Refiguring melodrama in film and television : captive affects, elastic sufferings, vicarious objects / Agustín Zarzosa.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zarzosa, Agustín, 1970-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Melodrama in motion pictures.

Melodrama on television.

Physical Description:

x, 173 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham, Md. : Lexington Books, [2013]

Summary:

Refiguring Melodrama in Film and Television, by Agustín Zarzosa, proposes an alternative to the long-standing conception of melodrama as a cultural mode of imagination. According to this prevailing model, melodrama proclaims the existence of a defunct moral order in a postsacred world. Zarzosa argues that the fundamental problem the melodramatic mode seeks to illuminate is not morality but suffering. This study defines melodrama as an apparatus that shapes suffering and redistributes its visibility. The moral ideas we associate with this apparatus are only a means to achieve this end.

Zarzosa's theory of melodrama offers a novel perspective on the notions of mode, affect, interpretation, exchange, excess, sacrifice, and coincidence. These aspects are coupled with analyses of classic melodramas (Home from the Hill and The Story of Adele H.), contemporary films (The Piano, [Safe], and Year of the Dog), and television series (Torchwood and Lost). Refiguring Melodrama in Film and Television provides an essential new look at melodrama and its function in popular culture and media. Book jacket.

Contents:

Introduction: the outwitted critic

Modalities of melodrama

Affect, affection, affectation

Diagnosing suffering

Trafficking in sacred objects

Sacrifice and the animal melodrama

The excesses of the posthuman melodrama

The outside and the coincidence machine

Conclusion: tragedy and melodrama.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780739172537

0739172530

9780739172544

0739172549

OCLC:

811337412