The Moral Occult

Within every melodrama the characters must make a decision. The decision comes down to either good vs bad, or right vs wrong. Brooks states "the domain of operative spiritual values which is both indicated within and masked by the surface of reality" (Brooks 5). Brooks is stating that the protagonist of the melodrama is always faced with a decision that changes the tides of the story. It is up the the protagonist to go with what he thinks is right, or go with what he others say. While I was watching one of my favorite TV show called "Suits", the main character Mike Ross is always faced with the decision to either protect his client who has usually done something wrong, or fight for what he believes which is helping the weak. Although it is Mike's duty to win the case for his client he sometimes tunnel visions which causes him to do  what will make him feel better about himself.

All That Heaven Allows Blog

As I watched the film All That Heaven Allows, I was constantly thinking about the world melodrama/melodramatic and how it can be applied to this movie. To be honest the movie was a melodrama but it wasn't a film that gets you sucked in to the characters emotions which usually occurs in melodramas. To me the movie was very interesting because many popular books/films have a similar theme where two completely different people fall for each other. Cary the widow in the film falls for her gardener Ron who live completely opposite lives. Cary enjoys meeting with her country club friends, lives in a mansion and attends all these events, while Ron simply lives in a cabin, and enjoys the simple things in life. Eventually Ron proposes to Cary and she excepts, but her children cannot stand the fact that a man like Ron would replace their father. Falling under the pressure Cary decides that she must break off the engagement. In the end of the film Cary realizes that she shouldn't have changed her mind in the first place and she should have stuck with Ron. One of the things I enjoyed about the movie is how the director cleverly uses certain scenes to display the differences in the lifestyles between Cary and Ron. In Cary's mansion she has windows that are small which describes her lifestyle. Cary is in her little hole and doesn't enjoy life to the fullest. Ron has huge windows that describes how he enjoys the simple things in life, and lives life to the fullest.