O objetivo desta tese é estudar os códigos do melodrama a partir das análises de quatro filmes históricos do cineasta Steven Spielberg: Amistad (1997), Lincoln (2012), A Lista de Schindler (1993) e O Resgate do Soldado Ryan (1998). Os títulos selecionados são reconstruções cinematográficas de acontecimentos históricos que abordam momentos emblemáticos da história americana: a escravidão e a figura de Lincoln, a participação na Segunda Guerra Mundial e o extermínio dos judeus pelos nazistas. Nossa preocupação foi a de apontar como o melodrama funde-se e se impõe sobre outros gêneros, como o drama histórico, o biopic, o Holocaust Film e o war film. As polarizações entre virtude e vilania, as surpresas e obstáculos no enredo, o jogo com as emoções dos personagens e do público e as resoluções sentimentais, próprias do melodrama, em suas distintas concepções teóricas, manifestam-se cinematograficamente e de forma autoral na construção dos planos, enquadramentos, movimentos de câmera e sobretudo na referência ao olhar e às imagens. Paralelamente à análise, trazemos contribuições de historiadores e críticos que se posicionam sobre os filmes, o que resulta em um confronto instigante entre história e liberdades ficcionais próprias ao cinema de consumo massivo. / The aim of this thesis is to study the codes of the melodrama from the analyzes of four historical films of filmmaker Steven Spielberg: Amistad (1997), Lincoln (2012), Schindler\'s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). The titles selected are cinematic reconstructions of historical events that touch on emblematic moments in American history: slavery and the figure of Lincoln, participation in World War II, and extermination of Jews by the Nazis. Our concern was to point out how the melodrama merges and imposes itself on other genres, such as historical drama, biopic, Holocaust Film and war film. The polarizations between virtue and villainy, the surprises and obstacles in the plot, the play with the emotions of the characters and the public and the sentimental resolutions, proper to the melodrama, in their different theoretical conceptions, are manifested cinematographically and in an authorial way in the construction of the plans, frames, camera movements and above all in reference to the look and the images. Parallel to the analysis, we bring contributions from historians and critics who stand on the films, which results in an instigating confrontation between history and fictional freedoms proper to the mass consumer cinema

O objetivo desta tese é estudar os códigos do melodrama a partir das análises de quatro filmes históricos do cineasta Steven Spielberg: Amistad (1997), Lincoln (2012), A Lista de Schindler (1993) e O Resgate do Soldado Ryan (1998). Os títulos selecionados são reconstruções cinematográficas de acontecimentos históricos que abordam momentos emblemáticos da história americana: a escravidão e a figura de Lincoln, a participação na Segunda Guerra Mundial e o extermínio dos judeus pelos nazistas. Nossa preocupação foi a de apontar como o melodrama funde-se e se impõe sobre outros gêneros, como o drama histórico, o biopic, o Holocaust Film e o war film. As polarizações entre virtude e vilania, as surpresas e obstáculos no enredo, o jogo com as emoções dos personagens e do público e as resoluções sentimentais, próprias do melodrama, em suas distintas concepções teóricas, manifestam-se cinematograficamente e de forma autoral na construção dos planos, enquadramentos, movimentos de câmera e sobretudo na referência ao olhar e às imagens. Paralelamente à análise, trazemos contribuições de historiadores e críticos que se posicionam sobre os filmes, o que resulta em um confronto instigante entre história e liberdades ficcionais próprias ao cinema de consumo massivo. / The aim of this thesis is to study the codes of the melodrama from the analyzes of four historical films of filmmaker Steven Spielberg: Amistad (1997), Lincoln (2012), Schindler\'s List (1993) and Saving Private Ryan (1998). The titles selected are cinematic reconstructions of historical events that touch on emblematic moments in American history: slavery and the figure of Lincoln, participation in World War II, and extermination of Jews by the Nazis. Our concern was to point out how the melodrama merges and imposes itself on other genres, such as historical drama, biopic, Holocaust Film and war film. The polarizations between virtue and villainy, the surprises and obstacles in the plot, the play with the emotions of the characters and the public and the sentimental resolutions, proper to the melodrama, in their different theoretical conceptions, are manifested cinematographically and in an authorial way in the construction of the plans, frames, camera movements and above all in reference to the look and the images. Parallel to the analysis, we bring contributions from historians and critics who stand on the films, which results in an instigating confrontation between history and fictional freedoms proper to the mass consumer cinema

This dissertation is an in-depth critical analysis of four American films made during the 1970s, with emphasis placed on the films' construction of gender and sexuality. This dissertation draws from the tradition of queer film criticism presented in the writings of such theorists as Barbara Creed, Alexander Doty, Richard Dyer, Vito Russo, and Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick. Taking a queer perspective, these film readings explore how particular works implement queer codes and foster a sexually ambiguous world on film. While not typically included in discussions of Queer Cinema or New American Cinema, these four films, Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973), Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation (1974), Steven Spielberg's Jaws (1975), and Stanley Kubrick's The Shining (1980), exhibit a family resemblance and as a cycle are products of a particular period in American cinematic experimentation. A detailed scene-by-scene analysis is enacted in order to bring to light queer moments in the films and queer concerns of the films' makers. Raising questions about how the camera constructs character identities in these films, this study is reflective of the ways queer perspectives inflect filmmaking from this era.

Jaws(Universal Studios, 1975) set a new standard for Hollywood film production byintroducing the concept of “summer blockbuster,” for a film that changed the way inwhich people thought about sharks. 37 years after the release of the movie, the idea of sharks as ferocious man-hunters still looms large in public opinion. Thisconceptualization of sharks as ruthless killers is mythical rather than factual, and thisresearch tracks the mechanisms that propelled the idea deep into popular culture.The dissertation addresses the problematics of media constructions through a casestudy of the movie Jawsdeparting from its production process, and by applyingBarbara Klinger’s interpretation of “epiphenomena.” The thesis studies how cinematravels into popular culture, by following the traces of the movie into other media, andits dialogue with the surrounding texts generated by PR, marketing andmerchandising; simultaneously, the thesis seek to demonstrate the connection between the movie as mythmaker and the stigmatized portrayal of sharks.

La thématique de l’esclavage aux États-Unis nous a toujours interpellés, interrogés et nous a toujours donné envie d’en savoir plus et de comprendre comment un tel système a pu perdurer pendant plus de deux cents ans, provoquer la division profonde d’une nation et une guerre civile pour finalement laisser des traces et des marques indélébiles sur les États-Unis. Cet intérêt nous a poussés à nous intéresser tout d’abord à la notion du traumatisme culturel de l’esclavage, puis, à sa représentation cinématographique dans le cinéma américain par trois cinéastes américains (D. W. Griffith, né en 1875 dans le Kentucky, Steven Spielberg, né en 1946 dans l’Ohio et Tate Taylor né en 1969 dans le Mississippi), qui traitent de trois périodes historiques différentes à des époques distinctes. Nous nous sommes alors posé la question du lien qu’il existe entre la réalité physique, vécue, d’un événement et sa représentation cinématographique qui est forcément distanciée, temporellement et/ou spatialement. Comment les réalisateurs peuvent-ils représenter fidèlement la réalité historique ? Comment évitent-ils (ou non) d’insérer des « filtres », qu’ils soient personnels ou sociologiques, et, comment ne pas transformer l’histoire, la modeler, en occultant par exemple les éléments qui n’abondent pas dans le sens du message que l’on souhaite véhiculer ? Dans l’hypothèse où le réalisateur est de parti-pris, comment le spectateur peut-il en avoir conscience au moment où il regarde le film ? Ce travail est donc né d’une réflexion sur l’importance culturelle et civilisationnelle de la notion de traumatisme culturel dans la représentation cinématographique de l’esclavage aux États-Unis. Les trois films que nous avons choisis pour notre corpus sont The Birth of a Nation de D.W. Griffith (1915), Amistad de Steven Spielberg (1997) et The Help, de Tate Taylor (2011). Ces films représentent trois époques distinctes de la vie et de la société américaine puisque The Birth of a Nation raconte le déroulement de la Guerre de Sécession en se plaçant dans la vie d’une famille sudiste. Amistad prend pour contexte les années 1839 à 1841 et The Help se déroule à Jackson, dans le Mississippi des années 60.En choisissant des films qui représentent des époques historiques distinctes mais qui ont également été réalisés à des périodes différentes les unes des autres, nous avons souhaité prendre en compte cette question de la réadaptation et de la réinterprétation de l’événement traumatique.Nous avons souhaité montrer, à travers notre travail, comment les cinéastes adaptent un fait réel ou un ouvrage littéraire, en supprimant certains éléments ou en rajoutant, en adaptant la réalité historique pour en faire une fiction qui cherche à montrer une représentation du réel. Nous avons aussi et surtout démontré comment la notion de « traumatisme culturel » influence le travail des cinéastes qui se sont penchés sur l'héritage culturel qu'est l'esclavage. Nous avons souhaité voir dans quelle mesure cette notion de traumatisme culturel influe sur la création artistique filmique, et dans quelle mesure ses caractéristiques pouvaient s’appliquer à notre corpus. Quels en sont les aspects les plus représentés et prégnants ? Nous avons fait l’analyse de notre corpus dans un ordre chronologique de création, en premier lieu nous nous sommes penchés sur The Birth of a Nation de D.W. Griffith, sorti en 1915, puis nous avons analysé Amistad de Spielberg, sorti en 1997, pour finir avec l’étude de The Help, réalisé par Tate Taylor et sorti en salle en 2011.Pour chacun de ces films, nous avons étudié le contexte historique et géopolitique inhérent à l’époque représentée, puis, le passage de la réalité historique à l’œuvre de fiction, le processus d’adaptation cinématographique, (éléments fidèles, ajouts, simplifications et suppressions) pour analyser la globalité de chacun en regard de cette notion de traumatisme culturel. / Slavery in the USA has always been an interesting thematic to us. We have always wanted to learn more about it thus understanding how such a system could have been implemented for more than 200 years, have caused the division and a fracture in a nation, have led to the Civil War and have left permanent scars ont the United States of America. This particular interest led us to look into the concept of cultural trauma, and into its representation by three American film directors (D. W. Griffith, born in Kentucky in 1915, Steven Spielberg, born in Ohio in 1946 and Tate Taylor born in Mississippi in 1969), who picture at various distinct periods three different historical eras. We have considered the link existing between the physical reality of an event and its cinematographic representation, which is spatially or temporally distanced from the event. How can film directors faithfully represent historical reality ? How do (or don’t) they avoid to insert in their work personal or sociological filters ? How don’t they transform history, or shape it by not mentionning the elements that do not concur to the message one wants to deliver ? What if the director’s views are biased? How can the viewer be conscious of it and keep it in mind as he or she watches the film?Our work initiated from a reflexion upon the cultural and socialogical importance of the notion of cultural trauma in the cinematographic representation of slavery in the United States. The three movies we have chosen to work on are : The Birth of a Nation, (D.W. Griffith, 1915), Amistad (Steven Spielberg, 1997) and The Help (Tate Taylor, 2011). These films represent three distinct periods in the life of the American society since The Birth of a Nation pictures the progress of the American Civil War inside a Confederate family, Amistad is set between the years 1839 and 1841, and The Help takes place in the sixties, in Jackson, Mississippi.In choosing films that represent various historical periods and that have been directed at different periods of time, we wanted to take into account both the notions of re-adapting and re-interpreting the traumatic event. We have wished to demonstrate, through our work, how film directors adapt a real fact or a book by deleting some elements or adding some others, by adapting historical reality to turn it into a fiction showing a representation of reality. We have also tried to show how « cultural trauma » acts upon the audiovisual work of film directors who choose to picture the cultural heritage of slavery. We have analyzed to what extent cultural trauma has an influence on filmic creation and how its characteristics can be applied to our corpus. What aspects of it are most represented ?We have decided to analyze our corpus in a chronological order. We have started with D. W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation (1915), we have then analyzed S. Spielberg’s Amistad, (1997), and ended with T. Taylor’s (2011). For each of these films, we have first studied the historic and geopolitic contexts of the historical periods represented, we’ve then dealt with the transition from historical reality to fiction and we’ve analyzed the entirety of each movie compared to to the notion of cultural trauma. How and to what extent can it be found into these artitic works ? As a mass media, cinema has an educational role and we have demonstrated its link with cultural trauma.