Melodrama As Provocateur

By: Linda Williams, Christine Gledhill (Editor), Laura Horak (Editor), Elisabeth R. Anker (Editor)

Write A Review

Paperback | 14 April 2026

At a Glance

Paperback
336 Pages

Dimensions(cm)
22.7 x 15.3 x 2.2

Paperback

RRP $69.99

$65.75

or 4 interest-free payments of $16.44 with

or

Ships in 10 to 15 business days

Melodrama as Provocateur showcases the final project of influential film scholar Linda Williams, along with responses to her work by a diverse collection of scholars. Together, these writings dig into the past, present, and future of melodrama's prominence in contemporary media and politics.

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 Williamss 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.

Industry Reviews

"Williams"s Melodrama as Provocateur is a comparative history of melodrama in two societies on both sides of the Atlantic. This collection changes the way we look at contemporary fictional production and challenges the dichotomy between elite and mass culture. It argues against this academic tradition and defends the idea that melodrama is the central form of American fiction, and more broadly of democratic cultures, found in most fictional cinemas around the world."—Genevieve Sellier, coauthor of, The Battle of the Sexes in French Cinema, 1930-1956

"Williams has been one of the outstanding American scholars of cinema, who has written about a whole series of important topics—race, documentary, pornography, melodrama—with a remarkable timeliness as well as insight. Melodrama as a topic continues to be of vital and expanding interest in the film and media studies field, and this team of melodrama scholars is of the highest order."—Charles Musser, Yale University

Shipping

	Standard Shipping	Express Shipping
Metro postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Regional postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95
Rural postcodes:	$9.99	$14.95

Orders over $89.00 qualify for free shipping.

How to return your order

At Booktopia, we offer hassle-free returns in accordance with our returns policy. If you wish to return an item, please get in touch with Booktopia Customer Care.

Additional postage charges may be applicable.