Genres I
(serious)Copyright © 2000 Robert C. Huber
The word which is most often used to classify types of dramatic material is genre. It comes to us from Middle French and originally meant a kind or type of thing and is related to such words as gender and genus. The first person to formally consider the classification and analysis of drama was Aristotle. He described two genres of dramatic art: tragedy and comedy. He believed that they came from very different sources, and went on to analyze tragedy in detail in his Poetics. Even today their iconic representations--the tragic and comic masks--have come to symbolize the theatre. We shall consider these genres first in each Genres lecture since they are the progenitors of the many others that have evolved since Aristotle's time. We shall also look at them first because although there is substantial agreement on what constitutes tragedy and comedy, there are widely differing views on what the other genres are, and how to define them.
Tragedy
A tragedy is a serious play with a theme that is both significant and universal. The central character is a good person of high social status, known as the tragic hero, who becomes trapped in a vortex of events that is sometimes called fate. The hero experiences pain, suffering, and sometimes death in the course of a precipitous tragic fall from elevated status. This "fall from grace" or reversal of fortune is not the result of external forces, but rather from a small but key personality flaw. In the end, the tragic hero acknowledges personal responsibility for the events that have occurred, and this recognition allows him to achieve what might be called enlightenment.
On the news we hear the crash of an airliner described as a tragedy. While such an event is horrifying and certainly sad, it does not meet this strict dramatic definition of the term. The unfortunate victims of such disasters are not directly responsible for their fates. A tragic hero is never a helpless victim. Some of the features that separate tragedy from serious plays that are merely sad or pathetic are that the hero is ultimately responsible for his own problems, is aware of the flaw but has chosen to disregard it, and persists against overwhelming odds. Another distinguishing feature of tragedy is that it asks fundamental questions about the human condition for which there are no simple answers. These universal questions may take the form of a dilemma, one which is faced by those in every culture and each generation. In a tragic dilemma, not matter which choice you make, you suffer. Finally, the purpose of tragedy is not to depict the depressing failure of a well-meaning person, but to dignify and ennoble humankind. We see tragic heroes standing up to the worst that the gods or nature can throw at them, behaving with dignity even in a losing cause. Tragic heroes don't "wimp-out" by blaming others or society itself for their misfortunes like many latter-day protagonists, but take responsibility for their weaknesses and failures. In this way they achieve moral victory. It has been asserted that we live in an age whose world view precludes tragedy--that man has shrunk in his estimation of himself. We see ourselves as commonplace and mean rather than noble. When one considers how many among us would think Oedipus a fool for not getting a good attorney, one wonders if this assertion may be true.
Another aspect of tragedy that was discussed by Aristotle was an effect on the audience which he called catharsis. This term, borrowed from medicine, means to purge or cleanse. He believed that the audience would experience and discharge the emotions of pity and dread; pity for the misfortunes of the hero, and dread that this could happen to them. Furthermore he believed that the communal release of such pent-up emotions was a benefit to society as a whole. In their tragedies the Greeks were the first to grapple publicly with the many problematic 'isms" of society: tribalism, racism, materialism, feminism, and colonialism.
It is useful to make a distinction between classical (traditional) tragedies, and modern tragedies of the last one hundred years. A convenient way to view these distinctions is to compare their Aristotelian elements: the structural components of plot, character, dialogue, theme, music and spectacle. The primary differences are in areas of character and dialogue. In both the classical and modern versions the plots tend to be singular and compact with no secondary or parallel plot lines, which quite naturally favors the climactic plot structure. The central character in both traditional and modern tragedy is intended to be representative--a basically good person the audience can relate to and empathize with. In ancient times leaders were looked upon as possessing the best qualities of mankind, since they were favored by the gods. As such they were worthy models for others and they served as tragic heroes. Today with our egalitarian sensibilities we are more likely to relate to someone who is of the same economic and social class as ourselves, so modern tragedies tend to feature middle class heroes. Both versions have limited casts due to their climactic form. The most obvious difference is in language. Classical tragedies were written in verse. While some adventurous modern playwrights have experimented with this form of language, we are so imbued with the spirit of realism in our dramatic art that poetic embellishments such as meter and rhyme when spoken as dialogue are simply not acceptable to modern audiences. Modern tragedies, like all modern dramas, are written in an elevated prose, language carefully chosen and crafted to sound like normal conversation yet possessing greater depth and resonance than ordinary language. In terms of theme there is no practical difference between the two versions of tragedy, both tending toward topics that are important and heuristic. While we know that music and dance were a vital part of Greek tragedy, we have no way of reconstructing it since there was no written notation to record it at the time. It is believed that plays such as Antigone and Oedipus were performed much like today's opera in that many of the lines and all the choral passages were sung. Obviously music plays a peripheral role in modern tragedy unless we consider operas, many of which are tragedies. Spectacle: scenery, lighting, sound, and make up tend to be somewhat de-emphasized in tragedy to avoid pulling focus away from its emotional and intellectual content. Again, grand opera with its huge and imposing sets provides the exception.
Drama
A drama is a serious play that does not rise to meet the strict definition of tragedy. It may contain some humorous episodes, but is mainly sober in tone. Its characters may come from any social class and it is usually placed in domestic settings such as the home and workplace. The themes of drama arise from life problems and interpersonal relationships, especially those of marriage and family. Dramas stay closer to realism than does any other genre. They may have an ending that is happy, sad, or somewhere in between; but when sad the audience is usually left with hope.
This usage of the term drama in this way developed in France in the mid-eighteenth century. Denis Diderot in particular wrote of the need for "middle genres," types of plays that fell between the extremes of tragedy and comedy. He coined the term genre dramatique sérieux: serious drama. Today there are many interpretations and versions of these middle genres. You may have heard such names as tragicomedy, domestic drama, heroic drama, and documentary drama. While the distinctions offered by these versions have academic and historical validity, I find it more convenient to establish the more general definition of drama above, and then to append prefixes such as historical-, romantic-, docu- and biographical- to the stem "drama" as necessary. A trip down the aisles of your local video store can attest to the efficacy of this approach. Nearly anyone can anticipate the nature of a story labeled "historical drama" without lengthy definitions.
Melodrama
Melodrama, an extreme form of drama, is a kind of morality play in which good is attacked by evil, but good triumphs in the end. The characters who personify good are attractive and wholesome; the evil ones uncompromisingly repulsive and nasty. The thematic issues are simplistic: black and white with no moral gray areas. The audience is manipulated by a plot that plays fast and loose with probability. The purpose is to take the audience on an emotional "thrill ride." To this end, every possible theatrical device is used to keep the audience on the edge of their seats or on the verge of tears. Action, suspense, horror, and special effects are the hallmarks of this form. In the end, the audience is left emotionally gratified by the utter and often spectacular destruction of the bad guys.
Truth is subordinate to emotional effect in melodrama: we all know that in real life the bad guys sometimes get away unpunished and that good people suffer without justice. Yet we trade our skepticism for emotional satisfaction by accepting the pleasant myth that this is not so. Modern melodrama had its origins in the nineteenth century when it was the most popular of all dramatic genres. Producers discovered that they could magnify the emotional qualities of a scene by underscoring it with music. Chase scenes, love scenes, pathetic scenes, and suspenseful scenes could all be enhanced by melodies that provoked these feelings. Hence, the name melodrama. Producers vied with one another to create the most stunningly realistic and spectacular special effects. Of particular interest was the "high tech" hardware of the age: the locomotive. The oft caricatured scene of the girl tied to the railroad tracks or to a log at a sawmill are typical of an age where playwrights tried to make their plays seem up-to-date by including these then modern marvels. With the advent of film it became obvious that such scenes could be handled so much more effectively on screen that melodrama was essentially transplanted to the movies. Today one can scarcely find an example of a stage melodrama unless it is played for laughs. On the other hand, nearly all serious movies and much television drama falls squarely into this genre.
The typical "formula" plot of a nineteenth century stage melodrama might have included the following elements. An innocent victim, traditionally a virtuous and impoverished young woman (but children and cuddly pets are sometimes accessories), finds herself in peril through circumstances beyond her control. An altogether disgusting and evil older man offers to solve her problem in exchange for something he wants: her hand in marriage, or control over certain assets that will cause the ruination of her widowed and saintly father. An equally virtuous and attractive young man offers to intervene, but the villain neutralizes him by force or blackmail. Rather than submit "to a fate worse than death," she flees. Enraged at being "foiled," the villain chases, captures, and holds her hostage until she submits. The young hero, despite the consequences, selflessly tracks them down and attempts to free her. Seeing that his plan cannot succeed, the spiteful villain employs some spectacular means of destroying her: tied to track or log, tied to chair in a burning building, or tied to a ticking time bomb--anything that takes time to happen so that suspense can be exploited. The villain and hero engage in a time-consuming struggle while the girl struggles to free herself. Finally, the hero overcomes the villain and frees the girl at the last possible moment. The story ends with the police carrying off the villain, the discovery of a long-lost letter which gives the girl a huge inheritance, and the boy and girl get married. When described this way, the basic plot structure sounds unbelievably corny, but by changing and updating a few elements it can and does work today. Think about the plot of The Terminator.
Nineteenth century stage melodrama was so pervasive that a number of sub-genres developed including gothic, crime, western, and nautical melodramas. Today, their descendants fill the screens: horror, police, military, spy, and science-fiction films nearly all are melodramas, as are such television favorites as soap-operas, police/lawyer/medical dramas, and science fiction series.
Reading Assignment
You should be reading Chapter 12 in your textbook to get more information about serious drama. By now you should know the routine. After studying the chapter go to the online quiz at:
Take the quiz and send the answers back to me as directed at the bottom of the quiz
Lecture Exercise
No exercise today.
Next lecture: Story: Genres II