![\"Lass](\"http:\/\/blogs.kent.ac.uk\/melodramaresearchgroup\/files\/2013\/07\/Lass-of-the-lumberlands.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nThe Serial Queen Melodramas are particularly noteworthy as their heroines challenge some assertions about the portrayal of women in American Cinema\u00a0of the teens and twenties. There is a notion that prior to It<\/em> girl Clara Bow’s appearance in the late 1920s female stars belonged in either the passive virgin or the threatening vamp camp. (Though Bow and other progressive female stars certainly encouraged a focus on positive female sexuality.) However, as can be seen from the above card advertising Helen Homes in A Lass of the Lumberlands<\/em> (1916), the serial queen, while imperilled on occasion, was often active. The fast pace of these serials also provides a useful comparison to the action-filled male melodramas of\u00a0later Hollywood which Steve Neale wrote of.<\/p>\n LINKS<\/p>\n Part 1: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.1PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Part 2: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.2PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Part 3: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.3PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Part 4: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.4PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Part 5: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.5PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Part 6: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.6PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Part 7: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.7PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Part 8: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.8PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Part 9: http:\/\/archive.org\/details\/THEPERILSOFPAULINE1914Ch.9PearlWhite<\/a><\/p>\n Scholarly work in this area of melodrama includes Ben Singer’s excellent article “Female Power in the Serial-Queen Melodrama: The Etiology of an Anomaly.” Camera Obscura<\/i> 8.1 22 (1990): 90-129 and Jon Burrows’ fascinating examination of British action heroines: “‘Melodrama of the Dear Old Kind’: Sentimentalising British Action Heroines in the 1910s.” Film History: An International Journal<\/i> 18.2 (2006): 163-173.<\/p>\n (Please see a post on our additional blog\u00a0 http:\/\/melodramaresearchgroupextra.wordpress.com\/2013\/07\/16\/serial-queen-melodramas\/<\/a> for more information on these.)<\/p>\n As always, enjoy the melodrama links,\u00a0and log in to comment, or email me on sp458@kent.ac.uk<\/a> to add you thoughts or to\u00a0propose a melodramatic area for us to discuss!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Posted by Sarah I thought it might be interesting to return to our consideration of early film melodrama. While\u00a0previously we focused on the suffering, passive,\u00a0heroine\u00a0(particularly evident in DW Griffith’s\u00a0films starring Lillian Gish)\u00a0there are alternative\u00a0views of women in the teens. One … Continue reading <\/a>While several different Serial Queen Melodramas\u00a0were produced in the teens, few are widely available. Of these, The Perils of Pauline<\/em> series retains public resonance. This series, from 1914,\u00a0starred Pearl White (pictured left)\u00a0in loosely connected adventures. Apparently 20 episodes were made, but only\u00a0the 9 part European\u00a0version survives. The chapters\u00a0can be found on the internet archive using the links below.\u00a0Chapter length varies from 9-29 mins, with the average about 20 mins. They total approximately 200 mins.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n