Melodrama After the Tears: New Perspectives on the Politics of Victimhood

Author:   Jörg Metelmann ,  Scott Loren ,  Thomas Elsaesser (University of Amsterdam) ,  Linda Williams (University of California Berkeley)
Publisher:   Amsterdam University Press
Edition:   0
Volume:   46
ISBN:  

9789089646736


Pages:   336
Publication Date:   15 December 2015
Format:   Hardback
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
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Melodrama After the Tears: New Perspectives on the Politics of Victimhood


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Overview

Melodrama, it is said, has expanded beyond the borders of genre and fiction to become a pervasive cultural mode. It encompasses distinct signifying practices and interpretive codes for meaning-making that help determine the parameters of identification and subject formation. From the public staging of personal suffering or the psychologization of the self in relation to consumer capitalism, to the emotionalization and sentimentalization of national politics, contributions to this volume address the following question: If melodramatic models of sense-making have become so culturally pervasive and emotionally persuasive, what is the political potential of melodramatic victimhood and where are its political limitations? This volume represents both a condensation and an expansion in the growing field of melodrama studies. It condenses elements of theory on melodrama by bringing into focus what it recognizes to be the locus for subjective identification within melodramatic narratives: the victim. On the other hand, it provides an expansion by going beyond the common methodology of primarily examining fictive works - be they from the stage, the screen or the written word - for their explicit or latent commentary on and connection to the historical contexts within which they are produced. Inspiration for the volume is rooted in a curiosity about melodramatic forms purported to increasingly characterize aspects of both the private and the social sphere in occidental and western-oriented societies.

Full Product Details

Author:   Jörg Metelmann ,  Scott Loren ,  Thomas Elsaesser (University of Amsterdam) ,  Linda Williams (University of California Berkeley)
Publisher:   Amsterdam University Press
Imprint:   Amsterdam University Press
Edition:   0
Volume:   46
Dimensions:   Width: 15.60cm , Height: 2.30cm , Length: 23.40cm
ISBN:  

9789089646736


ISBN 10:   9089646736
Pages:   336
Publication Date:   15 December 2015
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Adult education ,  Professional & Vocational ,  Further / Higher Education
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print   Availability explained
This item will be ordered in for you from one of our suppliers. Upon receipt, we will promptly dispatch it out to you. For in store availability, please contact us.

Table of Contents

Introduction I. Cultures of Suffering and Cinematic Identities Victimhood and Melodrama: Modern, Political and Militant Thomas Elsaesser When is Melodrama 'Good'? Mega-Melodrama and Victimhood Linda Williams Melodrama and War in Hollywood Genre Cinema Hermann Kappelhoff Race Interactions: Melodrama and the Ambiguities of Colorism Christof Decker The Purloined Letter: Ophuls after Cavell Ulrike Hanstein II. Modernity and the Melodramatic Self The Melodrama of Self Eva Illouz Rousseau's Nightmare Vincent Kaufmann 'Emotional Suffering' as Universal Category? Victimhood and the Collective Imaginary Jorg Metelmann III. Collective Traumas and National Melodramas III.1 Legacies of 9/11 The Abu Ghraib Archive W. J. T. Mitchell, with an introduction by Scott Loren The Melodramatic Style of American Politics Elisabeth Anker Tears of Testimony: Glenn Beck and the Conservative Moral Occult Scott Loren III.2 Holocaust Legacies The Cultural Construction of the Holocaust Witness as a Melodramatic Hero Amos Goldberg Nation and Emotion: The Competition for Victimhood in Europe Ulrich Schmid Perspectives Interview with Christine Gledhill Scott Loren and Jorg Metelmann

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Author Information

Dr. Scott Loren and Prof. Dr. Jörg Metelmann teach Film and Media Studies at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 2013 they published the monograph Irritation of Life: The Subversive Melodrama of Michael Haneke, David Lynch and Lars von Trier Dr. Scott Loren and Prof. Dr. Jörg Metelmann teach Film and Media Studies at the University of St. Gallen, Switzerland. In 2013 they published the monograph Irritation of Life: The Subversive Melodrama of Michael Haneke, David Lynch and Lars von Trier

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