title: Addiction to melodrama.
abstract: Addiction films have been shaped by the internal demands of a commercial medium. Specifically, melodrama, as a genre, has defined the limits of the visual representation of addiction. Similarly, the process of intermedialization has tended to induce a metamorphosis that shapes disparate narratives with diverse goals into a generic filmic form and substantially alters the meanings of the texts. Ultimately, visual representations shape public perceptions of addiction in meaningful ways, privileging a moralistic understanding of drug addiction that makes a complex issue visually uncomplicated by reinforcing "common sense" ideas of moral failure and redemption.
authors: Department of History, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia 24061-0117, USA. Rosteph2@vt.edu
authors: Robert P
authors: RP
authors: Stephens