Domestic Melodrama as Genre (Discussion)
From Screenpedia
Readings
Molly Haskell
- Group 3: What three types of women does Haskell find in the woman's film? Who would be a recent example of each type?
- What are the woman's film's four main themes? Do you see them operating in the two melodramas we've viewed: Ordinary People (Group 4:) and Imitation of Life (1934--Group 1:)?
- How about in a recent American film?
- Group 2: How is hostility toward children expressed in the woman's film? Have you seen it in a recent American film?
- All Groups: What impact does the issue of race have on the woman's film? Compare/contrast the white and black mothers (Bea and Delilah, respectively) in Imitation of Life.
- All Groups: What theme does Haskell see that entwines the domestic and the romantic?
Bibliography
- Molly Haskell, "The Woman's Film," in From Reverence to Rape: The Treatment of Women in the Movies (New York: Penguin, 1974; revised edition 1987) 153-188.