Domestic Melodrama as Genre (Lecture)

From Screenpedia

Contents 1 Melodrama 2 Melodrama Background 3 Distinguishing melodrama from tragedy 4 Cinema 5 Michael Walker on Melodrama 6 Melodramas of the 1930s

Melodrama

• Usually has a negative meaning
• But, in this case, not in a derogatory or negative sense, but rather a label for a certain genre

Melodrama Background

• Stems from 18th century theater in England and France
• "melos" "drama"
  • Melos=music
    • They were presented with music to punctuate the action. This was used to enhance the stories they presented.
    • Also because theaters specifically licensed melodrama
      • It was a way for some of those theaters to go work around not being able to perform their plays

Distinguishing melodrama from tragedy

• Tragedy--higher cultural values
• Robert Heilman (literary critic)
  • Tragedy
    • Divided protagonist (within a protagonist)
  • Melodrama
    • Divided fictional world (diagesis)--between or among characters in the story.

Cinema

• Much of silent film fits Heilman’s "melodrama"
  • Esp. D. W. Griffith’s films
    • E.g., Broken Blossoms (1919)
• Sound arrived in 1927-28
  • Popularized by The Jazz Singer
    • This film was itself, a meldodrama
  • Tragedy/melodrama distinction is blurred
    • But the Production Code (enforced in 1934) required conflicts be resolved.
      • Still requires that conflicts be resolved.
      • Evil must always be punished by the end of the film.

Michael Walker on Melodrama

• Melodramas of action
  • tells stories of men in the world, performing difficult tasks.
    • Ex. Westerns, adventure films, etc...
• Melodramas of passion
  • Narrative focus on a woman
  • Romantic melodrama
    • Ex. Love Story
  • Family and/or small town melodrama
  • Gothic horror tradition

Melodramas of the 1930s

E.g., Imitation of Life (1934)

• Theme
  • Love
    • Romantic of husband or lover
    • Ideal state of happiness
    • Transcends earthly concerns
      • E.g., Man’s Castle (Frank Borzage, 1933)
        • The couple in love lives in total poverty, but because they have a true love for one another it does not matter.
      • E.g., Seventh Heaven (1927)
    • Domestic of children
      • Leads to superhuman sacrifices by parents, especially mothers
      • Starts with marriage and children
      • Usually overrides romantic love.
  • Work
    • Presented as ennobling, never exploitative
    • Nuclear family
      • Man work outside the home
      • Woman works within the home.
    • Women’s suffering and sacrifice
      • • Martyrdom - suffering as ennobling

• Narrative structure
  • Female protagonists
    • The only genre that consistently centers on women
    • Strongest actresses of the time
      • E.g., Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Katharine Hepburn, Margaret Sullavan
  • Molly Haskell’s list narrative situations

• Style
  • Mise-en-scene
    • Middle-class home
      • Staircases