The word "melodrama" is a portmanteau word, formed by combining the words "melody" (from the Greek "melōidía", meaning "song") and "drama". In Music, a melody (from Greek μελῳδία - melōidía, "singing chanting" also tune, voice, or Greek (el ελληνική γλώσσα or simply el ελληνικά — "Hellenic" is an Indo-European language, spoken today by 15-22 million people mainly Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance.

In its original sense, melodrama refers to theatre in which music is used to increase the spectator's emotional response or to suggest character types. While this use of music is nearly ubiquitous in modern film, in a melodrama these musical cues will be used within a fairly rigid structure, and the characterizations will accordingly be somewhat one-dimensional: Heroes are unambiguously good, villains unambiguously bad, and musical cues upon entrance of either will be unambiguous in signaling these facts to the audience. In other words, a melodrama tends to be a formulaic production, with a clearly constructed world of connotations: a villain poses a threat, the hero escapes the threat (or rescues the heroine) and there is (generally) a happy ending.

However, the term is also used in a broader sense to refer to a play, film, or other work in which plot and action are emphasized in comparison to the more character-driven emphasis within a drama. A play, or stageplay, is a form of Literature written by a Playwright, almost always consisting of Dialogue between Fictional characters Drama is the specific mode of Fiction represented in Performance. Melodramas can also be distinguished from tragedy by the fact that they are open to having a happy ending, but this is not always the case. A happy ending is an ending of the plot of a work of Fiction in which almost everything turns out for the best for the Hero or Heroine

Contents 1 Melodrama in opera and song 2 Victorian Stage Melodrama 3 American Racial Melodrama 4 Current use 5 See also 6 References

Melodrama in opera and song

Originating in the 18th century, melodrama was a technique of using short pieces of music in contrast to, and sometimes accompanying, spoken drama. Jean-Jacques Rousseau's Pygmalion, with music by Horace Coignet, is generally regarded as the first example of the form. Pygmalion was a short play (" scène lyrique " written in 1762 by Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This was a monodrama. A monodrama (also Solospiel in German; " solo play " is a theatrical or Operatic piece played by a single Actor or singer Written in 1762, this was first staged in Lyon in 1770. ||-||} Lyon, also known as Lyons in English is a city in east-central France. It was then taken up by Goethe in Weimar in 1772 with music by Anton Schweitzer. ˈjoːhan ˈvɔlfgaŋ fɔn ˈgøːtə (in English generally ˈgɝːtə 28 August 1749 22 March 1832 was a German writer Weimar (ˈvaɪmaʁ is a City in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of Thuringia (Thüringen north of the Thüringer Wald, Year 1772 ( MDCCLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Anton Schweitzer ( June 6 1735 - November 23 1787) was a successful composer of Operas He was a child prodigy who obtained the Some 30 other monodramas were produced in Germany in the fourth quarter of the 18th century.

Georg Benda developed the duodrama with his 1775 works Ariadne auf Naxos and Medea and this form of melodrama was taken up by other composers, notably Mozart in Zaide and Thamos, König in Ägypten, Beethoven in Fidelio and Carl Maria von Weber in Der Freischütz. Year 1775 ( MDCCLXXV) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Ariadne auf Naxos ( Ariadne on Naxos) is a duodrama in one act by Composer Georg Benda with a German libretto by Johann Christian Zaide is an unfinished Opera, K 344 written by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in 1780 Thamos König in Ägypten ( Thamos King of Egypt, or King Thamos, in English is a play by Tobias Philipp baron von Gebler for which between 1773 Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist. Fidelio (Op 72 is an Opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. Carl Maria Friedrich Ernst von Weber ( 18 December 1786 in Eutin, Holstein, Germany - 5 June 1826 in London Der Freischütz is an Opera in three acts by Carl Maria von Weber to a Libretto by Friedrich Kind. The technique was also used in lieder and song. de Lied (plural de Lieder) (liːt plural) is a German word meaning literally " Song " among English speakers however the word By the end of the 19th century the term melodrama had nearly exclusively narrowed down to a specific genre of salon entertainment: more or less rhythmically spoken words (often poetry) - not sung, sometimes more or less enacted, at least with some dramatic structure or plot - synchronized to an accompaniment of music (usually piano). The 19th century of the Common Era began on January 1, 1801 and ended on December 31, 1900, according to the Gregorian calendar A genre (ˈʒɑːnrə also /ˈdʒɑːnrə/ from French "kind" or "sort" from Latin: genus (stem gener-) is a loose set Mythos (Aristotle In literature the plot comprises all the events in a story particularly rendered towards the achievement of some particular Artistic or Emotional It was looked down on as a genre for authors and composers of lesser stature (probably also the reason why virtually no realisations of the genre are still remembered). This was probably also the time when the connotation of cheap overacting first became associated with the term. Overacting (or hamming) is the exaggeration of Gestures and speech when Acting. As a cross-over genre mixing narration and chamber music it was eclipsed nearly overnight by a single composition: Schoenberg's Pierrot Lunaire (1912), where Sprechstimme was used instead of rhythmically spoken words and which took a freer and more imaginative course regarding the plot prerogatives. Arnold Schoenberg ( pronounced ˈʃøːnbɛrk (13 September 1874 &ndash 13 July 1951 was an Austrian and later American Composer, associated with Dreimal sieben Gedichte aus Albert Girauds 'Pierrot lunaire ("three times seven poems from Albert Giraud's 'Pierrot lunaire'" commonly known as Pierrot Lunaire Year 1912 ( MCMXII) was a Leap year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year starting Sprechgesang and Sprechstimme ( German for spoken-song and spoken-voice) are musical terms used to refer to an expressionist vocal

A few musicals and operettas contain melodramas in this sense of music played under spoken dialogue, for instance, Gilbert and Sullivan's Ruddigore (itself a parody of melodramas in the modern sense) has a short "melodrame" (reduced to dialogue alone in many productions) in the second act;^[1] Jacques Offenbach's Orpheus in the Underworld opens with a melodrama delivered by the chararacter of "Public Opinion"; and other pieces from operetta and musicals may be considered melodramas, such as the "Recit and Minuet"^[2] in Gilbert and Sullivan's Sorcerer. Musical theatre is a form of Theatre combining Music, Songs spoken Dialogue and Dance. Operetta is a genre of light Opera, light in terms both of music and subject matter Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of Librettist W Ruddigore, or The Witch's Curse, is a Comic opera in two acts with music by Arthur Sullivan and libretto by W Jacques Offenbach (born Jacob Offenbach 20 June 1819 in Cologne &ndash 5 October 1880 in Paris) was a German Orphée aux enfers (Orpheus in the Underworld, Opéra bouffe (or Opéra féerie in its revised version is an Operetta by Jacques Gilbert and Sullivan refers to the Victorian era partnership of Librettist W For other uses see Sorcerer. Sorctrialjpg|right|thumb|300px|1878 programme cover]] The Sorcerer is a two-act Comic opera In musicals, several long speeches in Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon are delivered to the accompaniment of rather beautiful, evocative music. Alan Jay Lerner ( August 31, 1918 &ndash June 14, 1986) was an American Broadway Lyricist and Librettist Brigadoon is a musical with a book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe.

In a similar manner, Victorians often added "incidental music" under the dialogue to a pre-existing play, although this style of composition was already practiced in the days of Ludwig van Beethoven (Egmont) and Franz Schubert (Rosamunde). Incidental music is Music in a play, Television program Radio program Video game, film or some other form not primarily musical Ludwig van Beethoven ( English ˈlʊdvɪg væn ˈbeɪtoʊvən, 16 December 1770 &ndash 26 March 1827 was a German Composer and Pianist. Egmont, opus 84 by Ludwig van Beethoven, is a set of incidental music pieces for the 1787 play of the same name by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. The Rosamunde Incidental music Op 26 ( D. 797 was composed by Franz Schubert for an 1823 play by Helmina von Chézy. This type of often lavish production is now mostly limited to film (see film score) due to the cost of hiring an orchestra. A film score is a broad term referring to the music in a film which is generally categorically separated from songs used within a film Modern recording technology is producing a certain revival of the practice in theatre, but not on the former scale.

A particularly complete version of the older form, Sullivan's incidental music to Tennyson's The Foresters is available online,^[3] complete with several melodramas, for instance, No. Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO (13 May 1842 &ndash 22 November 1900 was an English composer of Irish and Italian descent best known for his operatic Alfred Tennyson 1st Baron Tennyson (6 August 1809 – 6 October 1892 was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom and remains one of the most popular English poets The Foresters is a set of Incidental music in nine movements composed in 1891 by Arthur Sullivan for a play written by Alfred Tennyson called 12 found here. ^[4]

The John Williams' score to Star Wars, and Korngold's score to The Adventures of Robin Hood are excellent examples of the modern usage. John Towner Williams (born February 8 1932) is an American Composer, conductor and Pianist. Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded Erich Wolfgang Korngold ( May 29, 1897 &ndash November 29, 1957) was an Academy Award -winning 20th century Film and The Adventures of Robin Hood is an American swashbuckler film released in 1938 and directed by Michael Curtiz and William Keighley

The classic and contemporary melodramas are still very popular in today's society.

Victorian Stage Melodrama

According to Michael Booth in his classic study English Melodrama the Victorian stage melodrama featured a limited number of stock characters: the hero, the villain, the heroine, an old man, an old woman, a comic man and a comic woman engaged in a sensational plot featuring themes of Love and Murder. Culture The Victorian fascination with novelty resulted in a deep interest in the relationship between modernity and cultural continuities A stock character is one which relies heavily on cultural types or names for his or her personality manner of speech and other characteristics Often the good but not very clever hero is duped by a scheming villain, who has eyes on the damsel in distress until fate intervenes at the end to ensure the triumph of good over evil. The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden is a classic theme in world literature art and film

The first English play to be called a melodrama or 'melodrame' was A Tale of Mystery (1802) by Thomas Holcroft. Thomas Holcroft ( December 10, 1745 - March 23, 1809) was an English Dramatist and miscellaneous writer This was an example of the Gothic genre, a previous theatrical example of which was The Castle Spectre (1797) by Matthew Gregory Lewis. Gothic fiction (sometimes referred to as Gothic horror) is a genre of literature that combines elements of both horror and romance. ( 9 July 1775 &ndash 14 May 1818) was an English Novelist and Dramatist, often referred to as "Monk" English melodrama was influenced by German Sturm und Drang drama and Parisian melodrama of the post-Revolutionary period (Booth 1991: 151). Other examples of early Gothic melodramas include The Miller and his Men (1813) by Isaac Pocock, The Woodsman's Hut (1814) by Samuel Arnold and The Broken Sword (1816) by William Dimond. Samuel Arnold may refer to Samuel Arnold (composer (1742–1802 English composer and organist Samuel Arnold (Connecticut (1806–1869 Another popular sub-genre, beginning in the 1820's, was the nautical melodrama such as The Red Rover (1829) by Edward Fitzball and Black-Eyed Susan (1829) by Douglas Jerrold. Edward Fitzball (1792&ndash 27 October 1873) was a popular English playwright who specialised in Melodrama. Douglas Jerrold may refer to Douglas William Jerrold (1803-1857 English dramatist Douglas Francis Jerrold (1893-1964 English writer Later melodramas developed domestic and urban situations such as The Streets of London (1864) and The Corsican Brothers by Dion Boucicault; and Lost in London (1867). Dionysius Lardner Boursiquot (born December 26, circa 1820 &ndash died September 18, 1890) was an Irish Actor and Playwright The villain was always the central character in melodrama and crime was a favorite theme. This included dramatisations of the murderous careers of Burke and Hare, Sweeney Todd (first featured in The String of Pearls (1847) by George Dibdin Pitt), the murder of Maria Marten in the Red Barn and the bizarre exploits of Spring Heeled Jack. The Burke and Hare murders (also known as the West Port murders) Sweeney Todd is a semi-fictional character who first appeared as one of the Protagonists of a Penny dreadful serial entitled The String of Pearls The Red Barn Murder was a notorious murder committed in Polstead, Suffolk, England, in 1827 British English --> Spring Heeled Jack (also Springheel Jack, Spring-heel Jack, etc is a character from English folklore Early silent films, such as The Perils of Pauline had similar themes. The Perils of Pauline was a motion picture serial shown in weekly installments featuring Pearl White as the title character Later, after silent films were superseded by the 'talkies', stage actor Tod Slaughter, at the age of 50, transferred to the screen the Victorian melodramas in which he had played villain in his earlier theatrical career. Tod Slaughter ( 19 March 1885 - 19 February 1956) was an English actor best known for playing over-the-top maniacs in Macabre These films, which include Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn and Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street are a unique record of a bygone art-form. Maria Marten or Murder in the Red Barn is a 1935 British film Melodrama starring Tod Slaughter and Eric Portman. Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street is a 1936 British film produced and directed by George King.

American Racial Melodrama

Linda Williams, in her book Playing the Race Card, argues that “melodrama has been, for better or worse, the primary way in which mainstream American culture has dealt with the moral dilemma of having first enslaved and then withheld equal rights to generations of African Americans”. By exploiting what Williams considers main points of the melodramatic mode, American culture created feeling “for the virtue of some and against the villainy of others” as it justified discrimination against black figures that defied white supremacy and created sympathy for those who suffered by accepting it passively. According to “The American Melodramatic Mode,” the first chapter of Williams’ book, one of the essential points of the melodramatic mode is a home. She writes that melodrama begins, and wants to end, in a “space of innocence,” and if a protagonist, whom she calls the “victim-hero” can return to this home, the narrative ends happily, and unhappily if he or she cannot. A second point is that “melodrama focuses on victim-heroes and on recognizing their virtue”. This virtue is usually recognized by suffering, if virtue is not obvious. This melodramatic recognition of virtue happens either “too late” or “in the nick of time,” and it involves a feeling of loss.

The wide use of black and white melodrama in novels reflects the realistic impact of society's imposed stereotypes of African Americans as opposed to its construction of white people. African Americans or Black Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have origins in any of the black populations of Africa By constructing African Americans as uncivilized, exotic and hypersexual, white supremacy made them unable to be recognized as fully human and to have what Williams named a "space of innocence"--an ideal place in which one would be recognized as virtuous. This portrayal of black people as constrained by society's views is depicted in Larsen's Quicksand, whose "victim-hero", Helga Crane, is a mullato that suffers violent impositions of stereotypes, and is ultimately unable to find a place where she belongs. The term black people usually refers to a racial group of Humans with dark Skin color, but the term has also been used to categorise a number of diverse Through the portrayal of a black minstrel performance and through the protagonist’s struggle to overcome the binary of civilization/savagery and its ultimate consequences in this novel, Larsen critiques the race/gender system of the 1920s, which perpetuated the stereotypes of black Americans while reasserting white virtue. While the virtue of the traditional melodramatic protagonist would be ultimately recognized, usually through suffering, Helga Crane is never considered as virtuous, even though the entire novel describes her struggle to overcome the binary of civilization/savagery, and her later unbearable suffering as the wife of Reverend Green and mother of his many children. The fact that after her extensive journey, Helga Crane is still restricted by stereotypes is Larsen's denunciation of a society that constructed African Americans as solely sensual, uncivilized and animalistic creatures, who could by no efforts be considered virtuous.

Other racial melodramas, such as Uncle Tom's Cabin, portray a different side of the melodramatic depiction of African Americans. Uncle Tom's Cabin; or Life Among the Lowly is an anti- Slavery novel by American author Harriet Beecher Stowe. In Stowe's novel, the title character is recognized as virtuous at the time of his death. This recognition, however, comes "too late" and is a mere acknowledgment of compassion for his suffering. Uncle Tom's attribute, as seen by the white readers at the time of the novel's publishing, was his ability to endure suffering.

In our days, in which “Civil Rights” and “Black Power” are movements that have started to gain the recognition they deserve, Linda Williams’ prediction that melodrama is “the alchemy by which African Americans would themselves eventually reframe both the Tom tradition of white sympathy for blacks and the anti-Tom tradition of sympathy for beleaguered whites to their own ends” has proved to be true. Black Power is a racially based Political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies Some would say that minorities, after centuries of being discriminated against, have learned to use melodrama in their favor. This, as many would agree, was the case with the O. J. Simpson murder trial and controversial verdict. The O J Simpson murder case was a highly publicized US Criminal trial in which O Aware of centuries of the unjust melodramatic portrayal of the suffering of white females at the hands of black males, the defense in the murder trial focused on blaming the police for mishandling the evidence and being biased towards the white victims. According to Williams, “the alleged attack on the blond white woman by the jealous black ex-husband invoked and ‘anti-Tom’ lens that immediately racialized the case” . The racial depiction of the defendant as a villain, however, “collided … with a predominantly ‘black’ jury’s perception that every movement of the white police was an effort to frame the black defendant”. Therefore, even though O.J. Simpson’s guilt became less questionable after the publishing of the book entitled “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer,” which related the methods he would have used if he had killed his ex-wife and her friend, he is lawfully acquitted of the murders, because of a play on racial melodrama. Orenthal James "O J" Simpson (born July 9 1947 who has also been called The Juice, is a retired American football player, After a long fight against the melodramatic portrayal of African Americans as savages and villains, the fear of racial discrimination was used in this case to nullify valid accusations against an African American. The stereotypes of black people as exotic, uncivilized and hypersexual, once solely violent to innocent African Americans who even resorted to the perpetuation of these stereotypes through the use of blackface, have lately, to a certain extent, been distorted to account for legitimate accusations, even though these stereotypes continue to oppress many African Americans. Blackface in the narrow sense is a style of theatrical Makeup that originated in the United

Current use

Melodrama is ubiquitous on television: it is evident, for example, in a long series of TV movies about diseases or domestic violence, or the large number of hour-long television programs about lawyers, police officers, or physicians. A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law as an attorney, Counsel or Solicitor; a person Police are agents or agencies usually of the executive, empowered to enforce the law and to effect public and social order through the legitimatized use of force A physician, medical practitioner or medical doctor who practices Medicine, and is concerned with maintaining or restoring human Health

Issues melodrama is a subgenre of melodrama in which current events or politics are given a dramatic treatment, hoping to use some recent crime or controversy as a vehicle to draw an emotional response from the viewer. This is also used as emotional recall when one has to upuse their own life experieces to play a role. The usual method is to involve lawyers, police officers, or physicians, who can then make speeches about the crime or controversy being dramatized. By this artifice, the dramatist seeks to engage the audience's recently refreshed sense of fear or moral disapproval, while simultaneously maintaining the posture that the drama so produced is timely and socially engaged.

Action melodrama is another subgenre of melodrama that is particularly prevalent in the action Hollywood film blockbuster. This article refers to the theatrical slang term for other uses see Blockbuster (disambiguation. An athletic action hero is pitted against an evil villain, and through a combination of fights, car chases, love scenes and splatter, the hero overcomes the villain and restores the balance of good in the universe. This subgenre often includes a heroine who fights then falls in love with the hero. Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger are examples of the stars of these action melodramatic flicks. Sylvester Gardenzio Stallone (born July 6 1946 is an American Actor, director, producer and Screenwriter. Arnold Alois Schwarzenegger ( German ˌaɐnɔlt aloʏs ˈʃvaɐtsənɛɡɐ born July 30 1947 is an Austrian American Bodybuilder, Actor

Informal use / Slang Casual use of the word as an adjective translates to exaggerated emotional affect display or ways of expressing oneself. See also Emotion In Psychology, affect display or affective display is a subject's externally displayed affect. For example: "Don't be so melodramatic!" This has fallen into common parlance. Stilted dialogue and acting in films and television also may be perceived as melodramatic.

See also

• damsel in distress
• soap opera
• legal drama
• serial
• Moment of Truth Movie
• kitsch
• Camp (style)
• Comedy-drama

References

• Michael Booth (1991) Theatre in the Victorian Age. The subject of the damsel in distress, or persecuted maiden is a classic theme in world literature art and film A soap opera is an ongoing episodic work of Fiction, usually broadcast on Television or Radio. A legal drama is a work of dramatic Fiction about crime and civil litigation Moment of Truth Movies are a series of TV movies produced for the Lifetime cable television and movie networks during the 1990s Kitsch /kɪtʃ/ is a term of German or Yiddish origin that has been used to categorize art that is considered an inferior tasteless copy of an existing Comedy-drama, also called dramedy and dramatic-comedy, is a style of Television and movies in which there is an equal or nearly equal balance Cambridge University Press. Cambridge University Press (known colloquially as CUP is a Publisher given a Royal Charter by Henry VIII in 1534

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