Cody's Questions!

1) I'm no expert on feminism, though I do consider myself an uninformed fan of the movement.  The clear, neatly-fitted answer is that women are historically and globally in the subordinate position to their male counterparts, and literature is a reflection of its cultural setting.  Moreover, men generally comprise the elite class-- even today holding the majority of political power (you may want to check my stats on that) and, therefore, revolutionary power.

2) Love this question!  I'm scared I won't be able to give it the answer it deserves.  While melodrama identifies and demonizes "bad guys," its ultimate goal is to bring societal organization to justice.  But it is single-sided!  In trying to empower the subordinate group, it paints them as victimized and pitiful; it can manipulate the portrayal of a situation as one that requires drastic (melodramatic) measures.  As Cody points out, the Manifesto was designed to cause an uprising.  Generally, these aren't peaceful.  Melodrama is powerful.  Individuals should really evaluate what they are being told, and not let a stylized portrayal and exaggeration of class dichotomy cloud their judgment.

3) One of my questions referenced the way the female victim, in concordance with the progression of the female status through history, has become less of a victim in children's programming and more self-sufficient.  In recent Disney releases, we see more heroism, sass, and individuality in female characters.  Still, good guys win in the end, and bad guys lose-- and there's rarely to never a character who doesn't sit securely on one side of the moral dichotomy described by Singer and Williams (and Dr. B).  The melodramatic storyline has remained largely intact, but characters have developed to adhere to modern adherence to democracy and fairness-- the values set into motion by the earliest of melodramatic work.