichardDyer 40927. faces of theAmericanMelodrama:JoanCrawfordJean-LoupBourget 429VITELEVISIONMELODRAMA 44128. TheSearchfor lomorrowinToday'sSoap OperasTaniaModleski 446/ 15. Minnelli andMelodrama CeoffreyNowell-Smith 268 29. Crossroads: NotesonSoap Opera CharlotteBrunsdon 466/16. ReportontheWeekendSchool GriseldaPollock 275 30. DallasandtheMelodramaticImagination lenAng 47317. TheMovingImage: PathosandtheMaternalMaryAnnDoane 28318. "SomethingElseBesidesaMother": StellaDallasandtheMaternalMelodrama LindaWilliams 30719. TheScar of Shame: SkinColor andCasteinBlack Silent MelodramaJaneGaines 331VDIRECTORS ANDSTARS 34931. AReader-OrientedPoeticsof theSoapOpera Robert C. Aflen 49632. Men, Sex, andMoneyinRecentFamilyMelodramasEflenSeiter 525VIIEUROPEANA DLATINAMERICANMELODRAMA 53933. FrenchfilmMelodramaBefore andAfter theCreatWarRichard Abel 54220. RealismandRomance: D. W. Griffith A. NicholasVardae 35321. TheFilmsof D. W. Griffith: A Stylefor the TimesAlan Casty 36234. TheFamilyMelodramaintheItalianCinema, 1929-1943MarciaLandy 569"10Contents35. Fassbinder's Reality: AnImitation of Life Ruth McCormick 57836. EuropeanAnti-Melodrama: Godard, Truffaut, andFassbinderKatherine S. Woodward 58637. TheMelodramainLatinAmerica: Films, Tclenovelas, andtheCurrencyof a Popular Form AnaLopez 596Bibliography 607Index 61\PrefaceBecauseof the wide-rangingcritical concerns expressed in thcstudyofmelodrama, touching all aspects of filmstudy-history, genre, narrativity, style, repre-sentations of sexualdifference, authorship, thenature androle of stars, spectatorship,audience response, and popular culture-a readcr on melodrama is a timelyanduseful critical text, serving to bring together writings that untilnow have becn scatteredamong variousjournals andbooks onthe subject. The essays includedinthis volumeare organizedaroundcurrent theoretical, historical. and methodological concerns.They represent contesting points ofviewand different historical moments in thehistory of cinema. Because of the range of concerns expressedby the authors, this bookwill beuseful for classesinpopularculture, genre, filmandideology, andwomen'sstudies. Inteaching graduateandundergraduatecourses, I felt theneedof atextthatwouldrepresent thebest worktodateonmelodrama. Thisvolumeis myattempt tomeet thatneed.I wouldlikeespeciallytoexpressmy gratitudetoLucyFischerfor herinvaluablecomments on several versions of thebook andforbeing an exemplary colleague. Busyas sheis, she always findstimeto support other people's scholarship. I would alsoliketothank DanaPolanfor commenting onthe preliminary manuscript. PatriciaErens,the gcneraleditor of the series, offeredhelpfulsuggestions about format and style, Mythanks to Jamie Shepherd, who, duringa longhot summer, helpedboth with thecorrespondence concerning permissions andwithproofreading themanuscript, andtoDr. Alberta Sbragia, Director of the Western European Program, and her assistant, Dr.Ursual DaVIS, forproviding necessary fundsforworkintime of need. Above all, I amindebtedtoStanleyShostak forhis criticismandhisfriendship.11IntroductionShetookadeep, bravcbreathandtoldhim. "Mymother wasaFrenchwoman. I only knewthat hernamewasSolangeBertrand. a'commoner' asyouwould .putit.' Myfather met herwhenheliberatedPariswith theAlliedforces. Iknownothingmore. Myfather wasanactor, awcll-knownone. muchre-speetcd, namedSamWalker. Theyweresaidtobevcrymuchinlove, andtheyhadthreedaughters, ofwhichI amthesecondone. Andthen.... " She al-mostchokedonherwordsas shetoldhim, butinanoddwayit wasarelief tosaythewords. ". . asaresult of somemadness hekilledher. Andwhenhewasconvictedof thecrime, hecommittedsuicideinhiscell, leavingmeandmy sisterspennilessandor-phaned. Wewereleft withanaunt forafewmonths,andthenafriendof thefamily, anattorney, foundhomesfor usandgot usadopted, twoof usanyway. Iwasvery fortunateinthat IwasgiventoMargaret andherfirst husband, alawyernamedGeorgeGorham. Iwas fiveat thetime. I wasapparentlyfour whenmyfather killedmymotherwhichiswhyI don't recall it.AndI don't knowanything about themannamedGeorgeGorham. Apparentlysixmonthslaterhe died,andmymother ... Margaret, that is, cametoFrancetorecoverandmet myfather ... Pierre.. . Headoptedmeassoonashemarriedmymother ...andthenyoucamealong."-Danic1leSteele, KaleidoscopeThingsarelikethisthroughout thefilm[Imitationof Life]. They arealwaysmaking plansfor happiness,for tenderness, andthenthe phonerings, anewpartandLanarevives. Thewomanis ahopelesscase. SoisJohnGavin. Heshouldhavecaughtonpretty soonthat it won't work. Buthepinshislifeonthat womanjust thesame. For all of usit'sthethingsthatwon'tIl14Introduction Introduction15workthatkeepourinterest. LanaTurner'sdaughterthenfalls inlovewithJohn. sheisexactlywhatJohnwouldlikeLana to be-out she'snot Lana. Thisisunderstandable. OnlySandraDecdoesn't understand.It couldbethat whenoneisinlove one doesn't under-standtoowell. Annie. too. lovesherdaughteranddoesn't understandheratall. Once, whenSarahJaneisstill achild. it israining andAnnietakesheranumbrellaat school. SarahJanehasprctendedat schoolthat sheiswhite. Thctruthcomesout whenhermother shows upwiththeumbrella. SarahJanewillnever forget. AndwhenAnnie, shortlybeforeherdeath, wants toseeSarahJanefor thelast time, herlovestill prevents her fromunderstanding. It seems toher tobeasinthat SarahJaneshouldwant tobetakenfor white. Themost terriblething about thissceneis that themoreSarahJaneis meanandcruelthemoreher mother ispoor andpathetic. Butinac-tual fact, exactlythereverseis true. It is themotherwhoisbrutal, wantingtopossessherchildbecauseshelovesher. AndSarahJanedefendsherself against hermother'sterrorism, against theterrorismof theworld.Thecrueltyis that wecanunderstandthemboth,botharerightandnoonewill be abletohelpthem.At thispoint all of us inthecinemacried. Becausechangingtheworldis sodifficult. Thentheycometogether againat Annie'sfuneral. andbehavefor afewminutcsas thougheverythingwasall right. It'sthis"asthough"that lets themcarryonwiththesameoldcrap, underneaththeyhaveaninklingof what theyarcreallyafter. but theysoonforget it again.-RainerWerner Fassbinder. Douglas Sir"ThepassagefromDanielleSteele'sKaleidoscope andFasshinder's commentary onDouglasSirk's film, Imitationof Life, exposc thecontentof melodrama: aconstantstruggle for gratification and equally constant blockages to its attainment. Melodramaticnarratives are driven by the experience of one crisis after another, crises involving severedfamilial ties, separation andloss, misrecognitionof one'splace, person. andpropriety.Seduction, betrayal, abandonment, extortion, murder, suicide, revenge, jealously, in-curableillness, obsession, andcompulsion-thesearepart of thefamiliar terrainofmelodrama. Thevictims are most often females threatened in their sexuality, theirproperty, thcir very identity. Often orphaned, subjected to cruel and arbitrary treatmentat thehandsof dominecringpaternal and maternal figures or their surrogates, theyexperience a number of trials, until. if they arefortunate, they arerescued by a gentleandunderstandinglover, the "happy, unhappy ending" inDouglasSirk's terms,Illness and criminality are often the marks of the protagonist's inevitable transgressionagainst societal expectations, and the presence of physicians, psychiatrists, and represen-tativesof thelawISacommonplace. Thesefigures serveacontradictoryrolein thenarrative, They are agents for recuperation, helping the protagonists to take their appro-priateplaceinthesocial anddomesticorder, discipliningtheirunrulypassionsanddesires, or reconcilingthemtotheirdifference, inwhichcasethe resolution is notdomestic containment but isolation or death. Their presence also provides a means forexposinghow gender andsexuality areinstruments of social power, ensuring compli-ancethroughboth coercion and consent. ll,e external landscapeis a correlative for aninternal landscapeof hysteria, schizophrenia, depression, obscssion-compulsion. andmisdirected desire. Inmost instances, tensions Jfl personal relationshipsarc generatedfrom power and domination which take the form of class, property, generational. sexual,and racial struggles. The narratives generate emotional intensity involving not only thefigures withinthe melodrama but the external audiencc, and affectis conveyed primar-ily throughgesture, music, andiconography whichareindicative of the limItations ofconventional verbal language to express the intense psychic and bodily pains or pleasuresexperiencedbythecharacters.Melodrama is not unique tothecinemabut isdeeplyrootedinWesternculturesincetheeightcenthecnturyinprosefictionandinthethcater. That theideologyitrepresents isalive andwell withintheculturecanalsobesecninthetransference ofthe"melodramaticimagination"totelevision in thepopular daytimesoapopcrasaswell asinsuch prime-time programsas "Dynasty," "P'alconcrest," and"Dallas." Somecritics argile, though, that the impetus to melodrama is stronger during times ofideologicalcrisis. For example, inthelast years of Italianfascism, from1939 to1943,melodrama servedto dramatize cultural conAicts. The films exploded withirresolvablecontradictionsinvolvingtensionsbetweenthepersonal andthepublic sphcres, withinthe family, andwithin the individual. Similarly, the Hollywood melodramasof the1950sareintimatelylinkedtotheunsettledideological milieuof post-WorldWar IIsociety andthe Cold Warinparticular.Melodramatic texts have constitutcd animportant source of pleasurc, learning, andevenresistancetoprevailing social attitudes. Yet, until recently, melodramahassuf-bedfromeither negativeesteemoralmost completedisrcgardbycritics. Withtheassault on the hegemonyofthe classicsandofhighcultureand with the feministreevaluationsofpopularculture, critics havebegun torecognize theimportanceofunderstanding how profolludly the popular theater, cinema, radio. andtelevision haveshapedmodern society andhow great arolethemelodramatic imaginationhas playedin these media. Melodrama traverscs anumber of genres-romances, narrativesofcrime andespionage, thrillers, andhistorical narratives. Moreover, theprotagonists ofmelodrama vary. In thewomen'snarrativessuchasthewomen's novel andfilm, aswcll as thesoapopera, theprotagonistsarefemales. andthcconAictsareoftenseenfroma woman's vantage point. In other genres ranging from the action-orientedwesterns tothefamilymelodramas, the pcrspectiveis more likely to be associated withconAictsinvolvingmaleidentity andpower. 1nall cases, though. what is at stakearequestions ofpersonal and cultural identity, social power, and continuity. OnecanIdentify the stratcgies of melodrama in its dichotomizing of the world, its Mani-16Introduction Introduction /7cheanism, its emphasis on sensibility and sentiment, its inflation of personal conflicts,andits internalization of externalsocialconAiets.Giventhe effectiveness of melodramain exposingthemechanisms of power inher-ent inbourgcois representations. itis important to question why there have been so fewstudies ofthc genre until very recently. One reason for the lowesteemin whichmelodramahasbeenheldis Its identification withmass, or what has beentermed "lowculture," in contrastto "high culture." Low culturehas been identified withescapism,vulgarity, sensationalism. excess, andexaggeration, regardedascorruptingbycriticswhohaveupheldthevaluesof highseriousness, universality, timelessncss, andespe-ciallyrealism. Theseparationhetweenhighandlowcultures is tiedtopolitical andcultural stnlggles which took placc in the last part ofthe nineteenth centuryandcontinuedunabatedthroughtheearlytwentiethcentury, revealing sharp divergencesconcerningthe impact of cultural artifacts on their audiences. For liberalssuchasMatthew Arnold. literature andtheater. inorder tomaintaintheirhighmission. mustnot pander tothemasses butmust seektoraisetheirintelleetuallevel.Thehiasagainstlow culture, whether of anethical or aesthetic east, has generallybeen linked to aclassandgendcr bias. Theaudiences have heen characterizedindegradedintellectual terms as untutoredand indicativeofthedebased tastesofthe"masses." More particularly, as AndreasHuyssens writcs, "Time andtime againdocu-mentsfromthenineteenthcentury ascrihepejorativefeminine characteristics tomasseulturc.") Moreovcr, headds. "Thefear of themassesinthisage of decliningIiheral-ismis alwaysafear of woman, afear ofnatureoutof control, afearoftheuncon-scious, of sexuality, of thelossof identityandof stable egoboundariesinthemass."/The fear of the masses has thcrefore been instrumental in creatinga resistance tocriticallyexploring the needs and desires which are deeplyembedded in the masseulturc.Eveninthe examinations of critics committedto sludies of socialchange andto anexamination of mass culture, such as those of thefrankfurt school, assessments of the"culturcindustry" have beennegative. Theodor W. Adorno wrote:Just as culture sprang up inthe marketplace, inthe traffic of trade, in communi-cationandnegotiation, assomethingdistinct fromtheimmcdiatestruggleforindividual sclf-preservation, just as it was c10selv tied to trade in the era ofmaturecapitalism, justas its representatives w e r ~ countedamongtheclassof"third persons"whosupported themselves in lifeas middlemen. soculture,considered "socially necessary" acording to classical rules, inthe sense of repro-ducingitself economically, isintheendrcducedtothataswhichit began, tomerc communication. Its alienationfromhumanaffairsterminatesinits abso-lute docility before a humanity which has beentransformcdinto clientele by thesuppliers. Inthename of theconsumer, themanipulatorssuppresseverythinginthe culture which enables it to go beyondthe total immanence inthe existingsociety andallow onlythat toremainwhich serves society's equivocal purpose.1Thewritingsof GyorgyLukacs, too, concernedastheyweretoidentify"progres-sive" cultural productionreproducedthemiddle-class predilectionforthe classics andtendedtoregardmass culture (aswell as avant-gardetexts) as symptomatic of culturaldecadence.4However. Lukacs's linkingof massandmodernist cultureacknowledgesthe relationship between the two where other critics havc tendedto keep them apart. Inmorerecent terms, bothFredricJamesonandAndreas Huyssenshaveargucdfor theideological nature of thesedivisionsandtherelationshipbetween"mass" and"elitist"cultures, thelatterbeingareaction totheformer. Highart has thus beenseenasapurer exprcsslOnof cultural values, untaintcdbythe vulgar world of commerce. YetInthcir reaction against mass cultme, elitist works of art have been eomplicit in denying,if not censoring, knowledge about the culture. In the wholesale condemnation of massculture, theopportunityfor understandingtheneedsanddesiresof marginal groupswithinthe culturehas beenretarded.By the same token,the popular novel, cinema, and television are not devoid of theirowncomplicity. They are not ontheside of theangclsbut areblatantly commercial.They appear to reinforce dominant values. Yet.like all forms of cultural expression, theyare not monolithic. They, too, are rife with contradictions. Intheir seemingly seamlessnarratives. theyreveal contradictions. Inevitably, contradictionssurfacein thetexIs'attempts to reconcile irreconcilable conRicts. Their "resolutions"are built on an edificeof opposing elements which on close examination reveallhemselves to be in conRict notonlywitheachotherbut withtheevents theyseektoresolve. Thestudyof popularnarratives has become ataboratory for examining the persistence of dominant culturalattitudes. It hasalsobecomeawayof exploringhownarratives arealsothelocusforresistancetothe status quo. Hence, formsof representationarenot only the somce ofrepetition; they are alsothestory of change, rcsistance, andcven subversion.Themost persistent complaint aboutthemediahas becnthat they distort "reality,"implyingthat they areindicative of a "breadandcircus" mentality andof areproduc-tion of the meaningless consumption ofcapitalist society. Nowhere is this attitudemoreprevalent thaninthetreatment of masscultural production. Inthepast, whenculture critics referred to Hollywood as the "dream factory," they tended to use the termdreamin apejorativeratherthanaFreudiansense. Inthis context, dream andfantasyare insubstantial and vacuous. Escapismimplies that the texts are removed from"reality" and have no contact with the needs, desires, or struggles of individuals.Melodramahasbeenhighonthelist of escapist works, regardedas theconsummateformof evasion.Yet anexaminationof popularliterature, cinema, andtelevisionchallengestheseattitudes, exposing themasjudgments ratherthananalysis. First of all, thenotionthattheaudiences for these texts are merelypassiveconsumcrs has beenquestioned bycontemporary critics who argue that these texts, hy virtue of their longevity andphenomenal success, makecontact withtheaudienceand. assuch. withimmediateandeveryday prohlems. Moreover. if thetexts thrive on fantasies, thenit isimperativetoexplorethe possibility thatthesefantasieshave substance. thattheyhave, asFredricJamcson says, "as their underlying impulse-albeit in what is often distorted andrepressed, unconscious form--our deepcst fantasies about the nature of social life; hothas welivc it now, andas wefeel inour bonesthatit oughtrather to belived. "SThesefantasies are not aliento reality but are constituted within the culturc. This isnot to say, however, that the texts are not manipulativeand exemplaryof the fe-tishization of commodities but is rather a reminder that they are not total distortions ofhumanneeds anddesires. The challengeistounderstandhow andwhymass culturehasbecnregardedas amonolithandasantithetical toreality. Somecritics. suchasAntonioGramsci, havcsuggested that cultural worksarc not monolithic. anymore18IntroductIOn Introduction 19thanindividuals are, andthatit isnecessary toidentifythe nature of themasscultureinordertounderstandtheways that ideology, orcommonsenseas hecalledit. isapasticheof contradictoryattitudes, geared towardsurvival. Cultural artifactscontainthe marks of dominance and subordinationintheir strategies of containment. but thcyalsoprovidethecluesto opposition6The implications of such a position are crucial tothe study of cultural texts, raisingquestions about how totracethe relationship between economic andsocial reality andcultural production. Thetextisnot merely adirectresponsetoorreAectionof sociallife; it is also a determinant of social reality. In anattempt to understand how formandmeaninginh work areinextricably, thoughoftenindirectly, tiedtotheir conditions ofproduction, critics haveturnedtheir attentionto the domain of ideology asthe carrierof social valuesandattitudes. Ideological analysis isbynomeansnew. Whatdistin-guishes contemporary investigations of ideological operationsistheir refusal to assert aduectconncctionhetweensocial determinations, theirrelationshiptotheinstitutionsof socialpower, andthenature of artisticrepresentation.Ideologyisnolongerrcgardedasfalseconsciousness or thecocrcive impositionofvalues, attitudes, and beliefs oninnocent victims by the apparatuses of powcr. Ideologyis now assumedto hemore pervasive and less obvious as such. In order to be effective,idcologyhas tofunctionbyconsent;andinorder togainassent, it must bemadetoappearnatural. inevitable, andpersonally enhancing. Above all, it doesnot appear ascoercion. Rather. it appears astransparcnt, as consonantwith thc the way things are orshouldbe. One of themost transportable means of ideologyis throughmyths, images,andsymbols whicharedeeplyrooted in the culture. Specifically. these myths andsymbols are linked to questions of class, gender, and racial identity; authorityandpower; andthe family andprivate property: However, since thcseissues are clothedinthe language of myth andfantasy, they donotimmediately lendthemselvestohistori-calanalysis.The critic's workhasthus become oneof deciphcrment, of locatinghowthe secmingly ahistorical narratives are, in fact, intimately linkedto social cxperiencc.A major complaint about melodramahasbeenIts assumedantirealistic stylc. Thisassessment hasbeenbasedonnotions of realtsmwhicharederivedfromnaturalismWIthitsprivileging of "oblcctive" social rcalityandafidelitytocharacter andsetting.Thewritings onrcalismin recent decades havesuggested, however. that theassess-mentsof cultural productionarethcmselves ideological. What is realisminoneeramay become escapismin another. The criterionof fidelity to external reality is alatecomer inaesthetics and in nowayneedprecludeotherforms ofrepresentation.Tlte concept of rcalism demandsnot only reexaminationbuttlte critique of realism aswell. For example, the confusionoverthenature androle of realismhas beenfurthercompoundedin critical theorywith the introductionofthe concept ofthe"c1assicrealist text." Thisconccpt. asdevelopedbythecritics of Screenmaga7.ineinthclastdecade. is basedontheninetcenth-ccnturynovel and itsreproductionintheHolly-wood cinema of genrcs."A classic realist text," Colin MacCabe says, "may be defined as onc in which thereisahierarchyof discourses whichcomposethetext andthisisdefinedinterms of anempirical notionof truth...7MacCabe'snotion of the unifiedtext hasbeenchallengedby David Bordwell, who finds that "Far fromattcmptingto provideanlInmediated literary representationof reality, the novel tends tocriticizediscourseswhichreduce reality inunivocal ways.,.3 Following the work of Bakhtin, Bordwell findsa varicty of discourscsatworkinthetextwhichchallengethenotionof amonolithictext. Such a vicwraisesthe possibility of examining textsfortheirlapses, illogIcalities,and contradictions, for the ways they can be read against thc grain. feminists inparticular havefoundthisway of readingfilmsuseful asthey seck tolocate alternativcvoicesinthctexts.Mclodrama, therefore, whichscems soobviouslytocallattentiontoitself anditsmodes of constructiontothepoint of ridicule, provides a test case forundermining thctraditional critical predilectionfortheunifiedtext. Its ohvious stratcgies for polarizingissues, forfragmentingvoicesinthetext. andforviolatingthelanguage of rationalityandempiricismcallattentiontothetext's strugglewithitself. Furthermore, the audi-enceis assigneda morc activeroleinthe process of engaging withthetext as opposcdtothe traditional assumptionof audiencepassivity. Thenotionof a moredynamicrelationship to the text does not, however, imply that melodrama is necessarilyaprogressiveorrevolutionarymode, but it doessuggest that thetextcanbe seenmorcclearly as ncgotiating in complex ways its relationship to the world andto its audience.An examination of the popular literature of the late eighteenth and early nineteenthcenturies exposes the waysin which melodramas are inextricable from social conAicts,revealing, obliquelyor directly, class, gender. andgenerational conAiets. Evenwhcnthe literature and drama appear to be reinforcing the values and attitudes of the class inascendancy-themiddleclass-theworks oftenbetraytheirstrategies, providingin-sights intothewaysthey deformandseektocontain culturally opposiltonalelements.Whether theworks express asenseof conformityor opposition, it isclear that theycontendwithquestionsof socialandclassidentity, andcriticshaveincreasingly beenable to demonstrate the social basis of literature. In the case of the commercialcinema. ananalysisof itssocial basishasbeenmoreproblematic. Onthe onehand,reinforcedbytheexistenceof censorship, therehasalwaysbeentheassumptionthatcinemaexerts apowerful role in theshapingof social values andattitudes. Ontheother hand, there has also beena resistanceonthe part of critics to exploringthespecific social determinants of cinematic represcntation.In the post-WorldWar II cinema, as in literature, thepredilection for realismobscuredtheimportanceof melodrama, suggesting that it, like somuchof thegenreworkassociatedwith thccommercial cinema. was aretreat frompolitics, aformof that not onlypanderedtothepopular taste but wasrcsponsibleforcorrupt-ingtheheartsandmindsof audiences. Tothesupporters of Italianneorealism, thistype of cinemawouldbe associatedwithfascism. whiletherealistaesthetic wouldbeassociatcd with the struggle against fascism. Because ofthe emphasis on locationsettings, the use of nonprofessionalactors, and theuse of loosely constructed plots, theconcernwiththepresent and withovertly political conAicts, neorealismappeared asaharbinger ofthe liberation of Westernculturc fromthe decadent forms that wereclosely integratedwiththe structures of domination.Inthecinemasof WesternEurope. aswell as inHollywood, therealistaesthetictookhold, producingfilms that weresocial innature, that appearedtoaddressandredressthe social issues that were considered to have been obscuredby Hollywood, the"dreamfactory." Withthereexamination of the genre films produccd under fascism, itbecameobvious that the judgment ofthese films as escapist vehicles could not be20Introduction Introduction 21sustained. Infact, critics began torecognize that the notion of escapismwas itselfideologicallybased. The filmswerenotmerely arubber stamp forprevailing politicalattitudes. The notion of escapism could no longer beregarded as a sign of vacuousnessandabsenceof meaning. Rather, escapismwouldcometosignifyarctreat intotheprivate sphere. Thehighly stylizedformof representationcharacteristic of genre filmsdependent onset convcntions andcodes allowedforthecntertainment of issuesthatwerepolitically circumscribedindirect discourse. Moreover, thc antircalist cast of thenarratives allowedfor morc psychologicallyfocuscd conAicts which touched at thcheart of discontentsconcerning patriarchy, thefamily, andpersonalandsexual iden-tity. CouchcdinhighlyAoridlanguagc andinterms of conAictsthat seemedremovedintimeandspaccfromtheexternal appearancesof everydaylife, thefilmlanguageironically often came closer to dramatizingthe contradictions of immediatelifeunderfascismthanmanyrealisttexts.Ingeneral, the study of filmgenreshas donemuchtoredcemthesetexts fromthechargeof superficiality. Cenre studyhas calledattentiontothereciprocal functionoftexts. thatthey are a contract betweenthe audience and thefilm, thus challenging thenotionthat audiencesaretotally passivevictimsmanipulatedhytheculturcindustry.Moreovcr, genrcsarenot static. Theymakeconcessionstotheirchanging audienccsthroughtherenewalandtransformationof theirfilmicconventions. The assumptionthat audienccs aretotallyidentifiedwith the films andhenccrohbedof anycriticalinsightscannot beborneout bytheroleaudiencesplayinthesurvival ordemiseofparticular genres. Equallyimportant is thelong-heldassumptionthatunderthe spcllofcinema, spectators confuse reality and fiction. Just as texts are not monolithic,neither are theresponses of the audience. With the assistance of psychoanalytic theory.it is possibletospeculateonthecomplexways inwhichgenresandtheiraudiencesnegotiateordersof reality. For example, the styleof genrefilms, likethelauguageofdreams, isacollageof thereal andthefantastic, of remote andtheeveryday expericncc. Most oftcn, threatening aspects ofexperience arc conccaled in order to heentertained. ConAicts that are unresolvahle indaily lifeareclothedin the formofwish-fulfillment. Thercareclues inthetexts totheirunderlyingconAicts, momcntswhen thelanguageofthe text appears tobesayingmorethanwhat it intends. It ispossible toseewhat Freud termed overdeterminations in his analysis of discourse,thoseheavily freightedmomcntsthatintentionally orunintentionally callattentiontothenaturcof problemswhichare, withinthecontcxt of thenarration, unresolvablethoughthenarrator has sought to disguiseor overcome them.of its highly affectivc natllTe, its specializing inpsychological conAicts, thcfamily melodrama has becomean important site for investigatingthe propcrties of -nature of audienceinvolvcment, andthe psychosocialissues thatunderpinifie films. Thc study of genre hasmost oftenbeen associated with spccific dircctors. forexample. theimpetusfor the study of familymelodramawas generatedbythe criticalreexamination of thefilms of Douglas Sirk, along "'ith othcr Hollywood directors suchas NicholasRayandVincentcMinnelli. Thecxaminationof thestylisticcxccssesofSirk's family'melodramas ledcritics toassert that his films activelvsubvert conven-tionalbourgeois values, attitudes. and beliefs. Thc analysis ofSirk's films served scveralimportant functions in filmstudic;. first of all, thcsestndies reinforced thecriticalworkImkingfilmproductiontoideological practiecs and, inparticular, thctcndencyto sccideologyinlcssmonolithicterms. Narrativescanthusbeseenasapasticheorcollagc of receivedknowledge, of strategies for survival, of idiosyncraticmarkings. 'l11dof conformityand resistancctoprcvailingideas. Sccond. thecriticismled toahis-toricizing of narrative. Byfocusing onthe1950s through Sirk's films, the critics couldentcrtain questIOns about theconvergcnccofthe family melodramaand thesocialmilicu which becamc amodel forfurther studies of melodrama. The1950s was a timcof idcological crisis. Puhlic issucssuchas the Korean War, theColdWar, and the of nuclearholocaust paledalongsidcn10c'eimmcdiatepriv'lteconcerns ahont ofthe family as a havenfroma threateningsocial cnvironment. Thef;lmilv- melodrama-has-hecn dcscribed as dramatizing the retreat intI! the privatc ThcfilmsalsodramatizetheimpossibleblHdensandcxpectationsplacedonthefamily. Most importantly, these films provideanexampleof howthcsccrninglyescapist aspects of melodrama areintimatelytiedtopressingsocial conccrns. More-over, thc privilegingofthese films for study has motivated feminist critics to raisespecificquestionsabout howthesefilms positionwomcnincontrast tothcwomen\filmsof the1930s and1"in P. FlazarsfeldandF .Stanton (cds). RadioResearch,Duel, Sloao & Pearce. 'ewYork, 1944; D. Hobson. Crossroads. The Dramaof aSoapOpera. Methuen. London. 1982. chapter 6.7. S. Frith. Sound Effects: Youth, Leisure and the Politics of Rock n' Roll. P"nlheon, New Yark.1982. p. 46.8. See "Iso E. Seiter, "Men. sexand moneyin recent family melodramas," Journal of theUniversityFilm and VideoA.,sociation. vol. XXXV. no. J. winter 1983.9. T. Brooks andE. Marsh, The Complete Directory10 Prime Time TV Shows. B"lIentine. NewYork. 1981. p. 178.10. T. Modleski. "The searchfortomorrow intoday's soap operas."Film Quarterly. f,,11 1979, p.12.11. S. Jobnston. "Crossroads: approachesto populartelevisionfiction,"paper readat I3FI Sum-merSchool 1981. p. 10.12 G. Swanson. "Dallas. part I."Framework, no. 14. spring1981. p. 62.13. C. Brunsdon. "Crossroads: notes onsoap opera," Screen. vol. 22. no. 4, 1981, p. 34.14. ihid. p. H.15 W. Brakman. Inaradiornterview. 9 January1982.16. D. Thornburn, "Television melodrama." in R. Adler and D. Cater (cds), Television asaCulturalForce, Praeger. New York. 1976. p. 78.17. SeeM. Jordan. "Convention andrealism." inDyer (ed.). CoronationStreet.18 H. Newcomb. TV:TheMost Popular Art, Anchor Books. New York. 1974. p. 137.19. ibid.:20. T. Elsaesser. "Tales of soundandfury."Monogram, no. 4, 1972, p. 2.21. ibid., p. 14.22. S. Sontag. Illness as Metaphor. Vintage Books. New York. 1979.23. M. B. Cassataelal.."In sickness andin health,"'ournal o{Commun;cation, vol. 29. no....autumn1979. pp. 73-80.24. Thornburn. "Televisionmelodrama."p. 83.25. L. Mulvey, " 'otes onSirk andmelodrama,"MOVIe. no. 25. winter 1978. p. 53.26. Swanson. "Dallas, part I."27. SeeE. Tee, "Dallas: het ge,invande week." Skrzen. no. 118. May/June1982.28. Swanson. "Dallas. part I."29. L. Mulvey. "Sirk andmelodrama," Auslralian Journal for Screen Theory. no. 4. 1978. p 30.30. Mulvey. "Notes onSirk andmelodrama."p. 54.31. ibid.32. Secalso ,. Feuer, "Melodrama. scrial formand Lelevision today."Screen, vol. 25. no. I.1984, p. 11.33. Mulvcy. "Notes onSirk andmelodrama."p. 54.H. Whcnasoapopcrais tcrminatedit ,.I notbecausethenarrativchas runout. butmostlyforexternal, commercial or organizational reasons. Thenarrativemust thenheturned off inanaroitrary way, whichis usually very unsatisfactory for viewers: questions always remain open,narrativelines brokenoff.35. Modleski, "The searchfortomorrow. .. .. p. 12.36. Barthes, srI.. Hill andWang, NewYork. 1974. p. 76.37. E. Seiter, "Promise and contradiction: the dartime television serials." III Fllmreader 5,EvansLon. 1982. p. 158.38. Modleski, "The searchfor tomorrow. . ...p. 14.39. M. J. Arlen. "Smoothpcbbles at Soulhfork,"inM. J. Arlen(ed.), Tlte CameraAge. Farr"r.Straus &Giroux. NewYork, 1981.40. Johnston. "Crossroads ...." p. 11.41. Modleski, 'The searchfortomorrow ...... p. 14.42. H. ewcomb. 'Texas: a giant state of mind." Channels ofCommunication, April/May, 1981.p.41.43. Ncwcomb. 1V: The MostPopular Art, p. 178.44 Brunsdon. "Crossroads. .."p, 36. The eoncepLs cultural competence andeultmal eap,talareborrowedfromPierreBourdieu.45. P. Brooks. "The melodramatic imagination. The example of l3alzaeand James." in D.ThornburnandC. Hartman(eds). Romanlicism. Vistas. Installces. COlltinuitles. CornellUniversity Press, Ithaca/London, 1973. p. 218. Sec alsoP. Brooks. The MelodramatIc (mag'-lIalion, YaleUniversityPress, NewHaven, 1976.46. Brooks. "The meldoramaticimagmation."p. 219.47. ibid.. p. 211.48. V. Morin. "Thetelevisionserial: lifeinslowmolton."in1/ Fwilletonin Televisione. RAI.Venice. 1977. p...8.49. Cr. Brunsdon. "Crossroads. . "; according to Brunsdon soap opera demand cultural compe'fences whichIn our culture arcmainly possessed by women.50. But eachperson acquires so many divergent expericnees andimpreSSIOns that,t,s impossibleto process thelO all ina theoretically consistent and logical system. Onthe contrary. thc dailyconsciousness docsnot concernitself wilh (rational) logic. Antonio Cramscipointedthis outin hISnoteson"commonsense": A. Gramsci. Selections fromlitePrisonNotebooks, law-rence &Wisharl, London. 1973.51. Barthes. The Pleasure of Ihe Text. HillandWang. ew York, 1975, p. 52.52. ihid .. p. 61.Reader-Oriented Paeties of the Soap Opera 497A Reader-Oriented Poetics of the Soap OperaROBERTC. ALLEThe term "encrustation," whichI have borrowed from TonyBennettandothersto describethe accretion of meanings aroundsoap opcras, needshcreto bequalified in order to reRect not only the discursive loading that has occurred inaesthetIc andsocial science discoursesbut alsotheconcomitant "unloading" of otherpotenttal meanings of soapopcras. Specifically, soapoperas havc beendenicdanvstatus as fictive textual system, cven though they are an aesthetic phenomenon ;fsuffi:,ent subtletyandcomplexity to havesuccessfullycngaged the imaginations ofmdbonsofreaders for over half acentury. Contcntanalysisdenies thesoapopera'stextuahtybyrcduclngit toquantitativcdata, whileit dcnics thesoapopera's ficttvcstatus by assuming that readers rcgard episodes as they would aspects of the "realworld." Thecri ticsworkingwith intheproblematic of tradi tiona I acstheticsrcfuscstoengagethe soap operas as aesthetic object. Evenwritersonpopular culturewhohavcelevatcdsomccategories oftelevisionprogrammingtothestatusof art havefounditdifficult, if not impossible, toadmit soapoperas to the ncwcanon-cvcnwherc itwouldbe logical for themto doso. IInlight oflhc dctextualized status of the soap opera in social scicntific and acstheticdiscourses, it isnecessarytoreestablishitstextuality, even at therisk of ovcrcmphasiz-Ingforlnal propcrtlcsthat probablywouldnot berecognizedassuchbymost readerswhoarenot"profcssional"readers(that is, academics). This operatIonwdl beapoehc one111 that itwill scektogive anaccountof the soap operaastextualRobert C. Allen. ':AReader.OrientedPoetics of theSoap Opera."fromSpeakingof SO. JuliaKristeva. "Women's Time," Signs7 (1981): 10.Men, Sex, and Moneyin Recent Family MelodramasELLEN SEITERSincethelatenineteen-seventies, thepopularity of familymelodra-mashasheenincreasing, whileitsconventionshaveundergone somediversifaetion.Nolonger is the familymelodramathe exclusive domainof women'spopular culture,restricted to women's films and soapoperas. Recent feature films and prime timetelevisionserials nowformasignificant aspectofthegenre, concentratingon maleprotagonists in an effort to appeal to a new audience composedboth men and women.Thesemelodramas of thenineteen-eightiesreveal signfieant trendsinterms of gender,class andthe nature of thetribulations. This article is a survey of the dominant featuresof familymelodramastodayincluding:s()ap operas, primetimeserials suchasDallasand Dynasty. andtheatrical featurefilms.AfAucnce as Ordinaryfamilymclodramashave always tended10 dealwithanenviron-ment, a set of characters and a narrative dilemma unquestionably indenlified asmiddleclass. Fromitsbeginning, melodramaallieditself withamiddleclassontheEllenSeiter's"Men, Sex, andl"loncy 111 Recent FamilyMelodramas," origll1allyappearedInThe/oumat of Filmand VIdeo, Vol. 35, no. I(Winter, 1(83), pp. 17-27. RcpTlllledoypermiSSiontotheaulhorand The Journal of Filmand Video.525521\Elfen Seiler Men. Sex, and Moneyin Family Melodrama 527rise, portraying a classidentical to or matchingits audience'saspirations. Thepersis-tenceofthe middleclassenvironment inf.1mily melodramas has tendedtopresentmiddleclass valuesas universal, with noconsciousnessof elass (oroftenethnicandracial) specificity. Whilethe middle elass setting allowsthe dramato elide class issues.it alsoreinForcestheprimaryof personal definitionsratherthan socialonesindealingwith the Family. Upward social mobility has conventionallybeenaconcern in themelodrama onlytotheextent that itaFFects thepersonal happinessof itscharacters.serving as an obstacle, For example, to the fulfillment of love through marriage. For themost part, Family melodramashave continuedto voicethcninetecnth century "cult ofsensibility," andsnggestedthat wealthcanbe adrawbackinterms of personal happi-ness. At the same time, the middle classcontext is emphaticallydepictcd throughselting, cultural references, social context. anddefinedasthe average, thetypical. theordinary.Theconventional configurationof characterson thedaytimeserials includesanupper classFamily, amiddleclass. proFessional family-provIdingtheproliferationofdoctorsandlawyers-andapoor. workingclass Family(oftenawidow, employedbythemiddleandupperclassfamiliesasaservant, andher children. whohaveprofes-sional aspirations). While the possibility of social mobility exists throughthe rather freeInterrnarriage betweenclassesonsoapoperas, thedivorce rate makes sucharrange-ments extremely insecure. Inthelongrun, charactersusuallyremainpart of the classthey were born mto. Because there arc such strongclass distinctions in the basicstructure ofsoapoperas, the narratives possess a kindofclass consciousness oftenabsent fromother types of melodrama. Working class characters arc shownin a variet\'of oecnpations-aswaitresses, nurses, clerical workers, evenpolice, andthere is a;1emphasis onthe key role work plays inthe lives of these characters. While the material