Dixie Belle My Dreams Are Gone With The Wind

| The Awful Truth | Double or single edged blade | | | 4/22/2013 |

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"The Awful truth" much like the show cased song Dixie Belle's "My Dreams are Gone With the Wind" depending on what point of view one uses when looking at it there can be a either positive or negative connotation but yet contains a constant that draw together and binds both artistic pieces. Thus, creating a form of simile between the two, the song however itself can be use to represent the movie do the fact the Lucy performance showcases to use what we truly need to understand, and perfectly highlight what the "Awful Truth" is. Lucy's performance of Dixie Belle's song "My Dreams are Gone With the Wind" is taken very differently, depending on which
character is viewing the performance. In this case the view points are heavily influences by the identity in which the other characters recognizes Lucy as being.
The dance and song are present as sensually and possess a sexually tone to them, this is the one consent throughout all the view points and is what ties Lucy's plan together. As Cavell says " Her solution is to create her identity so that the very thing that repels the proper Vances is what attracts Jerry..." (Cavell, PH, 251) In other words by performing a dance and song that had that sensually and sexually tone has negative connotation to the Vances who know Lucy has Jerry sister it may even take on incestuous tone. Where as to Jerry who view Lucy as a partner it seen in positive light as she giving herself solely to Jerry or as said by Cavell “...Lucy is declaring herself, to Jerry alone of course, as the woman he strays from the house to
keep company with. She proposes herself as a field on which he may weave passion and tenderness, so that he might desire where he loves; she reminds him of this possibility by reminding him of who she is. "(Cavell, PH, 253). This duel view point based on ones understanding and views about Lucy but based on the same basic information are essentially blown up and magnified for the audience when one looks at the movie as a whole, creating a double edged sword of sorts in both the performance and the movie. However as stated above one only needs a bit of background and Lucy performance to truly grasp the message in the film. When looking through the two lenses in which people often us while watching films in order to understand them logic or emotion ones views can change based on the way they choose to identify with Lucy.
All the while the movie still keeps the character features and personality the same thus the double edge sword that makes "The Awful Truth" so engaging is born. In the film Lucy demonstrates several admirable qualities; she is creative, witty and determined. These characteristics are showcased rather quit well in her performance of Dixie Belle's song "My Dreams are Gone With the Wind". Here she use both her wit and creative, all while being fueled by her determination to rather quit successful push the Vances away from Jerry while drawing him to her. She fact throughout the movie in constantly trying to in some way draw Jerry into her life or be a part of his, this can be seen in the fact that the Vances know her has Jerry's
sister. What creates the double edge sword his is how people view her actions. Those who view it through the emotional lens are likely going "Aw... she still cares about him" were as those using the logical lens are going " He doesn't believe you his dating another woman grow up and use your talents for another purpose, like try focusing and your sing" Those to different one positive the other negative opinions are born of both Lucy and to an extent the movie is given two; a woman's drive to remain with the man she loves or a woman's complete dependence on having a man in her life. Now the question is which is right love or dependence. In order to solve this question we look to the title "The Awful Truth". The key word here is awful if the movies message was meant to positive why would they use a word with such a negative connotation like awful in the title. The answer is simple they would not, thus the entire message of the film is the negative side where Lucy is so dependent on having a man in her life, that she will go to any lengths to draw Jerry back in something which is also seen in her dating her neighbor Dan. So the truth about this movie is though it may upon first watch appear to have a double edge meaning once one look further in to the context of the film they fide it was just meant to shown case negative while using positive to keep the viewer entertained.