COLLECTION NAME:
Graduate Thesis Collection
Record
Title:
“You Weren’t There”: The Representation of Women in Vietnam Veteran Melodramas
Creator:
Madden, Caroline Elizabeth
Subject:
Thesis (M.A.) -- Cinema Studies
Subject:
Savannah College of Art and Design -- Department of Cinema Studies
Rights:
Copyright is retained by the authors or artists of items in this collection, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law.
Abstract:
"Scholars typically examine America’s cinematic response to the Vietnam War in regards
to the portrayal of masculinity. While I do not want to ignore the questions of masculinity
inherent in a Vietnam era study, I instead shift my focus onto an overlooked aspect of Vietnam
films: the female characters. I argue that 'In Country' (1989) transcends Susan Jeffords’s idea of
'feminine exclusion' and the patriarchal values of typical Vietnam homefront melodramas such
as Born on the 'Fourth of July' (1989) and 'Jacknife' (1989) due to its female character who dictates
the narrative, refuses to be confined to an exclusionary role and questions how society views
Vietnam veterans. The narratives of the other films work to restore the conservative ideals of
pre-Vietnam America, returning to the nuclear family and home as Linda Williams’s 'space of
innocence.' The female characters become 'ideological victims' when they are subsumed back
within a household role and become dependent on a man in order to regain the veteran’s lost
masculinity. This thesis applies genre and feminist theoretical frameworks to examine the images
of women found within Vietnam melodramas and their role in reshaping the post-Vietnam vision
of America after second-wave feminism and the rise of 1980s conservative politics."
to the portrayal of masculinity. While I do not want to ignore the questions of masculinity
inherent in a Vietnam era study, I instead shift my focus onto an overlooked aspect of Vietnam
films: the female characters. I argue that 'In Country' (1989) transcends Susan Jeffords’s idea of
'feminine exclusion' and the patriarchal values of typical Vietnam homefront melodramas such
as Born on the 'Fourth of July' (1989) and 'Jacknife' (1989) due to its female character who dictates
the narrative, refuses to be confined to an exclusionary role and questions how society views
Vietnam veterans. The narratives of the other films work to restore the conservative ideals of
pre-Vietnam America, returning to the nuclear family and home as Linda Williams’s 'space of
innocence.' The female characters become 'ideological victims' when they are subsumed back
within a household role and become dependent on a man in order to regain the veteran’s lost
masculinity. This thesis applies genre and feminist theoretical frameworks to examine the images
of women found within Vietnam melodramas and their role in reshaping the post-Vietnam vision
of America after second-wave feminism and the rise of 1980s conservative politics."
Abstract:
*Keywords: masculinity, Vietnam War, melodrama, nuclear family, feminism, 1980s, Born on
the Fourth of July, Jacknife, In Country
the Fourth of July, Jacknife, In Country
Publisher:
Savannah, Georgia : Savannah College of Art and Design
Date:
2017-03
Format:
PDF : 62 pages, illustrations (chiefly color)