Drama vs melodrama

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  • Drama vs melodrama

    What's the generally accepted difference between drama and melodrama? In common usage, someone who's melodramatic is overly dramatic. But I've never found a clear definition for scripts. In coverage, one reader called one of my scripts a drama, while another called the same script a melodrama.

    Thanks.

  • #2
    Re: Drama vs melodrama

    Ask TNT; they know drama. At least they did last season.

    Just kidding.

    Drama is an extremely broad category or genre of story. It's really difficult to nail down a perfect definition of "drama". Some may say that drama is when a serious story is being told. It could be considered just conflict. I should hope that all scripts would have an element of drama in their stories.

    Melodrama is a genre of drama, characterized by exaggerated emotions, stereotypical characters, and interpersonal conflicts. (But if you have more than one person in your script, you're going to have interpersonal conflicts, so the focus has to be on these.) It's basically like over-the-top drama. Not completely realistic. Then again, I know lots of people who are very melodramatic in life. Soap operas are considered melodramas. Sometimes it's the story itself and sometimes the acting can make a script even more melodramatic.

    I don't really think it's a good thing to have one's writing called "melodramatic" in general (unless that's what one is going for, then yay!), but it also depends on how the person critiquing your script defines his/her terms. Was it meant as just an observation or as a criticism? Can you figure this out from the rest of the notes? Do you have a bunch of people being emotional and talking about or expressing (in other ways, like punching a wall) their feelings? Obviously, one person's melodrama is another's drama.

    Hope this helps.
    Last edited by velysai; 07-30-2005, 05:54 PM.

    "We're all immigrants now, man."
    - Zia (Patrick Fugit), "Wristcutters: A Love Story"

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    • #3
      Re: Drama vs melodrama

      Drama = Cinderella Man

      Melodrama = Any networkd soap

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      • #4
        Re: Drama vs melodrama

        From the OED:
        Melodrama: any sensational incident, series of events, story, etc.; sensationalist or emotionally exaggerated behaviour or language; lurid excitement.
        so, 90% of what Hollywood puts out.

        Drama is real things happening to real people.

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