SPAN 4580 - [Melodrama and Cinema]

(ALC-AS, LA-AS) Satisfies Option 1.

Fall. Not offered: 2022-2023. Next offered: 2023-2024. 4 credits. Student option grading.

Prerequisite: SPAN 2180 or permission of instructor.

P. Keller.

This course takes the genre of melodrama as a point of departure for exploring its influence on modern and contemporary Spanish cinema. How have classical forms of melodrama, from Greek tragedy to French revolutionary theater to Hollywood, been incorporated into but also contested and revised within Spanish cinematic production? What tropes have been carried over from other cultural contexts? Which ones have been “lost in translation” and why? What are the unique aesthetic qualities of Spanish melodrama? How do melodramatic forms relate to subversion, critique and queerness? These are some of the questions we’ll take up in our weekly discussions.