Melodrama: 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.