Examensarbetets syfte är att undersöka påståendet om att homosexuella mäns identitet inte bör representeras i tragedi, på grund av genrens maskulina ideal. Istället bör representationen ske i melodram då genren relaterar till feminina värden. Textanalysen av två teaterpjäser, tragedin The River and the Mountain (Uganda, 2012) och melodramen The Boys in the Band (USA, 1968), visar att tragedin står för en essentialistisk (biologisk) syn på sexuell identitet medan melodramen står för en konstruktivistisk (kulturell och social). Kunskap om homosexuell kultur kan inte ses som en nödvändighet för en homosexuell identitet. Tragedi bör därför inte avfärdas som en politiskt svag genre att representera homosexuella män i. Vad som dock saknas i tragedin är gestaltandet av sexuellt begär mellan män, något som historiskt varit politiskt viktigt i teater om manlig homosexualitet. / The aim of this thesis is to investigate the claim that homosexual men should not be represented in tragedy, because of the genres masculine ideal. Instead, the representation should take place in melodrama since this genre relates to feminine values. The text analysis of two plays, the tragedy The River and the Mountain (Uganda, 2012) and the melodrama The Boys in the Band (USA, 1968), shows that tragedy uses an essentialist (biological) view on sexual identity while the melodrama uses a constructionist (cultural and social) view. Knowledge about gay culture cannot be seen as a necessity for a gay identity. Tragedy should therefore not be dismissed as a politically weak genre for the representation of homosexual men. What is missing from tragedy is the depiction of sexual desire between men, something that has been politically important in the history of theatre about male homosexuality.

Melodrama represents a unique form that combines musical and textual component in a very distinct manner. The submitted doctoral dissertation offers a complex analysis of the contemporary Czech melodrama and places it into a European and indispensable local context. The author emphasizes typical features of this genre and describes the possibilities of its further development by means of complex analysis of melodrama as a work of art together with the evaluation of its status in the contemporary musical culture. Complex analysis of the work of art is absolutely necessary in order to understand the addressed problematics. It is a starting point that offers a further insight into the main characteristics of the form, not only in an artistic sense but also in other contexts. It provides a space for analysis pursued in a pedagogical context, and it offers a base for the pedagogical interpretation of the artwork that is determinative for the analytical perspective of the submitted dissertation. Pedagogical dimension of this doctoral dissertation that focuses on melodrama fully corresponds. Melodrama is, in fact, a very appealing tool for the understanding of music. It allows us to react appropriately to the needs of contemporary education with emphasis on the use of the integrative and poly-aesthetic...

Melodram für Sprecher und Orgel. Text: Dietrich Mendt, Musik: Matthias Drude

Den här uppsatsen undersöker filmstjärnan Leonardo DiCaprios retoriska funktion såsom den manifesteras i klimatdiskursen. Undersökningen genomförs med speciellt avstamp i två av hans filmer vilka i uppsatsen anses särskilt relevanta med tanke på deras produktionsmässiga samtidighet med DiCaprios år som FN:s fredsbudbärare varunder han valde att uppmärksamma klimatfrågan: The revenant (2015) och Before the flood (2016). Filmerna betraktas i uppsatsen som diskurser, likaledes semiotiska texter. Denna undersökning utförs med stöd i ett antal analysverktyg och teoretiska utgångspunkter. Forskningsfälten klimatkommunikation och celebritetsstudier är viktiga utgångspunkter, medan melodrambegreppet och Lloyd F. Bitzers ”retoriska situation” är de viktigaste analysverktygen. Även västerngenren och tillhörande mytbildning bereds stor plats, inte minst på grund av att en av filmerna, The revenant, är en västernfilm. Melodrambegreppet, vars retoriska funktion betonas, sammankopplas med både klimatdiskursen och västerngenren samt George Lakoffs klimatkommunikatoriska tes som kortfattat och förenklat går ut på att känsloargument är det bästa sättet att informera om den globala uppvärmningen. Vidare diskuteras DiCaprios personas förhållande till dessa diskurser och begrepp. Uppsatsens analyser visar att melodrambegreppet är centralt för både klimatdiskursen och de analyserade filmerna. Och att DiCaprios funktion i klimatdiskursen vidare samspelar med dessa aspekter. Samtidigt upprättas frågetecken kring huruvida detta nödvändigtvis innebär att de retoriska diskurserna (filmerna), och likaledes DiCaprio, besvarar sina situationer. Snarare antyder analysresultaten paradoxalt nog att den melodramatiska klimatdiskursen, såsom den kommuniceras via filmerna, trumfas av andra, mer melodramatiska diskurser. / This paper examines film star Leonardo DiCaprio’s rhetorical function as it is manifested within the climate discourse. The analysis is effected with especial focus on two of his films which by this paper are considered particularly relevant considering their productional concurrence with DiCaprio’s year as the UN’s Messenger of peace during which he chose to direct attention toward the climate issue: The revenant (2015) and Before the flood (2016). Both movies are herein considered discourses, likewise semiotic texts. This analysis is effected with the help of several analytical tools and theoretical perspectives. The research fields of climate communication and celebrity studies are important theoretical views for the study, while the narrative concept of “melodrama” and Lloyd F. Bitzer’s “rhetorical situation” are the most important analytical tools. Also, the western genre and its adherent formation of myths are payed a lot of attention, not least because one of the analyzed movies, The revenant, is a western. Melodramas, whose rhetorical function is emphasized, is connected to both the climate discourse and the western genre as well as George Lakoff’s thesis of climate communication which shortly and simply boils down to the view that appealing to feelings rather than reason is the most effective way to inform people about global warming. Furthermore, DiCaprio’s persona is discussed in relation to these discourses and concepts. The analyses of the paper show that the concept of melodrama is central both for the climate discourse and the analyzed movies. And furthermore, that DiCaprio’s function within the climate discourse play into these mentioned aspects as well. Doubts are however raised as to whether this necessarily means that the rhetorical discourses (i.e. the movies), and likewise DiCaprio, succeed in answering their respective situations. The results of the analysis paradoxically suggest that the melodramatic climate discourse, as it is communicated by the two movies, is trumped by other, even more melodramatic discourses.