This course examines the central role melodrama has played in understandings of film and vice versa. Working carefully through select films like Bigger than Life, Letter from an Unknown Woman, and Vertigo, we’ll develop an account of key cinematic concepts like camera movement and mise-en-scène. We’ll also interrogate various conceptualizations of melodrama (as mode, genre, style, affect, etc.) and consider melodrama’s longstanding, global appeal. (Theory)