Reading a book or watching the game of professional actors, few people think about what type of genre this or that work belongs to. However, you give a certain assessment to a book or movie, while not only expressing your own opinion in the form of "liked it or not liked it." As a rule, you talk about the performance of actors, as well as the quality of the text, but for this you need to know the relevant laws of the genre and be able to define them.
Most likely, you have heard such expressions as "life drama" or "beautiful melodrama". What is the difference between drama and melodrama? Drama is, one might say, a folk version of a tragedy that describes the life of ordinary people, with their aspirations and experiences, against the background of the reality of the world that the target audience is watching outside the window. And as in life, the confrontation between society and the individual turns into the spoiled fates of those who challenged the system. In addition, melodrama is a subgenre of drama. It can be attributed to light and mass genres, where the main target audience is the beautiful half of humanity. The intrigue of the melodrama keeps readers in suspense, prompting them to sympathize and empathize with the goodies who are in confrontation with the evil that threatens to take away their fortunes, homes, honor and life itself. Tired of everyday problems, women with tears in their eyes watch the adventures of heroes, whose life is full of emotions and beautiful things. If we compare the genre of drama to melodrama, the main characters of any drama are ordinary people. A dramatic story is about the average person. He does not rule the country and does not live in a medieval castle. But the heroes of a melodrama are, as a rule, high society persons, aristocrats. So, for example, one villain builds constant intrigues to a positive hero or heroine. An ordinary character in a melodrama is a person who is disinherited or disenfranchised. In the center of the drama is a person's personal life, his misunderstanding on the part of other people, a conflict with society. The author pays the main attention to universal human contradictions, which are embodied in the actions and in all the behavior of the protagonist. The essence of the melodrama is to show the spiritual world of the characters, as well as reflect all their experiences and emotions. In addition, the entire plot is built on the oppositions of hatred and love, good and evil, loyalty and betrayal. In addition, these contradictions have rich colors and different shades with pronounced emotionality. Melodrama is a story of happy or tragic love. And the drama can be varied: military, erotic, political, etc. The main thing is that the plot is based on the conflict between the character and the surrounding reality. The ending of the drama is usually tragic. Melodrama is most often filled with irony, a fairy tale, and the ending of the work itself is most often happy. However, there are exceptions among melodramas. What else is the difference between melodrama and drama? The latter has a deeper implication from the point of view of psychology. It does not immediately affect the reader or viewer, little by little forcing them to think about their existence, and also to realize the tragedy of the character's story. And the melodrama from the first minutes of viewing evokes a real "storm" of emotions in the viewer. At the same time, the plot is mesmerizing, the behavior of the characters excites, arouses empathy. So, we can draw the following conclusions. Melodrama is a subgenre of drama. A dramatic work reflects the conflict between an individual and society, while a melodrama is a love story. The outcome of the drama has a tragic ending. The melodrama has a happy ending.
