A la Grace de Dieu 1835
A01=Linda Williams
abjection
Adolphe D'Ennery
aesthetics of emotion
Alexandre Dumas
Alla Nazimova
American political culture
American theater
Amy Winehouse
analog digital transition
Asif Kapadia
Author_Linda Williams
Billie Holiday
body in film
border politics
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Catherine Gund
Chavela Vargas
Chinese cinema
Cindy Sherman
cinema history
civic expression
classical narrative
colonial resistance
comic strip
comparative theater
COVID19
D. W. Griffith
Daresha Kyi
digital cinema
digital technologies
diva
documentary
Donald Trump
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Erving Goffman
Eugene Cormon
Feminine Desire
Film songs
film strip
Francisque Sarcey
French theater
Gaumont
Gen-Z
Gender Identities
Gollum
Hollywood cinema
Indian modernity
individualism
Isabel Sandoval
James Erskine
Killing Eve
Les Deux Orphelines 1874
Loisa Puget
Lord of the Rings
MAGA
masculinity
melodrama
melodramatic mode
narrative structure
Orphans of the Storm 1921
P!nk
Pathe
pathetique
patriarchal society
political discourse
pop music
popular culture
popular drama
serialization
sexuality
social anxiety
state-organized melodrama
Stylized mise-en-scene
tableau
tableeaux
television drama
The Red Lantern 1919
Theatre de la Porte St. Martin
toxic masculinity
trans children
transgender
transmedial history
transnational drama
transphobia
vernacular modernism
Victor Hugo
Vitagraph
Product details
- ISBN 9781478038573
- Weight: 445g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 14 Apr 2026
- Publisher: Duke University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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As one of the most influential contemporary film scholars, Linda Williams brought her critical feminist lens to some of society’s most maligned and underappreciated film genres. Melodrama as Provocateur showcases what was to be Williams's last project in which, insisting on melodrama as a cross-generic, cross-media mode, she investigates the divergence between French and American attitudes to film melodrama. A diverse group of scholars respond to her provocations, rethinking melodrama’s transnational, transmedia histories and potential futures. Their contributions examine how melodrama became, as Williams argues, the default mode of contemporary media, and demonstrate how it plays an increasingly powerful role in public discourse and political rhetoric today.
Linda Williams (1946–2025) was Professor of Film Studies and Rhetoric at the University of California, Berkeley. She authored and edited several books, including Screening Sex and Playing the Race Card. She received the Outstanding Achievement Award from the British Association of Film, Television and Screen Studies.
Christine Gledhill is Visiting Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Leeds.
Laura Horak is Professor of Film Studies at Carleton University.
Elisabeth R. Anker is Professor of American Studies and Political Science and Director of Film Studies at The George Washington University.
Christine Gledhill is Visiting Professor of Cinema Studies at the University of Leeds.
Laura Horak is Professor of Film Studies at Carleton University.
Elisabeth R. Anker is Professor of American Studies and Political Science and Director of Film Studies at The George Washington University.
