Melodrama: Genre, Style, Sensibility

by John Mercer, Martin Shingler

Genre, Style and Sensibility is designed as an accessible overview of one of the most popular genres at undergraduate Film Studies. The book identifies three distinct but connected concepts through which it is possible to make sense of melodrama; either as a genre, originating in European theatre of the 18th and 19th century, as a specific cinematic style, epitomised by the work of Douglas Sirk or as a sensibility that emerges in the context of specific texts, speaking to and reflecting the desires, concerns and anxieties of audiences. Films discussed include All That Heaven Allows, Safe, Fear Eats the Soul, Black Narcissus, Suddenly Last Summer and Rebel Without a Cause . Each chapter includes overviews of key essays, analyses of significant and widely studied films and includes an annotated reading list.

Genres: Film, Nonfiction

144 pages, Paperback

First published December 29, 2004

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name. This profile may contain books from multiple authors of this name.

Other authors publishing under this name are:

John Mercer, American teacher and author
John Mercer, British archaeologist, author and weaver
John Mercer (1918- ), Film, Cinematography
John Mercer (1923- )

Reviews

[Fiona]

Dragged a bit as any scholarly book read on your own time will but mostly good.

[Constance]

I read the first chapter for my class about film genres, it was as good as a scholar book can be lol