D’Neronique

Melodrama is the most basic of all genres, consisting of very stereotypical characters, one usually representing the ideal evil, and one representing the ideal good. In the end, the good guy wins.

You know that old cartoonish image of the ugly villain with a curly mustache tying a damsel in distress to train tracks and then the hero comes and saves her right before the train comes? That is the melodrama-est of the melodramas.

Melodramas usually include exaggerated characters, however, they are not complicated characters. In a melodrama, the character is either good, or evil - never both.

Melodrama is not angst. Melodrama is not tragedy. Melodrama is not punk rock. Melodrama is not complicated.

Melodrama is simple. Melodramatic plots are simple good v. evil.

In both a tragedy and melodrama, bad things happen to (more or less) good people.

In a tragedy, the main character withstands catastrophe by means of their own hamartia. In other words, in tragedy, the main character has a complete and total downfall due to their own personal mistake.

In melodrama, the main character does not withstand a down all at all, and any conflict in the plot is not by any means the fault of the main good and completely non evil character.

Part IV : Conclusion

There has been a mass misunderstand and hence misuse of the word and concept of ‘melodrama’ on this site. Stop doing it.