Dictionary Definition
melodramatic adj
1 having the excitement and emotional appeal of
melodrama; "a melodramatic account of two perilous days at
sea"
2 characteristic of acting or a stage
performance; often affected; "histrionic gestures"; "an attitude of
melodramatic despair"; "a theatrical pose" [syn: histrionic]
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Pronunciation
- a UK /ˈmɛl.ə.dɹəˌmæt.ɪk/|/ˈmɛl.əʊ.dɹəˌmæt.ɪk/; /"mEl.@.dre%m
Extensive Definition
The word "melodrama" is a
portmanteau word,
formed by combining the words "melody" (from the Greek
"melōidía", meaning "song") and "drama".
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. 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.
Melodrama in opera and song
Originating in the 19th 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. This was a monodrama. Written in 1762, this was first staged in Lyon in 1770. It was then taken up by Goethe in Weimar in 1772 with music by Anton Schweitzer. 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. The technique was also used in lieder and song. 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). 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. 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.
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;
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" in Gilbert
and Sullivan's Sorcerer. In
musicals, several long speeches in Lerner
and Loewe's
Brigadoon
are delivered to the accompaniment of rather beautiful, evocative
music.
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). This
type of often lavish production is now mostly limited to film (see
film
score) due to the cost of hiring an orchestra. 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, complete with several
melodramas, for instance, No. 12 found here.
The John
Williams' score to Star Wars, and
Korngold's
score to
The Adventures of Robin Hood are excellent examples of the
modern usage.
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. 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 first English play to be
called a melodrama or 'melodrame' was A Tale of Mystery (1802) by
Thomas
Holcroft. This was an example of the Gothic
genre, a previous theatrical example of which was The Castle
Spectre (1797) by Matthew
Gregory Lewis. 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. 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. 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). 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. Early silent films, such as
The Perils of Pauline had similar themes. 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. 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.
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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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.
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.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.
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.
Informal use / Slang Casual
use of the word as an adjective translates to exaggerated emotional
affect
display or ways of expressing oneself. 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
References
- Michael Booth (1991) Theatre in the Victorian Age. Cambridge University Press.
melodramatic in Bulgarian:
Мелодрама
melodramatic in Czech:
Melodram
melodramatic in Danish:
Melodrama
melodramatic in German:
Melodram (Theater)
melodramatic in Modern Greek
(1453-): Μελόδραμα
melodramatic in Spanish:
Melodrama
melodramatic in Basque:
Melodrama
melodramatic in French:
Mélodrame (théâtre)
melodramatic in Italian:
Melodramma
melodramatic in Hebrew:
מלודרמה
melodramatic in Georgian:
მელოდრამა
melodramatic in Japanese:
メロドラマ
melodramatic in Norwegian:
Melodrama
melodramatic in Polish:
Melodramat
melodramatic in Portuguese:
Melodrama
melodramatic in Russian:
Мелодрама
melodramatic in Simple
English: Melodrama
melodramatic in Finnish:
Melodraama
melodramatic in Swedish:
Melodrama
melodramatic in Turkish:
Melodram
melodramatic in Ukrainian:
Мелодрама
Synonyms, Antonyms and Related Words
Barnumesque, actor-proof,
all-star, ballet,
balletic, cinematic, cinematographic,
cloak-and-dagger, dramatic, dramatical, dramaturgic, emotionalistic, emotive, exaggerated, film, filmic, ham, hammy, histrionic, hokey, hysteric, legitimate, lurid, milked, monodramatic, movie, nonrational, operatic, overacted, overdone, overdrawn, overemotional, overplayed, overworked, overwrought, scenic, schmaltzy, sensational, sensationalistic,
spectacular,
spine-chilling, stagelike, stageworthy, stagy, starstruck, stellar, theaterlike, theatrical, thespian, thrown away, underacted, underplayed, unreasoning, vaudevillian, yellow