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19206
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Cinéma & Cie. Film and Media Studies Journal
Ben Singer, Melodrama and Modernity: Early Sensational Cinema and Its Contexts (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001)
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2003-03-01
2022-12-03
2003-03-01
2024-02-14
Cinéma & Cie
Richard Abel
2003/03/01
2036-461X
2
en
Ben Singer, Melodrama and Modernity: Early Sensational Cinema and Its Contexts (New York: Columbia University Press, 2001)
https://riviste.unimi.it/index.php/cinemaetcie/article/download/19206/17051
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                                                                                       SELECTED BY


SELECTED BY: RICHARD ABEL                          cal inquiry but also demonstrates its value by
                                                   exploring its symbiotic relationship with the
  Ben Singer, Melodrama and Modernity:             most popular form of melodrama in the USA
Early Sensational Cinema and Its Contexts          at the time. This was a melodrama of thrilling
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2001)        action, violence, and spectacle quite unlike
                                                   the family melodrama of “classical
   Singer’s book offers a challenging, alterna-    Hollywood” films – the principal subject of so
tive history of 1910s American cinema to those     much influential work in cinema studies in
already available in such stellar works as David   the 1970s and 1980s – a form of melodrama
Bordwell, Janet Staiger, and Kristin               epitomized by sensational serials.
Thompson’s The Classical Hollywood Cinema             Any book with such a dual focus confronts
(focused on film style and modes of produc-        the writer with an organizational dilemma, as
tion), Miriam Hansen’s Babel & Babylon             the opening chapters attest in taking up, first,
(focused on the public sphere and spectator-       the “meanings of modernity” and, second, the
ship), Staiger’s Bad Women (focused on the reg-    “meanings of melodrama.” This suggests that
ulation of sexuality), or Sumiko Higashi’s Cecil   alternation will govern the book’s structure,
B. DeMille and American Culture (focused on        but one soon discovers that the trajectory of
the emergence of a “middle class” cinema).         reading takes on a spiral movement in which
   His book, admittedly, has had a long gesta-     modernity and melodrama, somewhat like
tion. Its subject originated in two “discover-     orbiting double stars, are seen within a series
ies” that Singer made, as a doctoral student at    of differing yet linked frames that involve an
New York University, doing research on the         increasing degree of specificity. In one chap-
US trade press of the 1910s: 1) melodrama          ter, Singer addresses, point by point, the epis-
then meant something quite different from          temological and aesthetic objections and
what it usually means today and 2) feature-        questions raised by such scholars of the
length films, which commonly define that           “Madison school” as Bordwell and Charlie
decade, actually were promoted no more             Keil about the modernity thesis; in the next,
heavily than other films that long have been       he recasts the theories of melodrama derived
overlooked: sensational serials. That subject      from Peter Brooks more firmly within the
mutated during the dissertation process and        context of modern capitalism, situating sensa-
subsequent revisions, however, into a much         tional melodrama at the center of a turn-of-
broader exploration of melodrama’s inextrica-      the-last-century culture war about class con-
ble interrelation with modernity. Despite a        flict. Taken in conjunction, these theoretical
decade of writing and rewriting, therefore, the    considerations establish a gravitational center
book could hardly be more timely, for the way      for the fascinating cultural history dominat-
it yokes two concepts now crucial to theoriz-      ing the rest of the book. Accordingly, several
ing the history of early cinema. As drawn          chapters describe and analyze sensationalism,
from Siegfried Kracauer, Walter Benjamin,          as a highly visible component of urban
and other Weimar critics, modernity has            modernity, through a wide spectrum of prior
shaped a more or less cohesive body of recent      cultural forms and practices – from newspa-
historical inquiry – notably by such scholars      pers (especially graphic illustrations), amuse-
as Hansen, Tom Gunning, and Vanessa                ment park rides, daredevil stunts, vaudeville
Schwartz – that conceptualizes early cinema        acts, and “blood-and-thunder” melodramas
both as a dynamic contributing factor to           (incredibly popular with the “masses”
modernity and as its cultural consequence or       between 1890 and 1910) to the sensational
product. Singer not only interrogates the so-      melodramas on film that rapidly replaced
called modernity thesis as a model of histori-     those on stage (this latter section is perhaps

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less thorough than it could be). The penulti-      Both of the topics implied by the title are com-
mate chapter puts a further spin on this analy-    plex and controversial, yet the book handles
sis by also situating sensational serials at the   them with extraordinary clarity and generosi-
center of a culture war over gender roles, ana-    ty. Few important topics have been as shame-
lyzing the “pleasures and dangers” of the seri-    lessly neglected by scholars as stage melodra-
al queen (the prime example is Pearl White) as     ma and film serials; Singer rectifies that situa-
a figure of the American “New Woman,” and          tion with easily the best chapter ever written
how that figure could have appealed to             on stage melodrama and two solid chapters on
women (and men) of most classes. A further         film serials. Furthermore, this book boasts the
chapter then reverses the direction of the         most interesting illustration program of any
book’s intertextual investigation, exploring       recent film publication (though it is surprising
the “tie-in” marketing practices that sensa-       and disappointing not to discover more frame
tional serials helped to promulgate, from fash-    enlargements from a wider range of serials).
ion designs to early fan magazines.                From cover to cover, not only are the research
   Finally, Singer’s generosity encompasses        and scholarship first-rate, but they are support-
much more than the nearly 100 illustrations        ed by writing that is both forceful and clear.
that support the book’s analysis or the exten-        The overall quality of Singer’s book makes
sive twenty-five pages of bibliography. For one,   it all the more disappointing to note that this
he deals unusually even-handedly with his col-     major work on melodrama devotes hardly a
leagues’ objections to the modernity thesis and    word to the melos that distinguishes melodra-
accepts potential disagreement with certain of     ma from just plain drama. It is well known
his arguments. For another, he concludes the       that stage melodrama and melodramatic film
book with a number of provocative questions        serials were both accompanied musically. Did
intended to encourage further research,            this music not contribute to the experience
research that could not only extend or modify      and meaning of stage and film melodrama? It
but even counter his own invaluable work.          is a sad statement regarding the state of sound
                                                   scholarship that such an otherwise good book
                                                   should entirely ignore such concerns.
                                                      To be sure, there are easier problems to han-
SELECTED BY: RICK ALTMAN                           dle than music for stage or screen. It is impor-
                                                   tant to recognize, however, that substantial
  Ben Singer, Melodrama and Modernity:             resources are available in this area. On other
Early Sensational Cinema and Its Contexts          topics, Singer makes very good use of Lewin
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2001)        A. Goff’s outstanding 1948 Western Reserve
                                                   University dissertation, The Popular Priced
  (What follows is not a normal review.            Melodrama in America 1890 to 1910 with Its
Knowing that Richard Abel was reviewing            Origins and Development to 1890, but he
Ben Singer’s Melodrama and Modernity, I            draws little benefit from Goff’s substantial
exceptionally requested permission to review       material on melodrama music. More recently,
the same book, primarily to draw attention to      two scholars have produced a series of careful
a single aspect of the book’s coverage. This       and well-documented articles, chapters, and
review should thus be thought of not as an         books on music for stage melodrama. The fol-
independent statement, but as a complement         lowing works by British theater scholar David
to Abel’s general review)                          Mayer will be found useful:
                                                      “Nineteenth Century Theatre Music,”
 Ben Singer’s recent book on Melodrama and         Theatre Notebook, vol. 30, no. 3 (1976), pp.
Modernity is in many ways a book to admire.        115-122.

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