What Women Want

I have mentioned several times that many believe that the melodrama and escapism are genres oriented towards women, I agree, but still remain confused on why it is such a negative thing. I found an blog post that I (sort of) agree with, it takes the side of women living vicariously through romantic melodramas. The blog post states that, "women who read these books live vicariously through the characters whose lives are nothing like theirs. They feel a sense of escapism when they read about women who have men lusting after them..." I agree that many people use melodramas as a mind-numbing escape, but this blog post made it seem like the women who read it are absolutely desperate to be loved like the characters they read about in their novels. I am almost positive that this is not always the case. I agree with the person who posted this blog post when they said that the, "...whole concept of women 'escaping' and becoming empowered through the act of reading romance novels sadly just reinforces gender stereotypes." This is a complete fact. Many believe that because mainly women are empowered by these types of novels that means that men aren't also. Not only women read these texts and feel empowered or are able to find an escape through reading them. I feel that this topic needs to be brought out and discussed in society a lot more. 

Melodrama Makes Money

Part of my research paper is about Nicholas Sparks and his novel, "The Notebook". I used this novel because it has not only been adapted and put onto the big screen, but because it is probably one of the most popular romantic melodramas. Even though romantic melodrama will always come with a negative connotation, it will never stop making authors, screen play writers, actors/actresses, directors etc.,. very very very rich. I found an article from, The New York Times, called "Romance Novels Discover a Baby Boom", written in April of 1991 by Alessandra Stanley. This article states that, "romance fiction, once dismissed as escapist fiction for bored housewives, has in the last two decades grown into a major industry, with annual revenues that publishing analysts say reach hundreds of millions of dollars." This article might have been written way before Nicholas Sparks wrote "The Notebook", but is proof that even though the romantic melodrama has and has had a negative connotation for so long, people still go out and use their hard earned cash on an escape into a character's fairytale.

Chick Flicks and Chick Culture

Another academic source that I will be using within in my research paper is a critical essay called, "Chick Flicks and Chick Culture" written by Suzanne Ferriss and Mallory Young. I am using this source because it describes the thoughts of society and why many people think that melodramas being oriented toward women is a negative subject. What I learned from this critical essay is that many people think that the definition of a melodramatic "chick flick" is, “ …[when a group of] unwilling male theatergoers [go along] to their girlfriends' film choices”. I feel that with society putting melodramas in this negative light today, it will always have a negative connotation, but I completely disagree with this thought. I feel that women choose to read and watch this genre because they either want a temporary escape from reality or want to see what they can aspire to. I feel that women ARE more emotional than men are, but not in a negative way, it is just a fact that is statistically proven. I feel that the melodrama is an important genre to our society today, without it there would be less book/movie options for women AND men to choose from after having a very long and/or stress day/week.

Resource for Research

Another academic source that I used for my research paper about the melodrama, is a source about society's thoughts in the present day and over the past several decades about "Women's Films". This source was introduced in class and it is called "Apt Feelings, or Why 'Women's Films' Aren't Trivial" by Flo Leibowitz. I agree with the thoughts that those who write melodramas write certain scenes in their novels planning for their readers to have an emotional reaction. When I watch and/or read melodramas there is always a point with in the novel or film where I am crying because of the pity that I feel for the main character or characters. What is also mentioned in this resource is that, "the melodrama....is typically associated with.....narrow escapes". This quote from this source is very important to my research because in my paper I will be comparing escapism and the melodrama as said in a previous blog post. It is a common thought that women are the sex that is mainly attracted to these types of films and novels, and I do agree. This source supports this and it also supports my opinion, that though women are always associated with watching or reading the melodrama it should not be a known as a subject of negativity.

Academic Source: Research Paper

One of the sources I will most likely be using with in my melodramatic research paper is and academic source called "ESCAPISM", by Jesse Montero, found on the University at Buffalo library data base. I feel that this source will help me to develop a better research paper because the author takes my stance on the idea of what escapism is in reality today. In my research paper I will be writing about two of Nicholas Spark's novels and how they have been transformed to be put on the big screen. This article/source explains that romance is used as a "flight" from what a person's reality is. It is an outlet for a person to get away from what is really going on in their lives, and in the two novels I will be writing about, this is one of the main themes: A girl that has come from a horrible situation is brought to life by a significant other in over-dramatic ways, or vice versa with a male escaping his reality. Montero argues that all relationships are an escape from reality, I think that he himself is a bit overdramatic, but it agrees with the point I am trying to make with how Spark's novels can be interpreted in this exact way, especially when seen in a movie.

Research Paper Idea

A perfect example of the melodrama is the author Nicholas Sparks himself. Sparks' books are full of the what the melodrama is defined as, but what enhances the melodramatic effect is when his books are put onto the big screen for all of his fans to see. Many of Sparks' romances that were put to life on screen have become the standard by which all romance films are judged in popular America. Many see Sparks' genre as escapism. Escapism is brought to life in his novels and in the films by the tendency of his characters to seek distraction and relief from their originally unpleasant realities. Sparks' main protagonists usually escape their incredibly triaging realities by seeking out a form of entertainment or by leaping into a sort of romantic fantasy. Many of Sparks' novels try to show how difficult the world can be for women, and how in his stories his male characters try to navigate the woman's world. Giving Sparks' novels a the label of being part of the melodrama is very spot on, because it helps to illuminate the absurd narratives it his novels. The settings of the novels also add to the intense emotions of every scene. Nicholas Sparks is a great example of a modern day melodrama writer. 

Moral Occult

According to what I have read from Brook's, "The Melodramatic Imagination", I can tell that what he call's the "moral occult" is involved in many melodramas. Peter Brooks mentions that melodrama is a way for the characters of a story to, "...give voice to their deepest feelings, dramatize through their heightened and polarized words and gestures the whole lesson of their relationship"(Brooks pg. 4). I feel that this relates to the moral occult of a melodrama because Brook's defines a moral occult as "spiritual values" that are both hidden and obvious with in the characters' reality. This relates to the way that directors and writers of both television shows and films choose to portray the story to their viewers. For example, in the film, All That Heaven Allows, the main character, Cary, struggles with whether or not she should, Ron Kirby, her gardener of several years. Cary fell in love with Ron, thinking that when she would tell her children that she was going to marry him they would not make as big of a deal out of it as they did. Meanwhile, the audience was able predict that the children would not be approving of their relationship, and they were not. Once Cary finally realized what her reality had to be, she broke off her engagement with Ron. Cary wanted to make her children happy, and that became her reality, until one day Ron was in a horrible accident. Once Cary found out that Ron was hurt, she could no longer push her love for Ron to the back of her mind. With a story like this, a viewer is bound to find this type of ending predictable because of what is known as the "moral occult" of a melodrama.

All That Heaven Allows

In the movie, All That Heaven Allows, the main character Cary finds herself in a dilemma when her children are making her choose between the family's image and the new love in her life, Ron Kirby. Cary cared about her family's image in the small town they called home, so she thought choosing her children over the man she was supposed to marry was the right choice. Cary had to choose between the love of her life and her children because her children did not react well to her desire to marry a much younger and less classy man. The children were worried about their family image and their father's legacy in the small town. The children thought that Cary marrying a lower class man would shame their deceased father and shame their entire family. Cary's children were scared of what the town would think of their mother selling the house their family has lived in for generations to move in to a regenerated mill on Ron Kirby's land. It was not only the children that disapproved of their mother's relationship but it was also Cary's friends and acquaintances that disapproved of Ron. Cary's friends only cared about their appearance and the amount of money they had, but Ron was all about nature and caring for others besides himself.  There was a scene in the movie when Cary comes home from a night out with Ron, and her son Ned is waiting up for her at home. When Cary enters her house in this scene, the lighting is very dark, and the music is very over the top and dramatic. Within this very over dramatized scene Ned tells his mother that he is very disappointed in her and that if she does not choose to break it off with Ron for the sam of the family, he tells her he will never speak to her again. A quote from the book that we are currently reading depicts why dark lighting was chose for this scene, "...extremely artificial lighting effects are achieved that represent the mood of a scene or a character rather than aiming for more naturalistic lighting" (John Mercer, Martin Shingler 56).  This perfectly explains why the scene is so dimly lit.

Melodramatic Usage

http://www.filmsite.org/melodramafilms.html

http://www.thesaurus.com/browse/melodramatic?s=t