Concept information
Preferred term
2303Melodrama
Broader concept
Scope note
- Dramatic genre that appeared in Europe at the turn of the 18th to the 19th century. The term was originally applied to scenes of mime or spoken dialogue accompanied by music. Melodrama combines prose with music to underscore dramatic effect, the tragic with the comic, spectacle with excess and codified structure with stock heroes and heroines that meet the expectations of the large audience. Melodramatic plays feature a sensational plot, an impressive adventure story, improbable and unexpected twists of fate, successive alternation of intense emotions, aiming to generate responses from the spectators, recognisability of the characters in terms of their moral standing; they deal with the eternal battle of good and evil, rendering in the end a sense of justice, with the punishment of the villains and the triumph of virtue. The genre lost its impetus early in the 20th century, but survived in various forms in modern cinema and television.
Source
- Hays&Nikolopoulou 1999
- ΕΛ.ΓΟΥ, Λεξικό 2007
- Πατσαλίδης&Νικολοπούλου 2001
Contributor
- Vernardaki Eleni (AA)
Creator
- Goulis Helen (AA)
Notation
- 2303
URI
https://humanitiesthesaurus.academyofathens.gr/dyas-resource/Concept/2303
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