"The audience was, on one level, shown formalized portrayals of virtuous, long-suffering heroines whose persistent faith in the American Dream finally was rewarded with romantic love and a house in the suburbs. Beneath this seemingly escapist fare, however, Elsaesser glimpses the genre's covert function 'to formulate a devastating critique of the ideology that supports it.'"
This quote reminded me of the part in Written on the Wind where Lucy and Kyle are first meeting, and Lucy says something along the lines of "I'll walk down the aisle and end up in a house in the suburbs with some children" and Kyle responds with "no, you are much too smart for that." This is a nice introduction to a critique of the American Dream/Romantic Love plot device.
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