“A sublimation of dramatic conflict into décor, colour, gest

genre only arose in 1977 when the Society for the Education in Film and Television commissioned papers on them for a study weekend. They have a characteristically rich visual style where ordinary experiences are heightened. However, they tend to turn inwards when dealing with conflict and the

mise-en-scene is vital in giving the spectator an

insight into what is not being said. When it comes

to discussing the significance of mise-en-scene in

melodramas, there is no better director than

Douglas Sirk, who was a master of capturing the

“fugitive passing of a feeling that remains

inexpressible” through mise-en-scene. Besides

using it to express what his characters could not

articulate, he also styled it to levels of excess

and artifice, which take on a whole other set of

symbolic and social connotations. Sirk did “not

deal in despair but in aesthetic beauty” . He

provided spectacle by showing the tragedies of sex,

alcoholism, murder and death but framed them with

temporary class displacement, which is also why a

be influenced by glamorous visuals they see on

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