Melodrama is also a specific sub-genre of the drama genre of storytelling. However, melodrama is an enhanced version of drama, taking interesting and intense conflicts and accentuating them for effect.
It involves the same elements necessary to create drama - conflict, situations or a series of events, and characters dealing with the conflict at hand within the story. You see, melodrama is an offshoot of drama. Melodrama can be best defined as a story characterized by extravagant theatricality and by the predominance of plot and physical action over characterization. However, a drama - as defined by genre definitions - is a story that is embedded explicitly within reality, often involving characters that audiences can identify with because the conflicts they face are every-day struggles.
Yes, there is drama found within superhero movies, spy thrillers, and suspenseful horror stories. Nothing is interesting about a character that doesn't struggle in some way, shape, or form.ĭrama is also recognized as a specific genre of storytelling, featuring realistic characters forced to deal with true-to-life issues and conflicts. Conflict is everything in film and television. Screenplays and teleplays focus on situations or series of events that involve interesting conflict - with the best kind of drama containing conflict that is intense and cathartic. While other definitions can be found, this is best applied to the cinematic context of film and television.
Dramaĭrama can be best defined as a state, situation, or series of events involving interesting or intense conflict of forces. Here we explore the definitions of each term and offer a single, core difference between them. When you search for the core definition of those two words, the debate only intensifies. This is one of the most highly-debated subjects in screenwriting - drama versus melodrama. What's the difference between drama and melodrama in features and television?