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- Title
"All our lives we'd looked out for each other the way that motherless children tend to do": "King Lear" as Melodrama.
- Authors
Griggs, Yvonne
- Abstract
This article discusses the film "A Thousand Acres," adapted for the screen from the Jane Smiley novel. The main concern of the article is "A Thousand Acres" connection to William Shakespeare's "King Lear." The article examines the film as a melodrama reworking of "King Lear." The definition and characteristics of melodrama are discussed. The author believes that the novel and film are rooted in a more realistic approach to the Lear story, and set aside the mythic qualities of Shakespeare's play. The author draws comparisons between "A Thousand Acres," and the 1958 Douglas Sirk film "Written on the Wind," noting that the issue of patriarchal decline in melodrama is associated with sexual and social deviance in both films.
- Subjects
THOUSAND Acres, A (Film); WRITTEN on the Wind (Film); SMILEY, Jane, 1949-; SHAKESPEARE, William, 1564-1616 -- Characters -- Kings &; rulers; ADAPTATIONS of Shakespeare's works; LEAR, King of England (Legendary character); MELODRAMA in motion pictures; PATRIARCHY in motion pictures
- Publication
Literature Film Quarterly, 2007, Vol 35, Issue 2, p101
- ISSN
0090-4260
- Publication type
Article