Understanding Melodrama - Page 4

MD = Melodrama
(1-8: Sirk's Universal MDs)
(8-13: "Sirkian" MDs)
(14-35: The Woman's Film)
(36-43: Romance/Doomed Love)
(44-53: Family MD)
(54-64: The Male MD I: The Male Weepie)
(65-71: The Male MD II: The Action MD)
(72-76: Maternal MD)
(77-88: Musical MD)
(89-96: Silent MD)
(97-105: War Films)
(106-113: Gainsborough MD)
(114-121: Historical Costume MD)
(122-135: Aids, Gay, Lesbian and Queer Cinema)
(136-147: Film Noir)
(148-155: Western MD)
(156-166: Psychological MD)
(167-179: Brittish MD)
(180-186: Bollywood MD)
(187-194: Chinese MD)
(195-202: European MD)
Short Cuts, a series of books on film studies, defines "melodrama" not as a film genre, but as a widely comprehensive and pervasive cinematic structure, characterized by the use of musical accompaniment to punctuate the emotional effects and a narrative marked by pathos, aiming to culminate in tears or strong emotions among the audience. This is a list of films they use to illustrate their wonderful analysis.