Melodrama and Modernity

Melodrama and Modernity PDF Author: Ben Singer
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231505079
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
In this groundbreaking investigation into the nature and meanings of melodrama in American culture between 1880 and 1920, Ben Singer offers a challenging new reevaluation of early American cinema and the era that spawned it. Singer looks back to the sensational or "blood and thunder" melodramas (e.g., The Perils of Pauline, The Hazards of Helen, etc.) and uncovers a fundamentally modern cultural expression, one reflecting spectacular transformations in the sensory environment of the metropolis, in the experience of capitalism, in the popular imagination of gender, and in the exploitation of the thrill in popular amusement. Written with verve and panache, and illustrated with 100 striking photos and drawings, Singer's study provides an invaluable historical and conceptual map both of melodrama as a genre on stage and screen and of modernity as a pivotal idea in social theory.

Neo-Victorian Villains

Neo-Victorian Villains PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004322256
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description
Neo-Victorian Villains is the first edited collection to examine the afterlives of such Victorian villains as Dracula, Svengali, Dorian Gray and Jekyll and Hyde, exploring their representation in neo-Victorian drama and fiction. In addition, Neo-Victorian Villains examines a number of supposedly villainous types, from the spirit medium and the femme fatale to the imperial ‘native’ and the ventriloquist, and traces their development from Victorian times today. Chapters analyse recent theatre, films and television – from Ripper Street to Marvel superhero movies – as well as classic Hollywood depictions of Victorian villains. In a wide-ranging opening chapter, Benjamin Poore assesses the legacy of nineteenth-century ideas of villains and villainy in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Contributors are: Sarah Artt, Guy Barefoot, Jonathan Buckmaster, David Bullen, Helen Davies, Robert Dean, Marion Gibson, Richard Hand, Emma James, Mark Jones, Emma V. Miller, Claire O’Callaghan, Christina Parker-Flynn, Frances Pheasant-Kelly, Natalie Russell, Gillian Piggott, Benjamin Poore and Rob Welch.

Melodrama and Modernity

Melodrama and Modernity PDF Author: Ben Singer
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 9780231505079
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 388

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Book Description
In this groundbreaking investigation into the nature and meanings of melodrama in American culture between 1880 and 1920, Ben Singer offers a challenging new reevaluation of early American cinema and the era that spawned it. Singer looks back to the sensational or "blood and thunder" melodramas (e.g., The Perils of Pauline, The Hazards of Helen, etc.) and uncovers a fundamentally modern cultural expression, one reflecting spectacular transformations in the sensory environment of the metropolis, in the experience of capitalism, in the popular imagination of gender, and in the exploitation of the thrill in popular amusement. Written with verve and panache, and illustrated with 100 striking photos and drawings, Singer's study provides an invaluable historical and conceptual map both of melodrama as a genre on stage and screen and of modernity as a pivotal idea in social theory.

Theatre in the Victorian Age

Theatre in the Victorian Age PDF Author: Michael R. Booth
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521348379
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 244

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Book Description
A comprehensive survey of the theatre practice and dramatic literature of the Victorian period.

English Drama, Excluding Shakespeare

English Drama, Excluding Shakespeare PDF Author: Stanley Wells
Publisher: London ; New York : Oxford University Press
ISBN:
Category : English drama
Languages : en
Pages : 330

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Book Description


Hollywood's Melodramatic Imagination

Hollywood's Melodramatic Imagination PDF Author: Geoff Mayer
Publisher: McFarland
ISBN: 1476643075
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 350

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Book Description
Melodrama is the foundation of American cinema. It is, however, a poorly understood term. While it is a pervasive and persuasive dramatic mode, it is not tied to any specific moral or ideological system. It is not a singular genre; rather, it operates as a "genre generating machine" capable of determining the aesthetics and structure of the drama within many genres. Melodrama centers the conflict around the clash between good and evil and provides a sense of poetic justice--but the specific values embedded in notions of good and evil are determined by the culture, and they shift from nation to nation, region to region, and period to period. This book explores the "populist" westerns of the 1930s, the propaganda films that followed the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, and the popularity of Sax Rohmer's master villain Fu Manchu. "Melodramas of passion" and film noir also offer a challenge to melodrama with its seemingly alienated protagonists and downbeat endings. Yet, with few exceptions, Hollywood was able to assimilate these genres within its melodramatic imagination.

The Rise of Melodrama and the Schematization of Women in England, 1760-1840

The Rise of Melodrama and the Schematization of Women in England, 1760-1840 PDF Author: Andrew David Mendelson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English drama
Languages : en
Pages : 1010

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Book Description


The Terrible Fitzball

The Terrible Fitzball PDF Author: Larry Stephen Clifton
Publisher: Popular Press
ISBN: 9780879726096
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
A study of Edward Fitzball, a melodramatic dramatist of 19th- century England, whose primary themes of horror, crime, and madness, reflected the insecurities of the time and foreshadowed the sensationalist media of ours. His life, the contemporary society and theater, and his dramatic principles and influences, are all considered. No index. Paper edition (unseen), $15.95. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Hot Thespian Action!

Hot Thespian Action! PDF Author: Robin Whittaker
Publisher: Athabasca University Press
ISBN: 1897425260
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 585

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Book Description
In Hot Thespian Action! Robin Whittaker argues that new plays can thrive in amateur theatres, which have freedoms unavailable to professional companies. He proves it with ten relevant, engaging playscripts originally produced by one of Canada's longest-running theatres, Edmonton's acclaimed Walterdale Theatre Associates. This collection challenges notions that amateur theatre is solely a phenomenon of the pre-professional past. Whittaker makes an important contribution to Canadian theatre studies with the first North American anthology in 80 years to collect plays first produced by a nonprofessionalized theatre company.

Imitations of Life

Imitations of Life PDF Author: Louise McReynolds
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 0822380579
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 352

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Book Description
Imitations of Life views Russian melodrama from the eighteenth century to today as an unexpectedly hospitable forum for considering social issues. The contributors follow the evolution of the genre through a variety of cultural practices and changing political scenarios. They argue that Russian audiences have found a particular type of comfort in this mode of entertainment that invites them to respond emotionally rather than politically to social turmoil. Drawing on a wide variety of sources, including plays, lachrymose novels, popular movies, and even highly publicized funerals and political trials, the essays in Imitations of Life argue that melodrama has consistently offered models of behavior for times of transition, and that contemporary televised versions of melodrama continue to help Russians cope with national events that they understand implicitly but are not yet able to articulate. In contrast to previous studies, this collection argues for a reading that takes into account the subtle but pointed challenges to national politics and to gender and class hierarchies made in melodramatic works from both the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Collectively, the contributors shift and cross borders, illustrating how the cultural dismissal of melodrama as fundamentally escapist and targeted primarily at the politically disenfranchised has subverted the drama’s own intrinsically subversive virtues. Imitations of Life will interest students and scholars of contemporary Russia, and Russian history, literature, and theater. Contributors. Otto Boele, Julie Buckler, Julie Cassiday, Susan Costanzo, Helena Goscilo, Beth Holmgren, Lars Lih, Louise McReynolds, Joan Neuberger, Alexander Prokhorov, Richard Stites

Homosexualities in the English Theatre

Homosexualities in the English Theatre PDF Author: John Franceschina
Publisher: Praeger
ISBN:
Category : Drama
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Examines representations of homosexuality in the English theatre from the Renaissance to the close of the 19th century.