Through original analysis of three contemporary; auteur-directed melodramas (Matthew Weinerrsquo;s Mad Men; Lars von Trierrsquo;s Melancholia and Todd Haynesrsquo;s Mildred Pierce); Living Screens reconceives and renovates the terms in which melodrama has been understood. Returning to Jean-Jacques Rousseaursquo;s foundational; Enlightenment-era melodrama Pygmalion with its revival of an old story about sculpted objects that spring to life; it contends that this early production prefigures the structure of contemporary melodramas and serves as a model for the way we interact with media today. Melodrama is conceptualized as a ldquo;plasticrdquo; form with the capacity to mould and be moulded and that speaks to fundamental processes of mediation. Living Screens evokes the thrills; anxieties; and uncertainties accompanying our attachment to technologies that are close-at-hand yet have far-reaching effects. In doing so; it explores the plasticity of our current situation; in which we live with screens that melodramatically touch our lives.
2014-02-24 2014-02-24File Name: B014STUWFG
Review
