The representation of nurses in 1950s melodrama: a cross-cultural approach.

Melodrama is identified as one of the most prolific cinematic genres in terms of the representation of nurses. Its contribution to the overall media depiction of the professional category has therefore been significant. This paper explores melodramatic portrayals of nurses with a specific focus on cinema of the 1950s, the golden age of Western melodrama, and concentrates on two representative case studies: Anna (ITA, 1951), and The Nun's Story (USA, 1959).