Textual Analysis Of King Vidor

Some films give away their ending based on the very genre they fall into; the couple puts aside their differences for love in the romantic comedy and the hero wins at the end of an action movie. There are those that play upon these tropes to purposefully subvert the reader’s expectations of course, but the more interesting cases lie in those films that aren’t attempting to subvert the genre, yet somehow manage to subtly undermine themselves through conflicting messages over the course of the film. King Vidor’s 1937 maternal melodrama Stella Dallas is the perfect example of a film whose ending message is preceded by so many contradicting elements, that it’s intended ending message to the audience is not resolutely “earned” but rather left open for interpretation. Although, like many …show more content…
The first instances the audience encounters Stella, she seems to be affirming the idea that a woman’s primary route to happiness is through love for, and marriage to a man. All her efforts from the audience’s first interactions with her, up until her marriage with Stephen, seem to point towards that end. However, for the tale to be that simple, the movie would have to end just fifteen minutes after the title sequence. Instead, while her marriage to Stephen allowed Stella to leave behind her life inside a house full of working class people, and a controlling father , Stella finds that life with Stephen does not grant the freedom she sought. Rather, she realizes she “[has] to think twice every time [she] open[s her] mouth” and has a husband who requests that she “Give up a few things for [him]” , without ever responding to her comment of “I don’t see you giving up anything” . Stella’s love and life with Stephen deteriorates almost as quickly as it began, and within months of their first child together, Stella and Stephen are, for all intents and purposes, split