"Great girl to bother about a fellow." The Cinema of John M. Stahl and the Emancipation of American Women in the 1920s.

Abstract

The thesis will begin with a focus on women and their evolution from the end of WWI through the 1920s, and how the Pre-Code cinema years mirrored their emancipation. The thesis will then move on to the figure of John M. Stahl, with a general introduction to his works and how the portrayal of women is achieved through his perspective and techniques. The analysis of Frederick Lewis Allen's Only Yesterday will follow, as it is important work to understand the changes in society and culture in the 1920s. Subsequently, I will focus on Stahl’s movie Only Yesterday, which will be analyzed together with Letter from an Unknown Woman, both the movie and the book, as they are good embodiments of the evolution in mindset of the years. Back Street will follow, starting with the novel of Fannie Hurst, and then Stahl's 1932 film adaptation. The thesis will conclude with an analysis the two remakes of the movie, which were made in 1941 and 1961.