Abstract
The script for The Cicada’s Lullaby follows a young woman trying to find her voice, and thus her happiness, in her marriage. Set in a despondent coal mining community in West Virginia during the 1960s, she is forced to confront national tragedies and her personal misfortunes. Her obsession with the television leads her to become fascinated with The Kennedy’s. When Jacqueline Kennedy shows up at her backdoor, she begins to question her reality.
The 1960s was a turning point for the nation as a whole – an awakening. The Cicada’s Lullaby addresses the issues on the rise during Second Wave feminism, specifically “the problem with no name”. While Second Wave feminism was largely centered on the human rights of middle and high class white women, the script centers on a woman sheltered by the rural Appalachian region. She and her family live modestly, without the comforts affluence provides, in contrast to the narrative of many woman partaking in the feminist movement at the time. The screenplay brings the world of politics, of glitz and glamour, of elegant dinners and photoshoots together with that of Appalachia, of blue collar work, of tradition.
Advisor
Seeds, Dale
Second Advisor
Holt, Katherine
Department
Film Studies; History
Recommended Citation
Skoglund, Lucas R., "The Cicada's Lullaby: Myth and Media in Feminism and Appalachian Culture during the Kennedy Years" (2017). Senior Independent Study Theses. Paper 7611.
https://openworks.wooster.edu/independentstudy/7611
Disciplines
Screenwriting | United States History | Women's History
Keywords
The Cicada's Lullaby
Publication Date
2017
Degree Granted
Bachelor of Arts
Document Type
Senior Independent Study Thesis
© Copyright 2017 Lucas R. Skoglund