The Melodramatic Imagination in France and America

Linda Williams presents her project entitled "The Melodramatic Imagination in France and America" at the internal seminar, in the presence of the IAS Fellows.
The presentation will be discussed by Geneviève Sellier, Professor Emeritus of Film Studies at the University of Bordeaux Montaigne and member of the CLARE research team.

France is the cradle of melodrama on stage. America, via Hollywood, has given it its largest audience while France has tended to devalue it as a minor genre. The aim in this project, both historical and comparative, is to recognize the differentiated role of melodrama as it is understood in these two cultures, not to discover a "true" meaning, but to understand the ongoing cultural transvaluations. This project will provide a better understanding of the notion of artistic "genre".