Within film criticism, the usage of the term "melodrama" has changed over time, as has the presumed audience for the genre. This course will investigate the various ways in which Hollywood melodrama and its audience have been understood, beginning in the silent period, ranging through the woman's picture of the thirties and forties to domestic melodramas of the fifties, and culminating in contemporary cinema. We will pay particular attention to the problems of narrative construction and visual style as they relate to different definitions of melodramas. Screenings include films directed by D. W. Griffith, Evgenii Bauer, John Stahl, Frank Borzage, King Vidor, Douglas Sirk, Vincente Minnelli, Max Ophuis, Nicholas Ray, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Lars von Trier, Paul Thomas Anderson, and Todd Haynes. |