By Alex Vargas
To say that Sirk was the king of melodrama is both an understatement and a bit of a
mixed bag because of old Hollywood melodramas, but theater didn’t inspire Sirk
himself. More specifically, Bertolt Brecht and his theory/genre of Epic Theater sought to
distort the audience’s immersion in theater by making the sets artificial to emphasize
the often political messages of their works. Douglas Sirk was a German-born director
who was a famous melodrama filmmaker from the 1940s to the early 1960s at the height
of the genre’s popularity. Sirk redefined the genre by taking Sirk Brecht’s philosophy to
the theater to express his politics on the silver screen similarly; thus emerged forth his
iconic works such as That Heaven Allows (1955), the story of a widowed upper
middle-class suburbian housewife Cary, falling in love with her working-class Gardner
and the discrimination, backlash, and judgment her community brings her. The film
explores themes of classism and sexism head-on, with the lm showcasing her
arranged coupling with another person of her class as uncomfortable and wrong. Her
friends comment on the color of the dress she wears because it’s not fitting for a widow
like her; all of it is packaged under the guise of a “women’s film” or melodrama, which
mixed bag because of old Hollywood melodramas, but theater didn’t inspire Sirk
himself. More specifically, Bertolt Brecht and his theory/genre of Epic Theater sought to
distort the audience’s immersion in theater by making the sets artificial to emphasize
the often political messages of their works. Douglas Sirk was a German-born director
who was a famous melodrama filmmaker from the 1940s to the early 1960s at the height
of the genre’s popularity. Sirk redefined the genre by taking Sirk Brecht’s philosophy to
the theater to express his politics on the silver screen similarly; thus emerged forth his
iconic works such as That Heaven Allows (1955), the story of a widowed upper
middle-class suburbian housewife Cary, falling in love with her working-class Gardner
and the discrimination, backlash, and judgment her community brings her. The film
explores themes of classism and sexism head-on, with the lm showcasing her
arranged coupling with another person of her class as uncomfortable and wrong. Her
friends comment on the color of the dress she wears because it’s not fitting for a widow
like her; all of it is packaged under the guise of a “women’s film” or melodrama, which
brought Sirk’s attention differently. Not of suspicion of being a communist but of being
a low-art director who made movies for women yet deeply tied with his personal
beliefs as a communist of working class struggles, the deception of capitalism, and the
culture of oppression it perpetuates, bringing us to the main film I want to discuss: Written on the Wind (1956) tells the epic tale of an oil tycoon family who soon gets
entangled in the lies between two employees who were lifelong friends of said family,
causing gossip, betrayal, and heartbreak.
a low-art director who made movies for women yet deeply tied with his personal
beliefs as a communist of working class struggles, the deception of capitalism, and the
culture of oppression it perpetuates, bringing us to the main film I want to discuss: Written on the Wind (1956) tells the epic tale of an oil tycoon family who soon gets
entangled in the lies between two employees who were lifelong friends of said family,
causing gossip, betrayal, and heartbreak.
From the start of the film, you know what will happen; you know of the conflict before
with the intro scene, yet this sense of lavish lifestyle becomes dull and drab compared
to the beginning. All the sets have this tonal dissonance of being in dirtied and unkept
locals or fantastical and elaborate locations, emphasizing the excess Sirk is trying to
critique. Sirk was profoundly anti-capitalist, and though he would not be able to state
these beliefs openly, through his works, he shows audiences these deeply prescient
themes through the guise of a “low art form” of the “women’s” films or soap operas of
the time. This film, heading deep into the more modern soap stereotypes, touches on
an affluent family and deconstructs capitalism through their actions and the
artificiality of their worlds.
Often, this wealth becomes uncomfortable for the main leads to be a part of; Lauren
Bacall’s character, Lucy, physically runs away from the gawdy hotel Kyle (son of the Oil
tycoons) pays for her due to how dull and lifeless it feels. Kyle and his sister Marylee
(played by Dorothy Malone, who gives the best performance out of the whole cast)
display two opposing sides of capitalism that deal with excess in different ways; for
Kyle, it’s alcoholism, and for Marylee, it’s her sexuality. Yet Sirk finds a way through the
Bacall’s character, Lucy, physically runs away from the gawdy hotel Kyle (son of the Oil
tycoons) pays for her due to how dull and lifeless it feels. Kyle and his sister Marylee
(played by Dorothy Malone, who gives the best performance out of the whole cast)
display two opposing sides of capitalism that deal with excess in different ways; for
Kyle, it’s alcoholism, and for Marylee, it’s her sexuality. Yet Sirk finds a way through the
film to subvert audience expectations again by making this formulated story more
bountiful while taking from the theory of modern German theater.
bountiful while taking from the theory of modern German theater.
While Written on the Wind (1958) is by no means a perfect film as its depiction of the
black maids of the oil tycoon family (while minimal screen time) does perpetuate the
stereotypes of black servants for the film, there is something still resonant and radical
about Sirk’s filmography that encourages viewers like me to rewatch & dissect again
and again.
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