A Melodramatic Failure in All That Heaven Allows

• 영문명: A Melodramatic Failure in All That Heaven Allows
• 발행기관: 한국영미어문학회
• 저자명: 최정선
• 간행물 정보: 『영미어문학』제148호, 257~279쪽, 전체 23쪽
• 주제분류: 어문학 > 영어와문학
• 파일형태: PDF
• 발행일자: 2023.03.30

영문 초록

While examining female liberation and agency in Douglas Sirk’s All That Heaven Allows, this essay furthers the work of Thomas Elsasser and Elizabeth R. Anker to elucidate the ways in which Sirk diverges from melodramatic conventions in the cinematic narrative structure. Moreover, this essay points out the inherent flaw of the melodramatic narrative structure of women’s films. This flaw essentially shows that the suffering female protagonist succeeds in freeing herself by finding a new home, a place of freedom, only to fail in the end because she already knows the reality/the real ending about her inescapable fate. Sirk criticizes the ideological system that shapes and influences gender relations rather than an individual villain. The system that Sirk critiques is one in which women are allowed to transgress and revolt against the assumed oppressor but are simultaneously trained to act docile and accept the supposed inevitable failure of her revolt.

목차

1. Introduction: Douglas Sirk’s Melodrama

2. A Female Victim in the American Home

3. A Male Rescue Plot

4. Conclusion: A Happily “Failed” Ending

Works Cited

키워드

Douglas Sirk All That Heaven Allows female melodrama failed subversion male debility